20250502 Regent Seven Seas Voyager Cruise Bangkok to Dubai, Day 11, Penang, Malaysia

Regent Seven Seas Voyager Bangkok to Dubai Day 11 - Penang, Malaysia - Dyeing in Penang

Today, we arrived in a new port for us, Penang, Malaysia. Penang is an island just off the mainland. We were in its main city, Georgetown.

Today's adventure was a tour of a batik factory. Batik is the art of creating intricate patterns on cloth and dyeing the fabric.

They start by dipping a metal stamp in wax. The wax is a 50/50 mix of paraffin and tree resin. The stamp is applied to the fabric, soaking the wax all the way through. This pattern is repeated until the fabric is covered. 

Stamping the wax pattern after dipping the form in the hot wax mixture

You can see the pattern

It was amazing how quickly and accurately he applied the stamps

Alternatively, an artist draws a pattern by hand using a "pen" that is repeatedly filled with hot wax. The wax prevents the dye from entering the next area and leaves an undyed line behind. 

She was amazing to watch - she just drew by hand

The well on top is dipped in the hot wax, and it flows out of the nib

Once a pattern is complete, the garment can either be dipped in dye for a solid color or hand dyed for a variety of colors. They showed us techniques to blend darker and lighter colors to produce gradients. Water is also used to lighten colors and spread them. 

They dab the wet brush, and the fabric absorbs the paint

The wax and dyeing process can be repeated, producing layered patterns.

In this case, another pattern was being drawn over the top, and the fabric will be dyed again

One of their projects - everything is hand-done

Once the dyeing is complete, the fabric is boiled to remove the wax and expose the undyed fabric.

After becoming experts in five minutes, they turned us loose. We were provided with a cloth already painted with wax. Our mission was to choose colors and dye each area. 

Hey, look - I'm an artist

Arlona took a delicate and thoughtful approach, carefully blending colors. The techniques she learned from watercolors on our world cruise certainly came through.

The artists at the factory would finish for her using the color style she started

I took a more heavy-handed approach.

I finished mine with a couple of small smears and bleed-throughs

 

Once both pieces have been completed, they are boiled to remove the wax and reveal the undyed lines of the pattern.

We had fun learning the process. Watching the actual artists work was fascinating, as they are so skilled at what they do. With our projects done, we returned to the ship. Here are some of the sights we saw from the bus.

Jubilee Clock Tower honoring Queen Victoria

Tanjong Bungah Floating Mosque

It is known as the floating mosque since it was built on stilts and sits over the water

Batu Ferringhi - a restaurant

We got back to the ship and grabbed lunch. We decided to take it easy this afternoon. We did participate in crazy golf - a putting challenge. We were divided into two teams and had to putt a golf ball into the hole on top of the ramp. It was more difficult than it seemed. Too slow, and it came back. Too fast, and it bounced over. Off target - well, that's just a miss. The team with the fewest strokes won.

In the end, my team was victorious, edging Arlona's team by a single stroke.

Trivia was next on the agenda. We finished in third, missing three questions.

• What sweet treat was created in 1893 at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago?
• We didn't know - turns out that's where the brownie was invented
• What is the longest living wild bird?
• We guessed penguins - turns out that albatrosses can live to be over 60 years old
• What event in 1830 resulted in Belgium's independence from the Netherlands (French Revolution, WWI, Belgian Revolution, Waterloo)?
• We knew that the French Revolution and WWI were at different times. We guessed that the Belgian revolution was a red herring thrown in to throw people off and guessed Waterloo, even though we knew that was Napoleon. It was the Belgian Revolution.

We got ready for dinner. Here's another Regent observation. If you've had a day and just want to be comfy, Regent offers exactly zero options for food in the evening other than room service. If you want to dine in any other venue, you must wear dress slacks (no jeans, no shorts) and a collared shirt as a man, and dress slacks, a skirt/top, or dress as a woman. That seems a little outdated in today's world, and another strike against Regent for us. Don't get me wrong, we usually put on decent clothes for dinner, but forcing that seems outdated.

What did we wear tonight? New handmade batik shirts that we bought at the batik factory.

Mine is cotton, Arlona's is rayon, mine is dipped, Arlona's is hand-painted

After a nice dinner, we returned to the room to find our finished scarves waiting for us.

Arlona's turned out great

Mine has a few splotches where my brush flipped dye

We're happy with the results and had fun making them.

We're time-traveling again tonight, gaining an hour and moving to UTC+7, or 11 hours ahead of the U.S. East Coast. Tomorrow, we'll be back in Thailand, visiting Phuket for the first time. Since we'll be back in Thailand, it means the ship will lose its Starlink connection per Thailand's rules, so the internet will go from terrible to exceedingly terrible. We'll see how posting goes tomorrow.