Sightseeing in Penang

I woke at 7.00am to a beautiful morning. A lot to do today.
In true backpacker style I filled my boots at breakfast. It was included in my room rate so why not. I would then not need lunch!

Before heading out I had a call to make at the laundry next door to the hotel. Walking in this weather is not conducive to staying fresh and I was nearly out of clean clothes. The total for a big bag was three quid, ready for five o'clock. This was much more reasonable than the hotel who were asking for £1 for pair of underpants. ( could someone enlighten me to the difference between panties and panty hose please?)

My plan for the morning was to do a look taking in the Weld Quay Clan Piers, Fort Cornwallis, City Hall and China town, then in the afternoon visit Kek Lok Si Buddhist Temple,about 5 miles out of town. Following that I would go to the Penang Hill Station.

Penang has to be the most pedestrian unfriendly place I have ever visited (so far). Folk seem to abandon their vehicles anywhere and everywhere. The footpaths (where they exist) are full of holes into the open sewerage system and local shop keepers just claimed the pavement outside their shop forcing you into the road.. My First stop was Weld Quay Clan Jetties.






Chew jetty

Originally from Fujian province in south China, the settlers of the Clan Jetties found it much cheaper to build their houses on stilts above the water instead of on land where they were forced to pay tax. Today it is less a tax avoidance technique and more of a tourism drawcard.





When coming up Weld Quay from the ferry terminal, you can see signs to each pier. The first is Lim Jetty, belonging to the Lim clan, a small settlement compared to the next one 50m down the road. Chew Jetty comprises around 80 houses built on two boardwalks that lead out to sea, where a small shrine dedicated to seafarers looks out across the channel.

Even the modest walk from the hotel had me sweating like a bacon pig. Just a little further done the road is the ferry terminal. This is where the Penang Ferry leaves for mainland Malaysia and Butterworth.





The ferry leaving for Butteworth on mainland Malaysia.

Next stop was the Victoria Memorial clock tower. The Victoria Memorial Clocktower at King Edward Place, Penang, was built by local Penang millionaire Cheah Chen Eok in 1897 to commemorate the sixtieth year of the Queen's reign. The tower was sixty feet tall, with each foot for each year of the Queen's reign. Unfortunately, she never visited Penang, nor did she ever live long enough to see her clocktower completed. By the time it was completed in 1902, the Queen had died.

The clocktower leans to one side That's the legacy of all the bombs dropped around it during the Second World War that destroyed the Government Building nearby.





Victoria memorial clock tower

Originally built of palm trunks in 1786, Fort Cornwallis was upgraded into the brick structure you see today in 1804. Once home to a barracks, gun powder magazine, chapel, harbour light, flagstaff, armoury, cell rooms, stores and many other administration buildings, in its day the Fort was a veritable one-stop-stop for all things colonial. Today, with just the chapel, gun powder magazine, lighthouse and a few low buildings remaining, it's difficult to imagine how they fitted it all in.





The gate to Fort Cornwallis

The Fort's sea-facing wall is lined with cannons, crowned by the prized Seri Rambai. This massive, 17th century cannon was initially a gift from the Dutch to the Sultan of Johor, who then lost it to the Acehnese, who gave it to the Sultan of Selangor, who lost it to, depending on who you're reading, pirates or the British (really little differentiated them back then). Upon reaching Penang, in a truly bizarre fit of madness, the British threw the cannon overboard. Subsequent salvage attempts were unsuccessful until the Viceroy of Selangor tied a rope to the cannon and ordered it to rise. This journey took nearly 300 years. Locals bestowed mythical powers upon the cannon and it is said that it can grant fertility.

Beside the Seri Rambai, you'll see the gunpowder magazine, within which there's a good display of cannon balls, gunpowder and kegs. Other points of interest include the chapel -- which now just houses a few paintings -- and the huge lighthouse, an imposing structure in an otherwise low-rise complex.



Also within the complex, but away from the water's edge, are several rooms, fragrant with the aroma of spices, that present a vast amount of information including the history of the fort, archaeological finds, conservation and preservation of the site along with detailed information surrounding Francis Light and the British East India Company.

It's interesting to note that with all the readiness for battle, the fort operated more like an administration centre and didn't once see the pointy end of a cannon.
While jokers may want to have their photograph taken with the statue of Sir Francis Light (the statue was modelled on his son as no pictures of the man himself were ever found) while wearing a traditional hat and toting a replica gun, the more serious might want to look for his missing sword. It is believed to have been melted down by the Japanese during their occupation in order to make a real one.


This famous Penang mansion was originally built by a Chinese merchant who arrived at the turn of the 19th century. In a classic rags-to-riches story, he ended up with this stunning courtyard mansion, which was used for the filming of Indochine in 1993. It has been restored to its original beauty and is home to a museum depicting the life and lifestyle of Cheong Fatt Tze.





Guided tours twice a day take visitors through this eclectic architectural masterpiece, boasting fine artwork, feng shui-inspired windows, antique furniture, intricately detailed carved pillars and doors, and much more. The museum by day turns into luxury accommodation at night and is also used for private weddings.
The Blue Mansion, as it is also known, is surrounded by high-rise hotels near Jalan Penang on Lebuh Leith. As I arrived the next tour was over two hours away so I moved onto my next stop.

The Church of the Assumption along Farquhar Street was built by the Eurasians who followed Captain Francis Light to Penang when he established it as a British trading post. I am documenting it as one of the heritage sites in George Town for AsiaExplorers and Penang Travel Tips. The Eurasians were originally living in Ligor and Phuket were facing religious persecution. In 1781, they fled to Kuala Kedah, led by Bishop Arnaud-Antoine Garnault of Siam. In Kuala Kedah, they were joined another 80 Catholics of Portuguese descent who had made Kuala Kedah their home. Some had come from southern Siam, while others had left Malacca after the Dutch conquest.




The grey-coloured Church of the Assumption along Farquhar Street, Penang.


Before founding Penang, Francis Light and his business partner James Scott had a trading business all along the coast of Kedah. This, I believe, was how Light came into contact with the Eurasians of Kuala Kedah. He spoke the local languages and was familiar with the Sultan of Kedah, so he could well commiserate with the plight of the Eurasians. Moreover, he had a common law wife by the name of Martina Rozells who was a Eurasian of Thai-Portuguese descent.

When Francis Light got the Sultan of Kedah's approval to open a trading post on Penang, Bishop Garnault sought his help to relocate his Catholic mission there. Light agreed to help, and sent his ship Speedwell to assist in the exodus. The first group of Catholics landed in Penang landed on the eve of the Feast of the Assumption, in 1786, and celebrated their deliverance from persecution by so naming their church as the Church of the Assumption. Its original location was on Church Street. Bishop Garnault's presbytery was located on the adjacent road, which became known as Bishop Street.

In 1857, the Church of the Assumption moved to its present site on Farquhar Street which was previously occupied by the Convent Orphanage. (In some records that I studied, it stated that the church moved to Farquhar Street in 1802. The present building was erected in 1860, under the leadership of Father Manissol. When it was completed in 1861, it could hold 1200 worshippers. The building underwent an extension in 1928, when two wings were added to it.

In 1955, the Church of the Assumption was elevated by a Decreee of the Vatican, to the status of the Cathedral of the Diocese of Penang. The sanctuary was renovated for the setting up of the seat for the first Bishop of Penang, the Right Reverend Monsignor Francis Chan. It was then known as the Cathedral of the Assumption. However, in 2003, as the size of the church congregation in the city had substantially decreased, the status of Cathedral was transferred to the Church of the Holy Spirit in Green Lane.

Today, the Catholic community linked to the Church of the Assumption has been reduced to just a few homes lucked away on Argus Lane, before the cathedral.
The stately grey exterior of the Cathedral of the Assumption

Like most important buildings of the British administration, the Penang Town Hall takes pride of place in front of an open field, in this case the Esplanade Padang in George Town.

The foundation stone of the Town Hall was laid in 1879 and the main building completed in 1883. It consisted of an assembly hall, a grand ballroom, and a library.
The Penang Library was born here, after the Prince of Wales Library was moved here and renamed. An annex was added in 1890 while the porch and top floor added in 1903. The left wing - when cement plaster was introduced - was added in 1930. Those extensions and renovations together constitute the Town Hall.




Town Hall

After all this sightseeing which took up most of the morning I was thirsty and soaking wet through, I stopped off on the way back to the hotel for a soft drink. Back at the hotel I changed out of my damp, nay wet clothes, and off out again. This time inland to the Buddhist Temple of Kek Lok Si.

The Buddhist temple of Kek Lok Si is situated in (H)Air Itam, a suburb of Georgetown. You can take a local bus from the Komtar centre. I took a taxi, because the taxi takes me you right up the the hill (the Kek Lok Si is halfway on a hill). I decided to walk down, but not to walk up the hill in this heat.
The temple was begun in 1890 and, from all appearances, construction really hasn't ever stopped. And it's still going on! The temple is supposedly the largest in Malaysia.
The Kek Lok Si project was inspired by the chief monk of the Goddess of Mercy Temple of Pitt Street. With the support of the consular representative of China in Penang, the project received the sanction of the Manchu Emperor Kuang Hsi, who bestowed a tablet and gift of 70,000 volumes of the Imperial Edition of the Buddhist Sutras.









Without doubt the largest and best known temple in Penang, the Temple of Supreme Bliss, better known as Kek Lok Si, staggered on the hillside overlooking the town of Ayer Itam.
Since the olden days, the hills of Ayer Itam are regarded as important geomantically. Known as He San, or Crane Hill, they are recommended as a retreat for Taoist practitioners striving for immortality.
Construction of the temple started in 1893, but it was only in 1930 that the Pagoda of Rama VI, named after the Thai king who laid the foundation stone, but better known as the Pagoda of 10,000 Buddha's, was completed.
This pagoda combines a Chinese octagonal base with a middle tier of Thai design, and a Burmese crown, reflecting the temple's embrace of both Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism.

The latest addition to the temple complex is the 30.2m bronze statue of the Avalokitesvara - Goddess of Mercy or Kuan Yin - on the hillside above the pagoda. This is a spectacular sight.
This statue was completed and open to the public at the end of 2002 although there is still construction work going on.




If you want to get a close-up look of the Kuan Yin statue, then go left as you get to the furthest hall, which is also the largest and look for the signs for the 'incline lift' to the goddess.
The incline lift is more of a tram -- an elevator-sized glass box mounted on rails which goes up to the terrace above the existing temple where the goddess stands.
Use of the lift costs RM 2 each way.



The Kek Lok Si project was mooted by the chief monk of the Goddess of Mercy Temple of Pitt Street. With the support of the consular representative of China in Penang, the project received the sanction of the Manchu Emperor Kuang Hsi, who bestowed a tablet and gift of 70,000 volumes of the Imperial Edition of the Buddhist Sutras.

Construction of the temple started in 1893, but it was only in 1930 that the Pagoda of Rama VI, named after the Thai king who laid the foundation stone, but better known as the Pagoda of 10,000 Buddhas, was completed. This pagoda combines a Chinese octagonal base with a middle tier of Thai design, and a Burmese crown, reflecting the temple's embrace of both Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism














Reputedly the largest Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia, situated close to the bustling Air Hitam market. The temple's enclave including a pagoda and a huge statue of the Goddess Kuan Yin is prominent. Besides the monastery, a seven-storey pagoda of 10,000 Buddha images displays the essence of an eclectic mix of Chinese, Thai and Burmese architecture. The main hall has colourful souvenir shops. A shrine filled with statues and a courtyard where a large pond full of carp and the tortoises are main attractions. Here a pathway that leads to a stairway will take you to the Pagoda.






By the time I had finished looking around the temple the heavens had opened up. It was close to five o'clock so I was forced to give the Penang hill station a miss and headed off down the hill to catch the bus back to Komtar and the hotel. I needed to collect my washing from the laundry.

The bus journey back took me through some of the tenement areas of Penang. Like the city they, in the main looked rather dilapidated and run down.
It is a shame, there some really interesting things to see in Penang but for me it is lacking something. A lick of paint?

Tonight in will be mostly eating in the hotel. I quite fancy burger and chips. Dog burger and chips!

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Location:Lorong Baru,George Town,Malaysia