Rajeev's World: Treasure Hunt On The Streets Of Georgetown... Part I

Ever since Georgetown had been declared a world heritage site in 2008, there has been a focus on popularizing the historical lanes and by-lanes and to enhance the city's appeal as a tourist destination. And for that artists were commissioned to develop street art over the last few years.

Broadly speaking there are two kinds of street art in Georgetown - murals and wrought iron sculptures. And these have become quite a sensation for tourists, young and old. It is actually a challenge to search for each of these artworks and get yourself clicked there. A whole new business model of renting bicycles has developed - crazed tourists like us hire bikes and cycle around the UNESCO core heritage area in search for these artworks, a lot like a treasure hunt.

Naturally, this was the next activity for us after exploring life as it was in Georgetown a century back on the Chew Jetty...

It was quite warm, and humidity made it even more unbearable...

We began our "treasure hunt" on Lebuh Acheh. This street, much like the rest of Penang has quite an interesting history. When Captain Francis Light set up the colony of Penang as a trading hub, the island lured business away from Aceh, which was already an established trading hub in northern Sumatra. To ensure that the new trading port survives, Light attracted regional businessmen with the concept of a "free trade zone".

One of the prominent traders of that age, Tengku Syed Hussain Al-Aidid, an Arab trader who was also a member of the Acehnese royal family, shifted to Penang in 1792, alongwith a number of Achenese. They established base here on this street and Tengku founded the Acheen Street Mosque in 1808.

The groom and the bride...

There's a Sun Yat Sen Trail here as well, and this reminded me of Balestier in Singapore...

On the lookout for street art...

Kopi Luwak, the most expensive coffee, is on sale here...

There is quite an uncommon method of producing this coffee - it is produced from coffee beans which have been digested by a civet, certain Indonesian cat-like animal. It is also called cat poop coffee or civet cat coffee...

At 38 Ringgit a cup, it isn't a bad deal...

Wrought iron sculpture are a part of the Marking Georgetown project which began in 2009. The caricatures tell the stories and history of streets and the society back then to generate awareness in an interesting way...

This Acehese godown was once a prison - hence the thick walls and small windows...

Searching for more...

"Hello!"

Relaxing over a smoke...

Roaming around the streets here is a lot like moving back in time, a flashback...

Interesting mural...

We tagged along with some other tourists in our excitement to find the "treasures" as soon as we could...

I don't need a hair cut today...

Climbing the ladder...

This sculpture depicts how Cannon Street got its name - during the Penang Riots in 1867 between two major triad factions, cannons were fired upon this area and the street was damaged by cannon shot holes...

Cannon Street is lined with souvenir shops...

There's quite a crowd there...

And we need to discover what that is...

We need something refreshing...

But this Mama-Miya ice cream stall was a lot more appealing...

Fresh coconut ice cream served in a shell, with tender coconut shavings, peanuts, sweet corn, red bean, nata de coco (translucent jelly produced by the fermentation of coconut water), and attap chee (immature seed of the nipah palm)...