Street Art [Penang]

Penang was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008 together with Malacca for its multi-cultural heritage and European colonial influences. Wonder why Singapore is not recognised as such although it was part of the Straits Settlements? Perhaps because much of old Singapore has been redeveloped? Sad but true?

Many of the streets in Penang remind me of Singapore in the eighties and brought back many childhood memories :)









Penang’s weathered buildings are amazing canvases for art. One such artist, Ernest Zacharevic, was given the opportunity to stamp his imprint on the buildings of Penang. We stumbled upon his exhibition at Beach Street 212 warehouse and there were so so many young people flocking to get an autograph from him. He was kinda like a mini-celebrity!


I definitely couldn’t miss out too!

Some of his artworks exhibited


Some of his street art below and their locations. First up, at Lebuh Ah Quee.

Apparently, some unknown local artist painted in a dinosaur, which Ernest later added on a boy taking the Dino on a walk. Interesting!

Lebuh Armenian
 
The very popular painting of two children on a bicycle

Check out the video below on how it has captured the hearts of many!

Lebuh Cannon

Lebuh Penang

Chew Jetty

To read more on Ernest Zacharevic’s street art, check out this link.

There are also steel-rod sculptures displayed all over Georgetown, but somehow weren’t as popular.


Click here to find out more about them.

I sure hope there would be more street art in Singapore as well! It would make the streets more surprising and unexpected!

Street Hawkers [Penang]

Something very common in Penang are street hawkers. Very often, they are just a stall set up on a vehicle that can be easily driven away. But of cos, they set up shop at a usual area so that their customers can locate them. Customers pull up a chair and enjoy the food by the roadside. Some just drive by in their bikes or cars and take away. Definitely a sight missing from Singapore!

We had dinner one evening along Lebuh Kimberly, just some streets away from our hotel.


The Char Koay Teow was yummy! The eggs were still runny, adding to the taste of the dish! I liked it more than the Singaporean rendition!

The Kuay Chap was also different in that they mixed all the ingredients into the soup. Do remember to ask them to not add in the pig’s blood, lest you have to slowly scoop out, like we did :( But overall, it was very tasty! It’s very popular and it would be good to reach there before 7pm.


The Yong Tau Foo was different as there was no soup or noodles. Very fresh handmade items!

We had dessert too and it was very good! Cheap and good!

We weren’t the only ones enjoying the good food!

Lots of other stalls to try out!


There are even liang tehs for you to buy, you can also ask for medicine to be included in!

We also tried the famous Chendol along Lebuh Keng Kwee. Really nice and the gula melaka was awesome!



Penang street hawkers are really worth a try, even if you have to eat under the hot sun or sit by the roadside!

Esplanade Area [Penang]

On our first day in Penang, we took to exploring the streets immediately to orientate ourselves. But of cos, we had to fill our tummies first. Had chicken rice at Tho Yuen, a restaurant with 80 years of history!

I liked the rice, very mushy and reminded me of Malacca’s chicken rice balls. The chicken was a tad salty. Then, it was the start of our little adventure!
Some of the sights we saw…

Kapitan Keling Mosque

St George’s Church – Southeast Asia’s 1st Anglican church

A monument to Francis Light, who was the founder of Penang


Supreme Court Building


Penang Museum


The Koh Seang Tat Fountain at Town Hall

City Hall

There was a Japanese festival going on that day, with stalls set up selling food.

Fort Cornwallis