Penang Inspires!

For three to six months between 1990 to 2014, Mr. Raymond Flower lived and wrote in the same Seaview Suite at the Bayview Beach Resort year in, year out.

Although Raymond wrote more than 30 books in his life time, in Malaysia and Singapore he is best known as the author of Tan Sri Loh Boon Siew : The Life and Times of A Fire Dragon (with Dato' Loh Cheng Yean and Winston Lim, 2004) and Raffles The Story of Singapore (1984) but in those 14 years, Raymond Flower wrote or co-authored eleven books and up-dated five others for re-publication as new editions, all from the same spot at the Bayview Beach Resort in Penang..

A long-time resident of Italy, he said that Le Marche was where he went for his holidays but Penang was where he got the serious business of writing done. He always claimed that the sweeping vista of the quiet bay, the tranquil beach and the historic Ferringhi Rock never failed to inspire his literary instincts and he would dutifully set to work between 11am to 2pm every single day without fail.

There were also other spots on the isle that gave him some of his best book ideas. A visit to some of the Chinese clan houses got him thinking of his own ancestors. He'd been trying to think of a way to distill the essence of a huge journal kept and passed down for four generations in his family, but not in any hurry to do anything about it. After researching the Loh clan history for the biography of Tan Sri Loh Boon Siew, he was even more motivated to write about his forebears and  Dissenting Flowers was the result.



The magnificent 360 Degree panorama of the city's heritage enclaves from the Bayview Georgetown's Revolving Restaurant by day gave him many fresh ideas for The Penang Adventure, by night the hundreds of brightly lit hawker stalls and coffee shops inspired the last book he was planning with the working title of A Culinary Heritage of Penang. He had a whole book of scribbled notes about the various kinds of people on the island and how their traditional food had changed in the melting pot of Penang's multiracial society.

Sadly, he passed away at the age of 94 in Italy before he could return to Penang and write his last book. Here is the complete list of books Raymond Flower wrote at the Bayview Beach Resort -

PlaybackWriting Your Autobiography
View Over The Bay.
Go West! The Adventure of Western Australia.
The Y, First 100 Years in Singapore 1902-2002
The Penang Adventure
Writing Your Autobiography
Raffles Heritage of Gracious Dining
Fun & Feasting 200 Years of Good Food and Hospitality
Dissenting Flowers
Italy - A Traveler's History
Tan Sri Loh Boon Siew : The Life and Times of A Fire Dragon

(co-author with Dato' Loh Cheng Yean and Winston Lim)

Raymond Flower's observation about the view from his favourite suite must have had some truth in it because many of his other literary friends who stayed in Penang discussed, edited or wrote parts of their own books in it. As a matter of fact, four other books were also written in Raymond Flower's room :

Car, Castello & Quill
Malaysia - A Traveler's History
Thailand - A Traveler's History
Billy And The Cloud Fife
Tales of the White Sands (a collection of short stories)