23 September 2023, Saturday

For our second day in Penang, our main agenda was to visit George Town. The historic core of the city was prescribed a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with Malacca City in 2008. Penang and Melaka were the two historic port cities along the Straits of Malacca during British colonial rule of Malaysia. Together with Singapore, these three territories formed the Straits Settlements in 1826 before becoming British Crown Colonies in 1867. After a simple breakfast at our apartment, we started our day’s sightseeing at 9:30am. But before going to George Town, we dropped by two beautiful Buddhist temples, which were both just a stone’s throw away from our apartment.

We first visited the Dhammikarama Burmese Temple at Lorong Burma. Established in 1803, this is one of the earliest Buddhist temples in Penang, and the only Burmese Buddhist temple in Malaysia. Originally known as Nandy Meloh Burmese Temple, it was built by the Burmese community after Nyonya Betong purchased the land from George Layton for 390 Spanish dollars.

Entry to the temple is free. It was relatively quiet when we visited in the morning, with just a handful of other tourists.  After passing through the entrance gates, we walked through a long, sheltered walkway, where numerous storyboard paintings depicted Siddhartha Gautama’s journey to enlightenment to become Buddha. At the end of the walkway was a prayer hall.

The temple grounds were very serene and filled with greenery. We saw the Arahant Upagutta Shrine with its three golden pagoda towers standing above a pond with zig-zag walkways. Near the shrine was a disused 200-year-old well, which was the only source of water supply to the inhabitants in the surrounding area of the temple. The well was in use until pipe water was installed by the Penang Municipal Water Department.   

Further along was the Golden Pagoda Bell Tower, a relatively new addition to the temple built in 2011 at a cost of RM3 million. The exterior of the building was filled with intricate carvings, forming an impressive sight. Next to the bell tower was the Dhammesika Betong Vihar, where a statue of the legendary Garuda stood on the front left side. Garuda is the mythical king of the birds and a Hindu deity primarily depicted as the mount of god Vishnu. However, the Garuda is also being mentioned in Buddhist texts and is thus acknowledged by Buddhists as well.

Around the corner was a large 3D mural depicting the epic Renunciation of the Buddha. Riding on his stallion Kanthaka and followed by his servant Channa, Prince Siddhartha Gautama crossed the river Anoma where he then discarded all his princely attire and cut off his hair in exchange for an ascetic robe and an alms bowl. On his right were Devas (heavenly beings) who encouraged him in the search for Supreme Enlightenment, while on his left were Maras (evil ones) who tried unsuccessfully to dissuade him from doing so.

In front of the mural was a giant rotating lotus sculpture where nine slender arms extended from it. At the end of each metal arm was a small silver bowl with words on it, such as “Happiness”, “Good Health” and “Higher Education”. FL figured out that the purpose was for people to throw coins into the bowls. If you succeeded in doing so, your desired wish will come true. Even though it was rotating quite slowly, it wasn’t easy getting the coins into the bowls as they were small and positioned about two metres away. We took turns to try and everyone got a coin into one of the bowls, except for me. I must have thrown at least 10 coins but I was not successful. Sad.

Moving on, we saw the golden stupa, which is the oldest portion of the temple, consecrated in 1805. The stupa was then enshrined within an outer stupa that was built in 1838. The stupa was being worked on during our visit and there was some scaffolding around it. Near the stupa was a large sculpture of a globe with a pair of winged chimeras known as Panca-Rupa. Made up of five powerful creatures – the trunk and tusks of the elephant, four-hoofed legs and two agile ears of the horse, the face of a lion and the deer’s horns, the body and tail of a fish, and the powerful wings of a Garuda, Panca-Rupa are the Guardian Protectors of the World.

Next to the stupa was the temple’s ordination hall, Sasana Vamsa Sima Shrine Hall. An ordination hall is a Buddhist building specifically consecrated and designated for the performance of the Buddhist ordination ritual and other ritual ceremonies. Flanking the entrance of Sima Shrine Hall were a pair of chinthes, guardian lions commonly found in Burmese temples.

After removing our footwear, we entered the hall and were greeted by a beautiful, tall standing Buddha statue wrapped in gold robes. Surrounding the main Buddha statue were hundreds of other much smaller Buddha sculptures lining the walls of the hall. Not only that, the hall was decorated with elaborate wooden carvings, which covered the ceiling and archways. Very impressive.

Dad, mum and FL spent some time picking and buying bracelets from the shop inside the Sima Shrine Hall. After that, we finished our visit at 10:25am and walked over to the Wat Chaiyamangalaram Thai Buddhist Temple, directly opposite the Burmese temple. Entry to Wat Chaiyamangalaram is also free.

As Penang is located close to Thailand (then known as Siam), trading ties between the two countries were strong and there was considerable Thai Buddhism influence on the Chinese population in Penang. Wat Chaiyamangalaram was established in 1845 but the main shrine and pagoda were built in 1900. In 1910, the consecration and laying of sacred stones (Loog Nimit in Thai) was celebrated. These sacred stones were buried beneath the little pagodas around the shrine and pagoda.

The temple displays modern Thai Buddhist architectural designs and has undergone several renovations and the addition of other structures. The centrepiece of the temple is the 33-metre-long reclining Buddha housed in the main shrine. The entrance of the shrine was guarded by a pair of Deva statues. On their left and right were two pairs of serpent-like creatures. At first glance, they looked similar but upon closer inspection, I realised that one was a pair of naga and the other was a pair of dragons. The naga and dragons were covered with glittery mosaic tiles and they gleamed brightly in the morning sun.

After removing our footwear, we stepped inside the main hall. It was a cavernous space with the reclining Buddha draped in gold robes lying peacefully on the raised plinth. In front of the plinth were dozens of smaller gold and bronze Buddha statues. The four walls of the hall were covered with hundreds of small, gold Buddha carvings laid out in a uniform pattern like a wallpaper. The floor was covered with tiles bearing motifs of lotus flowers. In Buddhism, the lotus is associated with purity, spiritual awakening and faithfulness, because the flower is able to emerge from murky waters in the morning and be perfectly clean.

We walked one round around the reclining Buddha statue. Lining the back wall of the hall were urns containing the ashes of the deceased. The reclining Buddha statue itself was a columbarium with many more urns kept inside, under its body. After a short visit, we went to see the golden pagoda next to the main shrine, which was also a columbarium. We spent about 25 minutes visiting Wat Chaiyamangalaram.

At the time of our visit, dad, mum and I had no recollection of having visited the Burmese and Thai Buddhist temples before. However, upon our return to Singapore a week later, we flipped through our hard copy photo albums and discovered that we had actually visited the two temples before. Here are the photos from our two visits, in 1987 and 1991:

From these photos, you can see that there are differences between then and now, and even between the two earlier visits. For the Burmese temple, you can see that the statue of the Panca-Rupa guarding the globe had been repainted from brown to green and gold, and the Sasana Vamsa Sima Shrine Hall with the standing Buddha was not built yet. For the Thai temple, you can see that the body of the dragons used to be painted and not covered with glittery mosaic tiles. Same same, but different.

At about 10:50am, we left Wat Chaiyamangalaram and hopped on a Grab car towards the George Town historic city centre. The fare was RM6 (S$1.76) for the 10-minute ride. I didn’t do much research for this trip so I only had a general plan for the day. I intended to start from the eastern corner and make our way through the Street of Harmony (Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling) followed by Armenian Street. Hence, I selected the Queen Victoria Memorial Clock Tower as the Grab car destination.

When we drove past Fort Cornwallis, we saw the perimeter walls and a few of the old canon guns pointing towards the sea. As it was near the Queen Elizabeth clock tower, I asked the driver to drop us at the entrance of the fort. I was hoping that entry to the fort would be free (just like Fort Canning or Fort Siloso in Singapore), but we found out there was an admission fee of RM20 (S$5.90) so we decided to give it a miss.

Fort Cornwallis is named after Charles Cornwallis, who was the Governor-General in Bengal in the late 1700s. Originally comprising of Nibong palm trunks with no permanent structures, the fort was rebuilt using brick and stone by Indian convict labourers and completed in 1810. The fort was used as a military and administrative base for the British but it never engaged in combat during its operational history.

We walked over to the Queen Victoria Memorial Clock Tower, which was donated by local Penang millionaire Cheah Chen Eok in 1897 to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, marking the 60^th year of her reign. The clock tower was quite pretty but it felt a little isolated and out of place. In particular, I found the brown 13-storey Penang Malay Chamber of Commerce building across the road to be an eyesore, totally out of character from the rest of the colonial-style buildings in the vicinity. It is one of the few high-rise buildings in the inner part of George Town and it was built before the city became a UNESCO World Heritage Site and height control was put in place.

In the middle of the roundabout was a contemporary metal sculpture resembling a betel nut. The roundabout is at the junction of four roads – Light Street, Beach Street, King Edward Place and Jalan Tun Syed Sheh Barakbah. Light Street is named after Francis Light, who founded Penang in 1786 as the first British settlement in Southeast Asia.

We then crossed over to Beach Street, one of the oldest streets in Penang, along with the adjoining Light Street. Beach Street is so named because it was once a coastal road stretching along the eastern shoreline of George Town. Warehouses and godowns used to extend from Beach Street to the sea. Land reclamation in the late 19^th century shifted the shoreline further east, so Beach Street is no longer right beside the sea, just like the situation with our Beach Road in Singapore.

The historic commercial centre was laid out between Light Street, Beach Street, Malabar Street (subsequently renamed Chulia Street) and Pitt Street (now called Masjid Kapitan Keling Street). Since its creation between 1786 and 1787, Beach Street has always served as the commercial and financial heart of George Town. The northern end was where European traders and merchants were concentrated, with many banking and shipping companies. The southern section was dominated by wholesalers.

Walking down Beach Street, we saw many beautiful colonial-era buildings including the Penang State Department of Islamic Religious Affairs and the Bank of China building (completed in Neoclassical style in 1905). A lot of the banks are still located here today. It started to drizzle as we turned into Church Street and headed to the Pinang Peranakan Mansion. Our neighbour had recommended this attraction so we popped over to have a look.

The exterior of the building was painted a striking shade of green and the main entrance was adorned with beautiful Scottish ironworks. Admission to the museum costs RM25 (S$7.35) for adults. After getting our tickets, we entered the mansion, and were informed that there would be a free guided tour taking place at 11:30am, just 10 minutes later. We milled around the entrance while waiting for the tour to start.

It was immediately obvious that it was the right call to come for a visit because the mansion was huge and seriously impressive. It was very well restored to showcase the best of Peranakan culture, design and architecture. In fact, many scenes from the highly-successful Singapore drama series The Little Nyonya were filmed here.

The tour was led by a veteran guide named Stanley. As it was a free tour, anyone could join or drop out if they wished. Around 30 people came along for his English tour; there was a separate Chinese tour with much fewer participants.

Stanley was a masterful guide. He told us about the history of the mansion and explained Peranakan culture in simple, effective terms. He was able to command the attention of all the participants and led us through the various rooms with ease. Most of all, he displayed great enthusiasm and a dash of humour, making the 45 minutes fly by. I learned a lot from him and really enjoyed his tour. I gave him a little tip but sadly, I think I was the only one who did so.

About the history of the mansion, it was originally owned by a Chinese tycoon named Chung Keng Quee, who travelled to Malaysia as a young man in search for his father and elder brother who had come to work in the tin mines. He eventually stayed on and joined the triads. By 1860, he became the leader of the Penang-based Hai San Secret Society and the tin mines in Larut (now known as Taiping). He was given the title “Kapitan China”, or Captain China, the leader of the Chinese community.

In 1893, Chung acquired the plot of land where the mansion now sits. In fact, the site was formerly the headquarters of Ghee Hin, another Chinese secret society that was a rival of Chung’s Hai San. Both groups clashed in the 1867 Penang Riots and Ghee Hin was ultimately ousted. After taking over the land, Chung converted the former Ghee Hin headquarters into his own townhouse and office.

Even though he was not of Peranakan descent himself, Chung decided to build the mansion in the style of eclectic Straits architecture, which only wealthy Peranakan families could afford at the time. He incorporated European and Asian influences into the building, including English floor tiles, Scottish ironworks and Chinese carved-wood panels.

Chung’s family owned the mansion for five generations before it was sold to a local Baba (Peranakan man) named Peter Soon in 2000. Stanley said that even the fact that the property lasted for five generations was a feat. There is a famous ancient Chinese proverb 富不过三代, or “Wealth does not pass three generations” – the first generation builds the wealth; the second generation is inspired to preserve it by witnessing the hard work of their parents; and the third generation, having never witnessed the work that went into the creation of this wealth, squanders it.

After acquiring the property, Peter Soon spent another four years to restore the mansion to its former glory. After World War II, no one lived in the house for over 50 years and it fell into a state of disrepair. Being an architect himself, Peter Soon restored the mansion as closely as possible to its original condition and brought in his personal collection of Peranakan antiques to furnish the mansion. Today, the mansion has been converted into a veritable museum with over 1,000 pieces of jewellery, fine China, ceramics and artefacts, dedicated towards preserving Penang’s Peranakan culture.

The only portion of the mansion that was not sold to Peter Soon was the ancestral hall. This is where descendants of the Chung family still visit yearly to make offerings to their ancestors during Qingming Festival, or Tomb-Sweeping Day.

Something interesting that I learned from Stanley during the tour is that there are several distinctions between the Peranakans in the Northern areas (from Thailand and Penang) and those from further South (from Melaka, Singapore and Indonesia). Firstly, Northern Nyonyas (Peranakan women) rolled their hair buns at the top of their heads, while Southern Nyonyas rolled theirs at the back of their heads. Secondly, the Northern Nyonyas and Babas spoke 70% local dialect and 30% Malay, whereas it is the opposite for their Southern counterparts (30% local dialect vs 70% Malay); the food cooked by the Northern Peranakans is more Chinese-style with more use of pork (e.g. babi pongteh), while the Southern Peranakans use more chicken in their food (e.g. buah keluak). These were the original distinctions but nowadays, the distinction is less clear.

In all, we spent about 1½ hours visiting the Pinang Peranakan Mansion. You can easily spend 3 hours or more here, especially if you love taking pictures because every angle is just so pretty. For an entrance fee of RM25, it was definitely money very well-spent. The mansion itself, and the huge collection within, were very impressive. It seriously puts our Peranakan Museum in Singapore to shame. The guided tour was an unexpected bonus and I highly recommend joining the tour to make your visit even more worthwhile. I learned so much from Stanley in that 45 minutes. I would even go so far as to say that it is worth flying to Penang just to visit the Pinang Peranakan Mansion alone. It is that good. A must-go!

By the time we left the museum at 12:50pm, we were starving. We came across a very old-school kopitiam just around the corner so we had a simple lunch there. The char kway teow and fried rice cost RM6 (S$1.76) each. We also ordered a plate of wanton mee and a bowl of wanton soup to share.

After lunch, we continued walking along Church Street. We passed by the Tua Pek Gong Temple at King Street, a small Taoist temple sandwiched between the Ning Yang Hui Guan (寕陽會館) and Xiang Shan Hui Guan (香山會館), which are clan associations.

Soon, we reached the end of Church Street, where it joined the main street, Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling. Across the street was St. George’s Church. That is why the street is called Church Street. In fact, the next street parallel to Church Street is called Bishop Street. No prizes for guessing why it is named as such. In the past, streets were often named after landmarks or the dominant communities occupying the area.

St. George’s Church is the oldest Anglican church in Southeast Asia. After the founding of Penang in 1786 by Francis Light, Anglicism officially came in 1805 with the building of a chapel at Fort Cornwallis. Approval for a permanent church was obtained in 1810 and St. George’s Church was completed in 1818, built entirely using Indian convict labour.  

The church is built with a combination of Neo-Classical, Georgian and English Palladian architectural styles. It is simply decorated, with Doric columns supporting the portico. Its appearance resembles our Armenian Church in Singapore, but slightly larger. The Armenian Church is the oldest church in Singapore, completed in 1835. In front of the entrance of St. George’s Church was a memorial pavilion erected in 1886 in memory of Francis Light, to mark the Centenary Celebrations of the founding of modern Penang.

The church was declared one of the 50 National Treasures of Malaysia by the government in 2017. I wanted to see the interior of the church but unfortunately it was closed for renovations. The church occupied quite a large area but the surrounding compound was bare and not well-maintained, which I felt was a pity. More effort and money should be spent to spruce up these national monuments since they are historically significant.

A short distance away was Kuan Im Teng, or the Goddess of Mercy Temple. This is the oldest Taoist temple in Penang, built in 1728. However, it was originally established for the worship of Mazu, the deity of seafarers. Ostensibly so because the early Chinese settlers had to undertake a treacherous journey by sailing across the South China Sea to get here. After the temple was renovated in 1800, the temple’s main deity was changed from Mazu to Guan Yin. Other Chinese deities such as Guan Yu and Tua Pek Gong were also added, reflecting the more diverse Chinese community at that point.

Not surprisingly, the road directly leading to the temple was called China Street as it was lined with Chinese shophouses in the past. The temple survived aerial bombings by the Japanese during World War II and emerged unscathed, leading the locals to believe that the temple possessed magical qualities. We went in to take a quick look. It was busy with many locals going about their routines of praying and worshipping, and the whole place smelled of incense.

Further along, we saw Sri Mahamariamman Temple, the oldest Hindu temple in Penang, completed in 1833. The main entrance of the temple is at Queen Street but we saw the back entrance from Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling. Built originally as a shrine in 1801, the temple was enlarged into a proper temple in 1833. The temple is dedicated to the Hindu goddess Mariamman, where “Mari” means “rain” and “amman” means “mother”. Hence, she is worshipped by the South Indians as the bringer of rains and curer of diseases.

As more Indians came to Penang to work as labourers, merchants and sepoys, they settled down in the area around Sri Mahamariamman Temple. The area bounded by Queen Street, King Street, Penang Street, Market Street and Church Street became known as Little India. The next street that we crossed was called Chulia Street. Chulia refers to Indians who originated from the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu in South India. The Chulias were mainly Muslims, which brings us neatly to our next stop, Kapitan Keling Mosque, which is very near Chulia Street.

Kapitan Keling Mosque is the oldest mosque in George Town and it was established in 1801. It is named after Cauder Mohuddeen Merican, also known as Kapitan Keling, the leader of the Chulias. “Keling” is a term used in the Malay Archipelago to describe a person originating from the Indian subcontinent. It was originally a neutral term and linked to the powerful ancient Kalinga empire of Eastern India. However, the term “keling” gradually became offensive and derogatory as many Indian convicts were brought to these regions (Malaysia and Singapore) to work as labourers. Their feet were bound together with metals chains, which made a clanking sound (“kling kling”) whenever they walked. Hence, it became insulting to call an Indian “keling” because of the historical association with convict labour. Nevertheless, during Kapitan Keling’s time over two centuries ago, it was still perfectly acceptable to use the term “keling”.

The original mosque was much smaller and simpler in design. It only took on its present form after several rounds of expansion and a major renovation in 1930. The mosque combines the influences of Indian-Mughal architecture with a bit of Gothic, Moorish and Roman Renaissance design. The main prayer hall is topped by Mughal domes, and a beautiful minaret stands beside the entrance at Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling.

By now, you should have noticed a common theme among the four places of worship mentioned above – they are the oldest of their kind in Penang. And you would also have noticed that they are places of worship for different religions – Christianity, Taoism, Hinduism and Islam. Hence, Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling is called the “Street of Harmony”, where these different religions coexist harmoniously along the same street. In Singapore, we also have a Street of Harmony – Waterloo Street, where many different places of worship reside along the same stretch of road.

I also noticed that there are many similarities between the historic core of George Town and Singapore’s historic Civic District and downtown area. Besides having common street names like Chulia Street, Queen Street, Beach Street/Road, the way that the communities are organised is also similar. And that is because the original Town Plan formulated by Stamford Raffles for Singapore in 1822 draws references from George Town.

Stamford Raffles is the founder of modern Singapore in 1819, and he developed the town plan for Singapore after learning lessons from George Town, where he had been prior to the founding of Singapore. He integrated the Malay, Arab, Chinese and Indian communities into the town plan, but reserved the best land to the Europeans. He designated an area for commercial activities, and another area for government and administrative purposes. He also picked up traits common in Indian colonial towns such as Calcutta, where a fort dominated the plan. Hence, seeing the way the historic core in George Town is organised reminded me a lot of Singapore.

We soon reached Armenian Street, one of the main touristy and commercial areas in George Town. Named after Armenian traders who arrived in Penang in the early 1800s, it is a reminder of the legacy left behind by the Armenians, whose presence was actually rather short-lived as most of them had left Penang by the 1930s. The Sarkies Brothers (comprising Arshak, Tigran and Aviet) established the Eastern & Oriental Hotel (originally two separate hotels) in 1885 before founding Raffles Hotel in Singapore in 1887 and the Strand Hotel in Myanmar in 1901. These three hotels are arguably the finest and most famous hotels in their respective countries today.

As the Armenian presence declined, Chinese traders moved in to Armenian Street and established many clan houses here, such as Khoo Kongsi, Cheah Kongsi and Yap Kongsi. The Chinese also set up many temples in this area.

As we wandered into Armenian Street, we found ourselves among many tourists and foreign school groups. Many of the shophouses along the street were selling souvenirs and T-shirts bearing the same image of the famous “Little Children on a Bicycle” mural. Trishaw riders were also advertising their services. The vibe was quite touristy but it was still acceptable.

We then entered Umbrella Alley, with many colourful umbrellas hanging above the small lane. Several of the umbrellas near the entrance were tattered, torn and faded, but the ones further inside were ok. Many cities have their own Umbrella Alleys. I have encountered them at Blagoevgrad in Bulgaria and Siem Reap in Cambodia. It was a gimmicky way to create a tourist attraction, but nevertheless, it provides some nice photo ops.

Inspired by, or rather, riding on the popularity of the colourful umbrellas, one of the shops sold ice balls drenched in different coloured syrups. Ice balls were a common street food in Singapore in the early 20^th century but I never had the chance to try them before they disappeared in the 1970s due to food hygiene concerns. Hence, I decided to buy one. It cost RM5 (S$1.50) for the small one, which was very reasonable.

Thankfully, the ice ball came with two sturdy bamboo sticks pierced into it so I didn’t have to hold the ice ball with my bare hands, like how it used to be in the old days. And it was served in a small plastic bowl so it wasn’t messy at all. As I ate through the ice, I was surprised to find that there was vanilla ice-cream filling inside. The whole ice ball was yummy and refreshing, and I enjoyed it a lot.

As touristy as it was, some of the shops along Armenian Street were quite interesting. We popped in to the Penang Arts & Crafts Centre and discovered that it was a heritage house selling locally designed handicrafts. A shop on the second floor sold sarong kebayas and Peranakan apparel. The shophouse itself was beautifully restored while retaining features like the wooden spiral staircase to the third floor.

Next, we went to search for the “Little Children on a Bicycle” mural. I knew it was at the end of Armenian Street near Beach Street, but we didn’t see it when we walked past the area. Perplexed, we went into a minimart nearby to ask the staff, and she told us it was at the back, around the corner. Finally, we found it, and we kinda laughed at ourselves when we saw it because we were blind. We had walked past the wall and the mural was right there. I think we were distracted by the busker who was singing directly opposite the mural.

Of all the murals in George Town, “Little Children on a Bicycle” is the most famous of all. It was painted by Lithuanian-born artist Ernest Zacharevic in 2012 in conjunction with the Mirrors George Town project with George Town Festival. Besides Malaysia, he has also painted several murals in Singapore – Style Wars at Joo Chiat Terrace/Everitt Road, a bunch at Kampong Glam along Victoria Street, and one in Chinatown. I also realised that he painted one in Norway too, which I took a photo of when I visited in 2018.

“Little Children on a Bicycle” combines mural painting with a real prop of a bicycle, making it a three-dimensional artwork that encourages visitors to interact with it. The mural is based on real-life siblings Tan Yi (sister) and Tan Kern (brother), depicting the little girl taking her younger brother on a bicycle ride. The artist photographed the siblings while riding an actual bicycle and reproduced their joyous expressions in paint form.

The mural was an unexpected hit and quickly went viral, with visitors forming long queues every day just to take photos with it. In fact, it became somewhat of a monster, transforming the once-quiet Armenian Street into a circus venue. Souvenir shops started sprouting up with all the shops selling the same things. The mural’s image adorned magnets, T-shirts, tote bags and all kinds of paraphernalia, making it ubiquitous and becoming the de facto tourist image of Penang. The artist himself expressed disdain about the effect it has created.

I guess that is the irony that artists sometime face. You want your art to be recognised, but not to the point where it becomes too recognised. It’s like a singer who recorded a hit song that became so big that all he/she is remembered for is that one song. And despite all the other great songs in his/her catalogue, that is the only song that the audience wants to hear every night.

Despite how touristy it has become, we couldn’t resist taking photos with the mural. There were loads of people so we hopped in to snap some quick shots. I felt that the experience of seeing the mural in real life was overshadowed by the busy-ness of the surrounding area, with all the crowds and the busking going on. It would have been better appreciated on a quiet morning. As for the mural itself, it has shown signs of age. The children’s expressions are still vibrantly captured but a large chunk of Tan Kern’s body has faded, especially his back, due to the constant contact by visitors posing next to him.

With our mission accomplished, we left Armenian Street and made our way towards Komtar. We walked along Chulia Street, turned back to Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling and then to Buckingham Street, which merged into Campbell Street. Along the way, we saw some beautiful Art Deco and Modern shophouses, and also some really old and rundown ones.

At Campbell Street, we popped into P.66, an arts & crafts shop just to browse. We were surprised to see that the shophouse unit was so deep, and discovered there was a café at the end of it. The walls in the inner hall were painted a welcoming shade of pinkish-brown, and the seating area at the back was flushed with natural light. It was a nice spot so we decided to take a break and have a cake and coffee here. A cool and accidental discovery.

We eventually reached Komtar at 4:10pm. Komtar is the acronym for Kompleks Tun Abdul Razak, named after the second Prime Minister of Malaysia, who officiated the construction of the complex. It comprises retail outlets, a transportation hub and a skyscraper where the administrative offices of the Penang state government are located. When it was completed in 1985, the 65-storey tower was the tallest building in Malaysia at 231.7 metres.

We first visited Prangin Mall, which opened in 2001 as Phase 3 of the Komtar project. The mall had six floors and it was quite dated. It was targeted more at low-end shopping. The ground floor comprised mostly of electronics and mobile phone accessories shops while the upper floors were occupied by shops selling fashion apparel. Many shops were also shuttered. There was a shop at the ground floor atrium selling suitcases and they were rather cheap. One of our objectives during this trip was to buy a new cabin-size luggage, so we spent some time looking for one. We decided to check out the other malls at Komtar before coming back to buy it later.

From Prangin Mall, we used the link bridge to walk over to 1^st Avenue Mall. It was much more modern and fresher than the former as it opened later in 2010. The shops at 1^st Avenue Mall were also better, with more recognisable international brands like H&M, Forever 21, Brands Outlet, HLA and a lot more restaurants and food options.

We saw that there was another linkway to ICT Mall so we headed over to have a look. As its name suggests, ICT Mall is a digital mall geared towards selling computer hardware and software products, similar to our Sim Lim Square in Singapore. There wasn’t anything for us here, but I saw a small shop selling secondhand vinyl records so I went in to browse while dad, mum and FL went back to 1^st Avenue Mall to shop.

I actually unearthed a few MJ/Jackson 5 titles that I was interested in. When I asked the shopkeeper how much they cost, he quoted me RM200 (S$58.82) for one record. Being a seasoned secondhand vinyl buyer, I knew it was way overpriced so I said thank you and left. He knew I was a foreigner so he was trying to make a killing out of me. The titles were not that rare but I didn’t have them so I didn’t mind adding them to my collection, but I could also do without them, so it was not a big loss for me.

I went back to 1^st Avenue Mall, and bought three polo T-shirts from the OC Lifestyle sports shop, amounting to RM59.90 (S$17.62). After meeting up with the rest, we went back to Prangin Mall to buy the suitcase. From there, we took a Grab car to Ghee Hiang at 216 Macalister Road. The ride cost only RM 5 (S$1.50) and it took 8 minutes, and we arrived at 6:30pm.

One of Penang’s famous local foodstuff is tau sar piah, a Chinese pastry made of mung beans encased in a flaky crust. Personally, I prefer the sweet version that we can find in Singapore, but they only have the savoury version in Malaysia. There are a few famous brands in Penang such as Him Heang, Ban Heang and Tean Ean, but we went to Ghee Hiang because the rest were all not open on Saturday, or had already closed for the day.

Ghee Hiang is one of the most established tau sar piah brands in Penang. It was founded in 1856 by a pastry chef who migrated from Fujian, China to Penang. A box of small tau sar piah with 16 pieces cost RM11.90 (S$3.50). Another popular item they sell is beh teh saw, a flaky pastry filled with gooey sweet and savoury maltose filling topped with sesame seeds on the outer crust. A box of beh teh saw with 5 pieces cost RM11.90. We bought a few boxes of each to bring home for our personal consumption and as gifts for friends and family.

From Ghee Hiang, we took another Grab car back to our apartment. The 19-minute ride cost RM7 (S$2.06) and we arrived at 7:10pm. After dropping our shopping bags, we headed out again for dinner. Yesterday, our Grab driver had recommended Jiashi Restaurant, which was just around the corner from our apartment, along Gurney Drive. It was a simple, traditional Chinese restaurant and evidently very popular with the locals. Thankfully, we managed to get the last empty table without having to queue.

We ordered Fuyong egg, Hong Kong Kailan vegetables stir-fried with garlic, fried tofu, milk butter pork ribs and black pepper diced chicken, together with steamed rice and a pot of Pu’er tea. The bill came up to RM112 (S$33), which was very reasonable. The quality of the food was also very good, especially the diced chicken. A great dinner to round up the day.

We were back in our apartment at 8:25pm. It was a long day but a very fulfilling one. I really enjoyed the tour of the Pinang Peranakan Mansion and exploring the historic George Town city centre. Time for a good rest, with more sightseeing tomorrow!