Georgetown is a UNESCO Heritage City in the state of Penang, which is located in an island 350 kms north of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. Each Chinese New Year celebration, the state government of Penang usually organizes an official state wide Chinese New Year celebration to promote culture, understand and unity for all in the country. This year in 2019, the celebration was held on 9th Feb 2019, and Local Guides in Malaysia congregated there in Georgetown to join in the festivities, as well as to shoot high quality photos for Google Maps. Because this is also a time where many of the local clans family homes (Kongsi) open their historical doors to visitors.
Our original meet-up event RSVP page: https://maps.google.com/localguides/meetup/penang-cny-photo-walk
The day started early in the morning where a few of us started our journey from Kuala Lumpur to Penang in a local express bus from the main bus terminal in TBS Bandar Tasik Selatan (https://goo.gl/maps/Hy3L7bQC7UB2). It was a fairly relaxing journey to start at 6am in the morning, with the comfortable bus ride which took 5 hours to get to Butterworth Ferry station (https://goo.gl/maps/bFUbnCbsoDp). A very picturesque ferry ride into Georgetown took about 20 minutes, and we enjoyed the view, the wind and the anticipation of getting into Georgetown. From the Georgetown ferry bus terminal (https://goo.gl/maps/UbejtAEcPdy), we had taken the Penang free CAT bus which goes around Georgetown.
Photo below: Our journey from Kuala Lumpur in bus, through Butterworth ferry to Georgetown Penang.
First order of the day, food! We hadn’t had much to eat throughout the journey, so we were famished. Penang is a center of food culture and there is just so much to eat in Penang, however, we needed to find a halal place to enjoy traditional Penang food. We headed to Bee Hwa Cafe (https://goo.gl/maps/dx5WvxpxPUx), a very highly rated traditional Penang Chinese food shop which is owned and run by local Chinese Muslim family, and serves tradtional halal Penang food! It was amazing, and personally for me, everything taste just like the non-halal versions. We had our fix of Penang Char Kuay Teow, Penang Curry Noodles, and Penang Prawn Noodles, all loaded with excellent fresh seafood and jumbo prawns. And with drinks for the 2 of us, it came to just over RM 20 which is USD 5. Highly recommended.
Photo below: Our food adventure in Bee Hwa Cafe, a traditional Penang food shop which serves halal food.
Having our fill, we had a craving for some cold dessert on such a hot day. And just 5 minutes walk from Bee Hwa Cafe is the Penang Road Famous Teochew Cendul stall. (https://goo.gl/maps/NkSu7siKnN52). When we got there, a huge queue had already built up, as well known places like these, always have a huge following from locals as well as visitors. Cendol is like soft pandanus rice noodles served with shaved ice in rich coconut milk flavored with thick coconut sugar. It was sweet, cooling and delicous. We took lots of photos and also visited some shops all the the area.
Photo below: Sweet cold rich thick Cendul in the famous Teochew Cendul shop in Jalan Penang.
Having eaten, and eaten and eaten, time for us to explore the heritage city and absorb some local culture and shoot lots of photos. As it was still early in the afternoon, the state Chinese New Year celebration set up was still in progress. We visited whatever we could as the organizers set up exhibits, stalls, venues, stages throughout 3kms of roads in the old city of Georgetown. Along the way, we checked out traditional Chinese musical instruments, watched traditional Chinese dance practice, participated in cultural activities such as calligraphy, making decorations, watched lion dance and so much more.
Photo below: Participating in many traditional Chinese cultural activities.
Along our exploration, we had the opportunity to visit many of the local Chinese family clan homes (Kongsi) as only during special occassions do they open their doors to visitors. It was certainly a priviledge and opportunity for us. We had visited these family homes and temples and more.
Yap Kongsi Temple (https://goo.gl/maps/jhfiDT46XtD2)
Khoo Kongsi (https://goo.gl/maps/cD6GD1NRb6x)
Twa Peh Kong Temple (https://goo.gl/maps/ssQtunX77wE2)
Cheah Kongsi (https://goo.gl/maps/p1eyVUPsXZC2)
Koo Siang Wooi (https://goo.gl/maps/ju7nxWVx2WF2)
Thai Pak Koong (https://goo.gl/maps/caDBYX3LVv72)
and many more
Photo below: Our visits to many family clan homes and temples in Georgetown
Throughout the streets of old Georgetown, many street art can be found. We were hunting for these famous art pieces and taking photos for them. Many of these photos are used for souvenir t-shirts for tourists as well.
Photo below: Some photos of the street art found throughout Georgetown
After all the walking and exploring, we were hungry again, and there was no shortage of food stalls throughout the street during the Chinese New Year event. We visited close to 100 food stalls opened along the streets in the area, eating and tasting many local delicious delicacies such as Nian Gao, Pao zhi, Ziao Zhi, Satay, Mua Chi, and so much more.
Photo below: More than just a heritage walk, we were eating non stop of all the delicious street food in Georgetown Penang.
At 5pm in the evening, local Local Guides who were from Penang had joined us and our exploration group just got larger. In fact, more of us were supposed to join from Kuala Lumpur, but some last minute circumstances only had me @StephenAbraham and @PavelSarwar come from Kuala Lumpur. We were joined by @OmerAli , @AlsmieA and @EugeneWong in Penang. Soon all the festivities started. We were just enjoying our time together watching all the cultural events and shows all along the roads.
Photo below: Malaysia & Penang Local Guides meet up!
So many cultural events in a single night. There was singing, dancing, traditional musical instruments show, lion dance, and many official programs with the state government including loh sang (mixing of property salad) and so much more. We were just happy we were all together there. Towards the later part of the evening, we were all just so tired and worn out. Some little drizzle towards the night had kept everything cool and after more food and drinks, it was time to end the meet-up, and for us to head back home.
Traffic was in a standstill and we headed back to the Sungai Nibong Express Bus station (https://goo.gl/maps/wZXqwo6wP622) to get our midnight bus back to Kuala Lumpur.
Photo below: So many cultural event until the late night, and soon, it was time for us to get home.
It has been such an awesome one single day for us. So much experience and excitement with not too much expenses. Georgetown Penang has so many other attractions outside of Chinese New Year period. And we highly recommend all tourists to at least visit here for 2-3 days when coming to Malaysia.
#localguides #letsguide #penang
*Note: All photos and videos are self-captured.
