PENANG ISLAND

PENANG ISLAND

Penang, the Pearl of the Orient, is one of my favourite local destination in Malaysia.

As a little girl, I have been visiting this island for as long as I remember ‘it’ as an old fashioned island popular for its glorious food and once a tax free shopping (Free Tax Zone Policy) destination.  

TANJONG TOKONG BEACH GARDENS

 

Little did I know, that ‘she’ (Penang) will soon grow up to what she is today, having attained city status in 2014 and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008.

E&O HOTEL

Apart from scoring heritage values, the island was listed in Lost Angeles Times as one of the 16 Must-Visit Destinations in 2016, followed with No. 1 Ranking in Forbes’ as the Ten Best Budget Travel Destinations for 2016, as well as No. 4^th Ranking in Lonely Planet’s Top 10 Cities to visit in 2016.

HIGH COURT

Penang boasts a number of notable firsts - it is first to have two bridges linking the island to the mainland, the first in the country to set up a Free Trade Zone in 1972 and the first UNESCO World Heritage Site for Culture in Malaysia in 2008. 

JAMES RICHARDSON LOGAN STATUE

To me, it is a mixture of feelings when I see Penang transformed gradually where it had achieved much benefits in terms of economical growth, construction, heritage values and getting recognised by the World.

KAPITAN KELING MOSQUE

On the other hand, it loses its simplicity lifestyle made up of no traffic jam, cheap shopping and less human congestion in the city, which are prominent keys in the past years.

CHOO CHAY KEONG TEMPLE

HISTORY

Penang was first under the control of the British East India Company, but it was only after the Penang Riots in 1859 that Britain instituted formal rule over Penang as a colony of the British Empire. It was earlier known as George Town and has over 200 years of story and culture, reflected from the existence of historical and architectural buildings, as well as culture practices handed down from previous generations. It is the first British Straits Settlement, established in 1786 by Captain Francis Light.

TRISHAW IS A POPULAR SIGHT!

HERITAGE TRAIL

Do start your day with a Colonial Heritage tour either going on foot or by trishaw around Light Street, and walk towards Penang Road. Get a free copy of a discovery passbook (English version) from the Tourist Information Centre before embarking on a walk around city centre.

CHEONG FATT TZE MANSION

Around the Lebuh Farquhar and Light Street areas, one will find interesting age-old buildings such as Eastern & Oriental Hotel, Convent Light Street School, Supreme Court building, Advocate James Richardson Logan statue, St George’s Church, Cathedral of the Assumption, Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, City Hall, State Assembly Building, Queen Victoria Clock Tower and the Fort Cornwallis.

YEOH KONGSI

One must also not missed taking a stroll along Penang’s second oldest road built in 1786 named Beach Street (Street of Banks) which houses financial institutions surrounded with magnificent colonial architecture buildings. 

ACHEEN STREET MALAY MOSQUE

The streets are interconnected to Little India-Armenian Street-Lebuh Acheh-Lebuh Chulia-Lebuh Bishop-Lebuh Queen and Lebuh Pasar where it is easy for tourist to walk about and discover more architectural styles buildings of the 1800s namely Nagore Dargha Sheriff Shrine, Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Kapitan Keling Mosque, Acheen Street Malay Mosque, Choo Chay Keong Temple, Khoo Kongsi, Cheah Kongsi, Yeoh Kongsi, Tan Kongsi, Sun Yat Sen Museum, Teochew Puppet Museum, Pinang Peranakan Mansion, Goddess of Mercy Temple and finally Chew Jetty.

PINANG PERANAKAN MANSION

Sri Mahamariamman Temple

Nagore Dargha Sheriff Shrine

One of the most striking attractions at Armenian Street would be the old colonial houses dotted along the street around this UNESCO World Heritage site. The designs reflects influences from Chinese, European and Dutch.

ARMENIAN STREET SHOPS

Here, tourists will be fascinated by a range of unique wrought-iron caricatures with anecdotal descriptions, and mural arts with humorous illustrations, found along Armenian Street. Some of the popular street art included one drawn by Ernest Zacharevic in 2012 namely “Kids on Bicyles”, “Boy on Chair”, “Trishaw Man”, “The Indian Boatman”, “Lion Dance”and “Old Motorcycle”.

BOY ON THE CHAIR STREET ART

The other worth seeing heritage site is none other than Kek Lok Si or the Temple of Supreme Bliss Towers located atop a hill, overlooking the Ayer Hitam town. 

KEK LOK SI TEMPLE

It hailed the largest Buddhist Temple complex in Southeast Asia. Its main pagoda, the Pagoda of Ten Thousand Buddhas, comprises seven tiers, which combines a Chinese octagonal base with a middle tier of Thai design and a Burmese crown.

KEK LOK SI TEMPLE

The temple took 20 years to build and was built entirely from donations, is an mixed of styles and dedications is remnant of the influencing forces of its interesting heritage and past. It also features shrines, sculptures, gardens, 12-zodiac animal symbol and a turtle pond.

GODDESS OF MERCY STATUE

Nearby, it is recommended that tourist should take a furnicular train at the oldest British hill station in Southeast Asia to arrive at Penang Hill (Flagstaff Hill). The hill, which located at 833-metre above sea level boasts a 1.6km nature trail, a canopy walkway, butterfly bank, ginger grove and a Hindu Temple. 

BOTANICAL GARDENS

Another worth visiting is the Botanical Gardens also known as Waterfall Gardens because of the cascading waterfall nearby. It is a public park situated on Jalan Air Terjun. The gardens occupy a 29 ha site in a valley described as an amphitheatre of hills covered with lust tropical rain forests. It is Penang's unique natural heritage, being the only garden of its kind in Malaysia.

As such the garden is a popular recreational spot for jogging walking, jungle trekking and aerobics.

BOTANICAL GARDENS

The garden also housed thousands of monkey where visitors can get close to the monkeys living, here.

P. RAMLEE HOUSE

Take a look into P. Ramlee House is the former home of iconic Malaysian actor, director, singer, composer and movie producer Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr P. Ramlee. Now a musem that celebrates his illustrious career in the Malayan film and music industry, is lcoated at Jalan P Ramlee.

THE CHOCOLATE BOUTIQUE

FOOD

Glorious food is no exception as one of the main attractions in Penang. George Town was once ranked World’s No. 1 Best Food Destination in 2014 by the Lonely Planet. The ‘must eat’ lists start-off with Malay Food (nasi lemak/Malay rice/satay), followed with Chinese (fried kuay teow/ fried oyster/curry mee/ popiah/lobak/ prawn mee/assam laksa/ koay teow th’ng/loh mee/duck porridge/ nyonya kueh/ice kacang), Peranakan cuisines as well as Indian food (roti canai/pasembur/nasi kandar/mee rebus/banana leaf rice). Popular hawker food are plentiful at Gurney Drive, Lorong Selamat, Chowrasta Market and Komtar areas.

POPULAR DISHES AT  LORONG SELAMAT

COASTAL TRAIL

Do not leave the island without going for a detour along the coastal area at Batu Ferringhi where one gets to see the golden beaches, hotels and resorts and the Tropical Spice Garden. 

BUTTERFLY FARM

Other attractions include Craft Batik, Entopia by Butterfly Farm, Tropical Fruit Farm and ends with nature reserve of sea turtle hatcheries at Teluk Bahang.

BIRD'S VIEW OF AYER HITAM TOWN