During our trip to Penang recently, we spent a day going around Georgetown, the capital of the state of Penang. George Town was named after King George III of Great Britain, upon the landing of its founder, Captain Francis Light in 1786. The site where Captain Light first set foot on the Penang island lied within the Fort of Cornwallis, now a tourist attraction.
Do you know that in July 2008, George Town, together with Melaka, have been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site as one of the Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca? It is officially recognised as having a unique architectural and cultural townscape without parallel anywhere in East and Southeast Asia.
Many parts of George Town have been preserved and maintained. Many older buildings are now returned to their former glory. Many streets are still lined by old shophouses, which antique-looking windows and doors. Old grocery shops, mostly run by Chinese businessmen and sell almost everything that you need, still stand, something that you would be hard pressed to see here in Brunei.
An example of a traditional grocery shop.
Streets are lines with beautiful shophouses.
The front facade of one of the older shops.
Rightly so as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the city is clean and not too congested. Traffic is not clogging the roads, unlike many other cities. It is also very picturesque and scenic. I would think that George Town would be a nice location of choice to many couples taking their wedding pictures.
This building is located near the harbour and appropriately housed the Customs House.
This clock tower was contributed by a Penang Chinese family and erected to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Britain's Queen Victoria reign in 1896.
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