Today we have mapped out a walking tour of some of the colonial areas of George Town, the capital of Penang. The city has a rich history as a trading port, back to the first century AD with China and India being the first to use the island as a stop on their trading routes. Portugal discovered Penang next, and then of course the British colonized it 1786, becoming the first British settlement on the Malay Peninsula and Britain's first trading post in the Far East. A lot of history, a lot of diversity….and more recently…a lot of street art. All of which we plan to explore.
The ship arrives on time at 8am, and we are off and running by 8:15. The earlier the better for two reasons: 1) the street art we want to see is very popular, and there can 
Our route takes us first down Beach Street, past the clock tower that stands at the intersection of Beach and Light streets. Beach street is the commercial street, whereas Light Street is the Governmental/Civic street. Where Light street is straight as an arrow and lined with lots of green space and stately old buildings, Beach street curves along and is lined with old trading centers and buildings that have been or are in need of refurbishing.
Beach street is so named because originally it was the street located right next to the water and followed the course of the beach. In the early 19th Century, the town started reclaiming land to create a new expanse of area for warehouses and trading shops for all the ships docking in George Town. There are tons of great buildings lining the street. Old colonial architecture combined with more modern-ish concrete make for an interesting walk as we head out to find our first street art.
In 2009, George Town opened a competition to physical brand the city, a UNESCO world heritage site. The winning idea was to create a series of steel-rod caricatures that retells the history and the stories of the communities within George Town. This creative approach also spawned another set of art – wall murals depicting different slices of life – some realistic, some futuristic - painted by local and visiting international artists. We are on a mission to find most of the wall murals – and as many of the steel sculptures as we can during our walk around the heritage area of the town.
The map we have printed from the Internet shows all the most famous murals, but it is by no means detailed or exact. So, we are in for a scavenger hunt today! Heading up toward the Heritage area of Little India and Chinatown, we make a diversion toward the jetties to find the brother and sister on a swing. This is a really cute little mural – which is also interactive – there are actually swings on the wall. Close by is another mural with a street food cart (not on our map, so it is a bonus find!). Across the street is supposed to be the brother and sister playing basketball, but we never actually find that mural. Hmmm…..hopefully that is not a harbinger of things to come!
Since we are now close to the water, we decide to head to the Chew Jetty, one of the Clan jetties that line the harbor. We had no knowledge of these jetties until we went to the destination lecture onboard the ship. Turns out there are 7 different jetties, each for different Chinese clans living on the island. These clans all staked out there claim along the waterfront eons ago, and they still live there today in these little wooden shacks over the water. The Chew Jetty is the largest of the clan jetties and contains residential housing as well as tourist shops and food stalls. We arrive there at 8:45, and, respecting the sign that says to visit the jetty only between 9:00am and 9:00pm, we patiently wait the 15 minutes – spending our time by taking pictures of the temple, created around the trunk of a huge tree, and artwork outside the jetty, before entering (as opposed to the 2 obnoxious Aussies from the ship that barge right in there with no regard for the time).
At precisely 9:00, we wander onto the jetty, passing by the tourist stalls and marveling at the style of life here. Narrow little alleys lined with tourist stalls give way to rickety old shacks of warped wood that are literally peoples’ homes, some of which have beautiful potted plants, making an outdoor seating area into a garden.
It’s low, low tide, but even still, the views here are spectacular, right over the water either looking back toward the cruise port, or up the other side of the coast – to the other jetties, one with a spectacular temple.
Since it is well after 9:00am now, we stroll back through the residential side of the jetty, where it is like walking through a neighborhood. Families cooking, eating breakfast, leaving for work. We snap a few pictures, but don’t really feel all that comfortable intruding on their lives – even though we know they allow it – it just doesn’t feel right.
Interesting little diversion for us - now, back to the street art!
No comments:
Post a Comment