I was walking the streets early morning trying to find my way to Yeng Keng Hotel for a briefing of the photo and coffee crawl i had signed up for. A lady boy was trying to get the attention of a man passing buy, but other than that the streets where quiet.
Georgetown is known for it’s all year around event and festivals so I went for the Art festival, trying to capture a piece of history, culture and art at the same time. Street Art is something that has been popping up all over Georgetown after the Mirrors George Town Festival in 2012.
Ernest Zacharavic, a young Lithuania-born artist, has painted Penang. Drawings and portraits that celebrate the exuberance of life in the inner city.
In 1832, Penang formed part of the Straits Settlement with Malacca and Singapore. The Penang maritime port was among the busiest in the region, attracting rich merchants involved in the lucrative trade of tea, spices, porcelain and cloth. The Influence of Asia and Europe have endowed the town with a multicultural heritage. George Towns with residential and commercial buildings represents the British era from the end of the 18th century. Penang became a melting pot for hybrid communities with the mix of Chinese, Malay, Indian, Siamese and other culture. Settlers and fortune-seekers from all over called Penang home.
On different corners and places of the city you have the Wrought-iron caricatures with the anecdotal descriptions of the streets that they adorn. One of them being the Cheating husband. The local Chinese say the rich men who lived on Muntri Street kept their mistresses here and by that it is now known by the name Love Lane.
With the rich heritage, George Town was listed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008. Clan Jetties form part of the Penang Heitage Trail. Today six out of seven Jetties remains with Chew Jetty being the biggest and most visited. The Jetties with the old Chinese settlements is home to houses on stilts of various Chinese clans.
At the Jetty you also find the street art painted on the walls.
To get to Penang from Singapore you can fly with:
Tiger Air: http://www.tigerair.com/sg/en/
Jetstar: http://www.jetstar.com/sg/en/home
Air Asia: http://www.airasia.com/sg/en/home.page?gclid=CM2a1bSYw8ICFU8ojgodf18AAQ
Recommended places to stay:
http://www.museumhotel.com.my/
http://campbellhousepenang.com/
Recommended places to eat:
Where is my next adventure? 