Great Expectations

During our April visit to Penang we went to see the house where my family used to live in the late Sixties. This is not it, as it was demolished some years ago, but it is the one opposite where we lived, and very similar in architectural design, probably post war. Clearly it is no longer residential, and in a sad state of disrepair. From our house we had a view of Penang Hill:

 

and a lush garden of which the strongest memory for me was that of Flame of the Forest trees. It's sometimes not good to revisit places from one's youth, especially when they have changed so much, but I had last been to Penang in the mid-Eighties, so I knew the house had gone, and had been replaced by several modern ones. There still remain a number of the old houses in the area that were full of life when we lived there, but many have either been demolished, or have taken on Miss Havisham-like qualities. Here is another one:

Sadly so much has changed through overdevelopment throughout this once tropical island paradise that this visit after a nearly twenty five year interlude will probably be my last. The trip was in some ways out of necessity - seeking a temporary refuge from the civil unrest in Bangkok, and the hope of finding solace in a place I once called home. Unfortunately these wishes were unfulfilled by an environment of tiredness interspersed with rampant and ill-thought out construction.