domel's Guide to Season 16, Episode 8: Penang, Malaysia
6 teams arrived at Penang Airport from the Seychelles and were instructed to make their way to the Snake Temple. The Snake Temple, while ordinarily a lot more populated by humans and, truthfully, a lot less by the snakes that we saw in the opening shots, is only a 5-10 minute drive from the airport. As one of the island's biggest attractions, taxi drivers would have had no problem in locating the temple.
Unfortunately, on reaching the temple, my camera battery decided to give out, so I can't provide any pictures of the temple as it was today!
Teams now faced a detour, with a choice of Buddhist Tradition or Chinese Custom. In Chinese Custom, Jet & Cord and later Steve & Allie had to travel to the Padang Kota Lama esplanade in order to run the length of the field while balancing a large flag on their forehead. Ordinarily the field stands empty, facing the town hall on one side and the famous Fort Cornwallis on the other. Its prime location in the largest city of George Town means that it would have been extremely easy to find.
While both sides of the detour are roughly equidistant from both the Snake Temple and the roadblock, the esplanade is reached by a very fast coastal highway. Buddhist Tradition, however, its location being largely unknown even to locals, requires navigating many narrow and confusing market roads to reach. With this information, it is no wonder that Jet & Cord reached the roadblock well ahead of any other teams.
In Buddhist Tradition, teams had to travel to the Tien Kong Than temple near Penang Hill. As this temple is not marked on any maps, nor is it a tourist attraction, I found it very difficult to locate. In my first attempt, I actually ended up in the exact same car park that both Dan & Jordan and Steve & Allie had walked to. This is the car park for the Kek Lok Si temple, a magnificent structure and easily one of the most famous attractions on the island. I assume the taxi drivers of both teams heard 'temple' and just assumed they wanted to go to this most famous of monuments.
After descending the same long windy roads that Steve & Allie had walked both up and down, I discovered the Tien Kong Than temple by pure chance. As it turned out, the temple was no more than five minutes walk from where Steve & Allie fatally decided to switch detours. From this point, the esplanade is well over a 20-minute cab ride.
Just like 'Eagle Eyes' Mike spotted the large gate of the temple from his cab, I found it as I was strolling past without any clear direction. I had previously asked someone who worked at the Penang Hill furnicular, not 200 meters up the road, but even they had never heard of the temple.
When I finally reached the temple, it was deserted. I didn't see a single soul as I climbed the steps and found the area where teams placed their 12 incense sticks into the holders.
Next up was the roadblock. Probably a 15 minute drive from Chinese Custom, but a 20 minute drive from Buddhist Tradition was the Kuil Sri Singamuga Kaliamman temple. But first, the Speed Bump. Jet & Cord were instructed to drive to the Tropical Spice Garden. This is only perhaps a 2 minute drive back the way they came. On arrival, they had to find a woman making some tea. The place where she sat is actually visible from the entrance, which is the other side of the water expanse you see on the television. On choosing a teapot, the cowboys were instructed to find the guru on the giant swing. While not immediately visible, the swing would have taken no more than 1 or 2 minutes to locate.
From leaving the Roadblock, completing the Speed Bump and returning, I would guess that Jet & Cord lost no more than 15-20 minutes.
The site of the roadblock, Kuil Sri Singamuga Kaliamman temple, proved a lot more difficult to find than I would have imagined, given how seemingly easily the teams found it. It is located off a small dirt road actually before the town of Teluk Bahang, not in it. Again, when I visited this place, it was deserted. The lovely orange and purple fabric around the edge of the sand you see in the show was not there, and instead was a very unattractive piece of sheet metal. I imagine the show ordered the fabric to be added, as it would have appeared very uncolourful otherwise.
After following a near straight course around the island of Penang, teams were now instructed to turn around and head for Pinang Peranakan Mansion in George Town. This luxurious residence, now a museum, is actually situated only three streets along from the esplanade where the cowboys balanced the flags.
The spot where Phil checked the teams in is quite different today than from nearly two years ago. The edge of the balcony overlooking the center of the house is lined with display cases, though production probably asked these to be temporarily removed. Also, the wall behind Phil has completely different ornaments hanging on it now.
There you have my complete guide to Episode 8 of Season 16! I hope you enjoyed it. I will attempt to do both the next episode of Season 16, and also the second half of Leg 10 of Season 3, both in Singapore some time next week.
P.S. Apologies for the blurry pictures..
