My Longkang

I received this comment from Saewei. I have read her blog and she is a charming person. This obviously is an issue close to her heart so she commented on this post. I will try to reply her comments as best as I can.

Her comment: in plain text. my reply in italics

For God’s sake, Penang is not the only place where those selling souvenirs have a fucking attitude. Go back to your own tourist place and visit your own tourist souvenir place and see how they treat the tourist.
How it is like in other places is irrelevant.It is just like saying brother doesn’t do his assignments too to your mum.

And Penang food, everyone around the world said that it’s good. You are the only saying that is not good.. so I guess you are the ONE with no taste at all.
I never said it was not good. I said the food was good. It is something to be proud of. It is the direct result of Penang being a fusion pot of so many different communities in the past when it was a thriving port. You missed the point. The food poisoning incident was at the hawker stalls near Gurney Drive. It was an isolated incident.

And pardon me, Penang dirty? I admit it’s not as clean as Singapore, but heck.. I bet KL is just AS DIRTY as Penang.
If MPPP keeps thinking like that, there is no room for improvement. Think big. Think how you as a blogger can highlight issues to make Penang a better place for everybody.

So you think your money very big? Paying such small amount of money and you expect 5-Star treatment from the hawkers?
How much I spend and how much you spend is irrelevant. The point is that it is money and hard earned. We deserve the best deal. Would you pay RM36.00 for an item sold for RM5.00 in Batu Feringghi? You probably wouldn’t too. Does that make you a cheap-skate? We are consumers. Just like you. I have my rights as a consumer.

I think you are just one mutha fucker that do not know how to respect others so I’m not gonna give you the respect as well. If you bloody hate Penang, please don’t come again yah as we do not welcome assholes like you to our place.
For your information, this guy on whose behalf I am blogging is an educated person, father of three, extremely generous businessman who unfortunately is too nice and very respectful to others. Perhaps this is what made the hawker decide to take advantage of him in the first place.

Thank You.

P/s: You think Penang is horrible? I think you are more horrible than Penang. You CHEAPSKATE!
Thank you saewei for your feedback. It is most welcome. I hope I have replied your comments satisfactorily.

Thanks too to philters, Carol and Jeffrey
,Anthony, keeyit, Judy, jasmine, JJ whose link doesn’t work ,
Bengbeng says: I didn’t expect this post to generate so much comment. I even received sms from friends and a phone call from a long forgotten friend in Jalan Boundary. Hi! Ah Bee. And Miss Lim, Miss bless you for still remembering me. I thought I had long been forgotten.

It is amazing how word of mouth spread and how mylongkang readers are actually my own friends.

Let us not get over-excited over the issue. I vouch for my friend’s character. He chose to voice out his feelings which actually should be a welcome feedback to the state. In terms of profile, he should the type of tourists the state welcomes. He stays in the best rooms and spends generously. He is there for business and as a tourist.

He has a right to voice out his dissatisfaction. I forgot to blog that he liked the Penang Airport very much which he took a lot of photographs of.

He raised a few key points worth noting ( in my opinion )
The often neglected sector of the tourism industry- the local domestic tourist
Preferential treatment to foreigners
Pagoda hawkers giving the tourists ‘the harrassment treatment’. It could well be that for some, it is standard sales tactic to embarrass the tourist to buy. If it is, it is in very poor taste.
He mentioned the long journey from Rasa Sayang being jammed on rainy days. I don’t see how anything can be done about that in the near future.

As for the food poisoning incident, perhaps an occasional visit by the health department would keep every body more on their toes?

As for his statement, noisy, dirty, crowded, unfriendly and hot noisy. It is his perception of Penang after being away for 25 years. He had an image of Penang as it was and when he saw so much concrete and so little greenery, it upset him. Every square inch in Penang is fully utilized be it for commercial parking of cars, motorcycles or hawkers. Where are the trees, the flowers? The open spaces for the people to live in?

It is not just about daily maintenance of drains, repairs of pot-holes but the difficult task of the city fathers to get a delicate balance between preserving the cultural heritage and development and long, long term planning.

Many of the original buildings which made Penang unique and beautiful are gone forever. The tourist spots are over exploited, notably the Pagoda and the snake temple and commercialized. The Goddess of Mercy Temple administators in Pitt street have done a good job. The beaches have been taken over by the the hotels.

He is a well traveled man. He can see and compare. Indeed every one has a right to compare. Let us look at his honest appraisal and see how wrong he is or how right he is and then look for means and ways to make Penang a better place for every body.
Another question would be like what Saewei asked indirectly: In what way is Penang different from other places. If it is no different, after some time, it will lose some of its allure, glitter and shine. Even as it is, many tourists just stop over in Penang before spending their holidays in Langkawi. Millions and millions of the tourist dollar are at stake here.

It is naive to think that the Penang economy is totally independent of the contribution of the tourist dollar to the state coffers.