traditional trade trail
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008Rach writes
When in Ipoh, Cousin Chris gave us a brochure containing three self-guided walks in Georgetown, Penang. We covered a fair bit of the first couple on our way to Fort Cornwallis the other day. Yesterday was set aside for The Traditional Trades Trail. And what a day it turned out to be. Although some of the places were closed, we saw far more than we might have hoped to see in a week! We missed the coffee maker, goldsmith and beaded shoe maker, but looked in on a wood engraver (making plaques to go above shop fronts and houses, a practice adopted from China), and sundry stall holder, and watched a tombstone engraver at work. His used to be an art carried out by hand, but now a computer comes up with the design and the etching is done by machine. Only the gold leaf is applied by hand these days.
Most captivating, was Mr Lee, the joss stick maker. Sitting in a doorway down a narrow alley, we found him smoothing sandalwood onto sticks. He not only told us all about his work and showed us samples of his different sticks, expounding the properties and prices of each, but he also let the children fashion a stick themselves. There’s nothing like trying your hand at a task to help you appreciate the master’s expertise! Laughing at his own joke, he announced they had made satay, not joss sticks! We were sent on our way with an informative brochure and a half-hour-burning-time stick for each child.
Just walking from one “attraction” to the next, we came across a lot more unofficial traders too. A housing materials store (move over Mitre 10), a ship’s foundry with anchors stacked outside, motorcycle repair shops, a bamboo-ware maker, an artist, a string seller, restaurant owners in a variety of flavours, firemen, and a leather worker, to name but a few. None of the shops-with-attached-residences were large; maybe 4 metres wide at most, and a wee bit longer.
(We came back here for dinner –
one roti dripping with condensed milk was not enough –
we had two more for dessert!!)
On the side of the road, a matter of barely a few metres apart, we came across three locksmiths, each with an almost identical cart.
And of course there were lots of *just houses* too, right beside these places of work.
There were people going about their daily business, offering sacrifices, simply living.
Another job done.
The patch looks bare with only a few onions, leeks, silverbeet, lettuces andĀ gone-to-seed- cabbages remaining from winter. TheĀ rhubarb and strawberries are about to burst into life. The brussel sprouts can officially be deemed ... 
rayres