George Town, Penang

December 5 & 6, 2017

After leaving Malaysian Borneo, we flew to Penang Island on the upper west coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

Penang island developed into a prosperous trading port for the East India Company in the late 1700’s with present day Georgetown as it’s capital.  Georgetown is popular amongst travelers because of its rich mixture of history, colonial architecture, cuisine, and the fact that it is compact and manageable on foot or bicycle.

We stayed at a hostel that was converted from a traditional clan house, and many of the original shop houses have remained intact in Georgetown.

Historically, Georgetown, like Malacca, and Singapore, created opportunities for European colonists to build their wealth, but it also created opportunities for other migrant groups like the Hakka Chinese to establish themselves on the peninsula.


We toured a large, ornate mansion that belonged to one of the very successful Peranakan captains, Chung Keng Quee.  It has been restored and turned into a museum.  (A home of this magnitude represented the excessive wealth of a very few amongst many who had immigrated to Penang to work.)

Attached to the home was also a personal temple.

Georgetown is also known for its art scene, and popular murals.

One of the places that is recommended tourist attractions are the clan jetties (piers) which were continually expanded to house more members.  We especially enjoyed the use of 5 gallon buckets as concrete forms for new pylons. 

Don't worry, Anthony already is known here.