It’s a clear, sunny day and considerably hotter than Koh Tao. Penang island (also dubbed Isle of the Betel-nut and Pearl of the Orient) has a hilly interior and George Town sits on a wide coastal strip on the north-east corner. The old town is a designated UNESCO world heritage site in celebration of its religious and cultural diversity – the population is roughly a third Malay, a third Chinese and a third Indian (Tamil) with a smattering of other ethnic groupings – ‘expressed in the great variety of religious buildings (Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Tao), ethnic quarters, many languages (Malay is the offfical language and English is the second language), worship, religious festivals, dances, costumes, art and music, food and daily life’*. All of which makes historic Georgetown a charming, vibrant and fascinating place to visit and we fall in love with it immediately.
We are staying in Love Lane at the Old Penang Guest House. This is an historic colonial house beautifully restored with original shutters both on the street facade and on the upper internal landing walls and rooms facing the inner covered, double height public area. We have one of the two first floor shuttered rooms with wooden floor and tasteful decoration – only 50 ringitts (£10) which is a snip to be able to stay in such a lovely place. Love Lane borders the core heritage zone to the east and the ‘buffer’ zone to the west, and is in the heart of the Chinese district so is an ideal location from which to explore the heart of this beautiful and architecturally arresting city.
We haven’t been able to take any photos since Andy dipped our camera in the sea when we were in Koh Samui. So we head for the nearest shopping mall – Prangin Mall – and buy a Nikon Coolpix. We are hoping will be better than the Sony Cybershot which was useless at taking night shots.
Quite by chance we have arrived on the day of the Chinese New Year cultural celebrations and as the afternoon fades into evening more and more people are coming onto the streets until it is almost impossible to move at anything but shuffilng pace. Chinese lanterns decorate the streets and stages have been erected at various points around Chinatown on which a revolving programme of entertainment is taking place including martial arts displays, classical opera (although it proves completely impossible to get close to the latter) popular and traditional singing, dancing, dragon dances and more. In the main street numerous dragon dancers are accompanied by a cacophony of drums and cymbals.
It’s a delightful surprise to be able to experience these celebrations, particularly because Chinese New Year went completely unmarked at Black Tip. The most absorbing event is the balancing of 30-foot flag poles complete with flags. Performers deftly ‘catch’ the poles kicked to them, on their foreheads and then bounce them onto other parts of their body including shoulders, chin, mouth, the belt knot on their back and a single finger. A impressive feat!
We spend several hours taking in the intoxicating atmosphere until our legs and feet start to protest and our stomachs are growling and we need to eat. We set off to look for some street food, only we have left it too late and the stalls are packing up. So we wander towards the seafront and stumble upon a large food court. Once we have worked out the ordering etiquette – drinks are ordered at the table, food is ordered at the stands and brought to the table, we tuck into some very cheap (16 Ringitts – £3) and authentic food. A far cry from our western lunch in a German bar at 71 Ringitts – £22) which was a bit of an aberration; we have eaten hardly and western food since arriving in Asia, because it is so expensive and generally not very good.
*UNESCO World Heritage inscription 2008 (italics are mine)