A Recent Visit to Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia.

1. View of part of Georgetown from a nearby hotel.

2. A slightly different angle of Georgetown from a nearby hotel.

3. View including the Komtar, Georgetown's tallest iconic building.

4. Another view with Komtar in the background.

5. Side and back view of a good place for good local Chinese food.

6. Side view of St. Francis Xavier's Catholic Church in Penang Road.

7. World Optical Company, one of the iconic buildings in Georgetown.

8. Another interesting building at the corner of Leith Street and Muntri Street.

9. One of many art pieces to be found all over Georgetown;

this one on the wall of the actual shoe shop shown above.

10. Some of the old houses along Leith Street

(note the facade of the house on the left of the photo)

11. Penang oldest Catholic mission school 

- St. Xavier's Institution - founded in 1852.

12. Another view of the front of SXI (St. Xavier's Institution) as it is known locally. 
The original school was actually bombed during World War 2, 
and rebuilt by the Catholic Miission Brothers of La Salle.

13. The front of a house in Love Lane.

14. Another piece of art. The wordings are 
'Obviously this is less than five feet' 
referring to the five-foot path.

15. Another piece of art depicting a Chinese man from a part era of Georgetown.

16. Another piece of art on the same street.

16. This art piece is saying that this five-foot path is the narrowest in Penang.

17. Yet another piece on the pillar of the five-foot way.

18. This was done by a famous artist entitled Indian man on a boat.

18. A whimsical piece explaining who the toktokmee got its name - from
the tok tok sign coming made by sticks by the hawker to announce his wares.
The basket is supposed to be for an order of one large and one small portion.

19. Ornate design on a pillar on in one of the older buildings in Penang.

20. This art piece tells of how the Indian jewellers would sit cross legged 
to create jewellery in the olden days.

21. Another old building that has a nice red fresh coat of paint.

22. A side view of St. George's Church - the oldest Anglican church in Penang.

23. The ornate front of the old market in Carnavan Street.

24. A closer look at the front of the Carnavan Street Market.

25. The top part of the front of the Carnavan Street market.

26. The inside of the above market in the afternoon, 
when most of the business has been done.

27. The trishaw riders along Penang Road, parked near a bunch of hotels.

28. The front of St. Francis Xavier's Church in Penang Road.

29. One of the historical buildings on Penang Road.

30. A picture of a trishaw rider on the wall of a hotel 
in front of the trishaw riders in Penang Road.

31. The Catholic Information Centre, 
located at the entrance to St. Francis Xavier's Church in Penang Road.
It has a good range of Catholic books and religious objects.

32. A mamak stall at the beginning part of Penang Road.
They have a good variety of food.

33. The local and foreign version of the same thing - strong coffee.

34. A painting of a boy enjoying a bowl of cendol. In the front is the famous Cendol stall
that sees endless crowds from morning to night, and patronised by both locals and tourists.

35. One of Penang's iconic nasi kandar stalls, located in an alley 
that is not obvious unless you know where to look. 
This is why the owner has put up a sign and a plastic man 
to tell you where it is located.

36. If you like a cool beer this is probably a nice place to have it, located at the very beginning of Penang Road. These bars were once shops selling consumer goods before they were finally converted into this beer-watering hole.

37. This is the famous Wisma Boon Siew, located at
No. 1, Penang Road, next to the bars shown above.

38. The space in front of the bars are filled with these colourful chairs. A nice place to have a cool drink, chat and just enjoy the atmosphere, with no fear of vehicles crashing into you.

39. Another iconic kind of opposite Wisma Boon Siew 
that has shows and more bars to hang out.

40. The famous E & O (Eastern & Oriental) Hotel that is perpendicular to Penang Road,
just walking distance to the places mentioned above.

A visit to the Ayer (Air) Itam Market in Penang

 Ayer Itam or Air Itam as it is known in Bahasa Malaysia is located in Penang Island, not too far from Penang Hill. This little town has not changed much over the years, make that 3 to 4 decades. It has its local charms and should not be missed if you want to try some good and inexpensive local food.

Most of the stalls are manned by the locals as foreign workers tend to go for the big cities in the Klang Valley. Some of the stall owners have been there for years, some continuing their parents' business, offering the same good taste of local food while in Georgetown, some of the businesses have improved their products in terms of packaging and presentation, while still keeping to the original recipes handed down by their original inventors/cooks.

The Air Itam market is famous for its Penang laksa or asam laksa as it is known in other parts of Malaysia. The original stall in the Air Itam market has been upgraded in terms of sprucing up the premises and offers a bowl of this sourish fishy noodles. Of course taste is personal and what may be fantastic to one may not be so fantastic to another. Still, if you are at the Air Itam Market, why not give it a try and decide for yourself. The stall is at the corner of the market just a little beyond the main entrance to the market.

1. A bowl of Penang Asam Laksa

Then don't forget to give the wet market a try. Just walk through and enjoy the sounds, smells and sights of a place that could have been a few decades back. It is busy in the mornings. 

2. A scene in the wet market

The seafood is fresh and so are the vegetables.

3. Fresh fish

4. Organic vegetables anyone?

 5. Really good otak-otak (cheap and good). Will give some of our restaurants a run for their money.

6. Fruits are plentiful too.

Outside the market, there are endless strings of stalls selling all kinds of things.

7. Stalls selling all kinds of produce.

8. More stalls with more wares.

9. The roads are narrow and motorcycles ad cyclists are king. The shops sell a variety of products.

10. Penang Hill in the background to this little rustic town up north of the Malaysian peninsula.

11. The butcher's products were so popular, this was all that was left by mid-morning. His roasted pork is really nice - if you like it lean with nice crackling.

12. Another view of the road beside the market with Penang Hill in the background.

 13. A shop selling clothing - lots of variety at very reasonable prices.

14. A hawker selling ground spices for your curries.

There is a biscuit shop diagonally opposite the Penang asam laksa stall, from across the road. Freshly baked and ready to consume. There is a wide variety of traditional biscuits made from recipes handed down from father to son.

 

15. The biscuit shop with some of the biscuits displayed outside the shop.

16. A close up shot of the finger biscuits (biskut jari) in packets on the right side of the photo.

  

17. The above is a tray of lobak (pork filled into a bean curd skin and keep fried). 

They were around RM5 for three and were really sumptuous. They sell like hot cakes.

18. The áng ku' buns, used as offerings for Chinese altars - also nice to eat.

19. Some of the more popular local cakes and snacks.

20. Prefer something savoury - then the Oyster Noodles or Fried Flat rice noodles with duck's egg might meet your needs. Otherwise you could try the egg pancakes sold on the right of that stall and many others lining the roads around Air Itam Market.

 

A lot of variety within a very small space. There is also a small nursery and the market is near the Kek Lok Si temple, another place to explore, if you have not been there before.