George Town — Myriad Misadventures

Our second stop in Malaysia after Kuala Lumpur was George Town in Penang. When we were planning the trip I didn’t realize that Penang wasn’t a city so I had to decide where to go once I realized. Penang is located north of Kuala Lumpur. Two of its biggest cities are Butterworth, on the mainland, and George Town, just across the Strait of Malacca. Figuring that was a good place to start I read up on them. After reading that Butterworth wasn’t particularly interesting I decided to go to George Town which is the capital of Penang and a UNESCO World Heritage Site

George Town has a history of European settlement and there were a couple of Churches that attested to the history of the island. The churches were pretty European and contrasted a bit with all of the Hindu, Muslim, and Chinese architecture we saw in Kuala Lumpur. These still existed in George Town, but at least in the center of the city they were far more muted because of the European influence.

That being said the food was very similar to in Kuala Lumpur, with lots of Chinese and Indian influenced cuisine. We were told to try to go try out a Chinese restaurant called Teksen Restaurant (德成飯店) that was super popular so we tried to go there for dinner the first day but the line to get in was HUGE. I guess they weren’t lying when they told us it was popular. We didn’t want to wait so we wandered down the street and found some street stalls selling cheap food and ate there instead. It may not have been popular but it sure was good. Based on the line at Teksen it might be worth a stop but I’m not much for waiting in line at restaurants. If anybody goes drop a comment and tell me how it was. Another place we stopped at and really enjoyed was Bistro Tang. We got our coffee there one morning and the vibe and service were both great.

The northern part of the city center is a must see. Right along the sea is the Padang Kota Lama park. One corner of the park is taken up by Fort Cornwallis, an old British fort from the 18th century. After paying the entrance fee to get in you can enjoy it at your leisure. I saw some people taking a tour as well but I’m not sure if they were from the fort of city tour guides. Just north of the park and immediately bordering the sea is the Esplanade where you can take a walk with the ocean by your side. At one end of the Esplanade is the Cenotaph which was built to honor people who died during the war. If you walk along the street on the western border of the park you’ll see both the City Hall and Town Hall and east of the park in the middle of a small roundabout is a little clock tower. If you walk west from the park you’ll pass some of the churches I mentioned earlier and find the cemeteries. Closest to the road is the Protestant Cemetery which can be entered and houses the remains of a number of people important to the history of George Town. Behind the Protestant Cemetery is the Catholic Cemetery, but it didn’t seem open to the public. A great way to spend a day is to take in all of the things in the north. Since they’re close together they can be explored in a day without any rush.

Another interesting place to check out is the Chew Jetty in the eastern part of George Town, not far from the where the ferry from Butterworth arrives. The area used to be a living area for Chinese workers in the area and now has a very Chinese flair that’s a cool contrast with the more European style of the churches of farther north. The jetty is a little touristy, with lots of people selling trinkets, but it’s pretty cool to walk out to the ocean through the jetty.

Art

The city was full of street art, and finding it was one of the coolest things we did while in the city. Among the numerous tourist maps you always find at hotels there was one that listed a lot of the art and graffiti in the city center. We spent a great afternoon wandering around trying to find all the cool art we saw in the map. Most of the what we wanted to see we found, although the map was a little dated. A lot of the actual art was much more faded than it appeared in the map and we just could not find the picture of Bruce Lee. And trust me we looked. Among the different pieces of street art we found one of the coolest kinds integrated real objects into the picture. One of them for example had a motorbike leaned up against the wall with a painting of a kid sitting on top of the motorbike. We saw a couple pieces like this and each one was cool and creative. Some of the art is in the same neighborhood as the Chew Jetty, so we saw both during the same sweet. When our art hike took us near the jetty we took a side trip to see it, then veered back towards the art afterwards.

Getting There

Getting from Kuala Lumpur to Georgetown wasn’t too difficult. There is a train that runs from KL Sentral in Kuala Lumpur to Butterworth. After taking that train theres a short bus ride from the train station to the pier and then you hop on the ferry that takes you across a tiny bit of the Strait of Malacca to Georgetown. The ferry was very inexpensive at less than 2 Ringgit and on the way back to to Butterworth it’s free. The center of the city isn’t too large and we just walked from the pier in George Town to our hotel

George Town was a nice small town break after Kuala Lumpur. The food is just as good, the contrast between architectural styles is awesome, and the street art is absolutely not to be missed.

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