The Bellevue Hotel, Penang, Malaysia

I have long dreamed of returning to my birth country, Malaysia. It was pretty thrilling therefore to wake up to  this view from Penang Hill the other day. We were staying at the Bellevue Hotel on Penang Hill to be exact... another establishment that is featured in my novel, Pursuit of the Golden Lily!

In 1939, My father and mother spent their honeymoon in Penang. Though the Bellevue was not built until thirty years after that, I like to think that they would have spent some time looking out from the top of the hill, like I got to do. I felt very close to my parents as I sat there.

      The old, wooden hotel balcony of the hotel provides a perfect setting from which to sit and look out over Georgetown and the Straits of Malacca. Enclosed by an abundant variety of exotic plants....
                       
                           there are some surprises lurking in the greenery....

The gardens are filled with beautiful flowers 

                                         
And exotic birds....
                                                                           

Another surprise was finding a Geodesic Dome! It was built in the grounds of the hotel by American inventor and visionary, Buckminster Fuller - often called "Bucky"! Turned out he was a friend of the Bellevue Hotel owner, Mr. Lim.

Finally, we went looking for a certain someone from the novel, to see if he might be lurking in one of the rooms at the hotel...

If you want to find out who...you'll have to read the book! Chapter One is online! Stay tuned...there are still places to visit and things to learn! Thanks for following the journey with us! Oh, one more thing... the Two of Spades has been showing up a lot on this trip... makes me think the title of my next book may well be... 

"The Two of Spades"!