Hotel Royal Penang

Good tourist information.

by cachaseiro

George town has a very decent little tourist information down by the harbour next to the old clock tower.
When i was there i was mostly there to pick up one of the free maps of town, but i noticed that they had brochures for tourists with special interests like food, art, etc and these brochures were of a pretty nice quality, so i suggest that you make your way past there if you have any of these interests.
They also gave me a calender of cultural events happening in Penang during my stay and the girl at the counter was very helpful in general.

Little India

by phil_uk_net

Almost everywhere I've been to in SE Asia there are Chinese and Indian communities in addition to the indigenous population. Penang is no exception.
This is the Indian section of Georgetown and, on my second visit, was nicely decorated for Deepavali.

ANZAC War Cenotaph

by andrewyong

A little thing for the Aussies...the RAAF officers who are still stationed in Penang at the Royal Malaysian Air Force Base in Butterworth (on Province Wellesley/Seberang Perai) will hold a dawn memorial service every year on ANZAC Day at this war cenotaph next to the Esplanade green and City Hall.

So, you may ask why is the RAAF here (before, it was the British RAF)? Well, under the Five Powers Defence Agreement which was set up after we were granted independence, if Malaysia and Singapore were to come under fire, then Britain, Australia and New Zealand shall defence us. As I understand it, today, the RAAF only provides technical assistance. We are after all living in peace times (paradoxically).

My little home in Malaysia.

by cachaseiro

"And a place i think most visitors will like."

George town is a very pleasant little historical town on the island Penang.
It has recently been declared UNESCO world heritage and it´s a twon with a very good vibe and many come here for a couple of days and end up staying weeks, even years.
It´s home to people of many walks and many cultures and that means that George town is one of the best places for food in the entire world if you ask me.
Whenever i am in Malaysia i always try to make a stop here for a few days just to enjoy the pleasant atmosphere and the good food.

UNESCO World Heritage Site Listing

by andrewyong

"Penang and Malacca's Joint Application"

taken from The Star Online - Metro North on 18/01/2006

Heritage listing chances good

PENANG: The clock is tick- ing. Penang and Malacca are bidding for World Heri- tage Site listing but the dos-sier must be submitted by Feb 1.

Penang State Heritage Committee member Laurence Loh said the The Historic Centres of Malacca and Penang dossier submitted to Unesco in 2005 was returned be- cause it was technically in-complete.

?The Museum and Anti-quities Department is now fine-tuning the dossier?s technicalities and has to submit it by the Feb 1 for the 2006/07 bidding cycle,? Loh said.

Loh was replying to questions by reporters at the Third Sub-regional Southeast Asian Training Workshop on Using Art to Teach About World Heritage at City Bayview Hotel, yesterday.

The Paris-based world body has asked the Penang and Malacca state governments for clarification on some matters and to provide certain information on their listing application.

Loh, an architect, said Penang and Malacca?s joint bid was never rejected.

?The dossier was simply returned because it did not fully comply with the 2005 operational guidelines set by Unesco.

?George Town and Malacca are now on Unesco?s tentative World Heritage Site list, so our chances for the listing are good.

?Unesco site evaluators will assess the towns in 2006 while the dossier will be reviewed by the technical committee in 2007,? he said.

?If all goes well the Historic Centres of Malacca and Penang would be a World Heritage Site by 2008,? he added.

?Otherwise the dossier would have to be reviewed yet again and be submit- ted for the next cycle of bidding.?

Unesco Regional Adviser for Culture in Asia and the Pacific Richard Engelhardt, who was present, said bidding to be a World Heritage Site was a long process but Penang had improved itself.

?Penang has developed a strong, robust framework for conservation since I was invited here by the state in 1998 to study it for the listing.

?Back then, people were toying with the idea of George Town as a tourism resource, talking about boutique hotels, souvenir shops and shifting all the residents out,? said Engelhardt, who was one of the speakers at the workshop.

He said among noteworthy efforts in Penang were the successful conservation of the Penang Teochew Associa-tion's 136-year-old Han Jiang Ancestral Temple in Chulia Street and the ongoing re-storation of the Suffolk House.

Educational projects such as Art-ED, an arts education program for young people, were world class, he added.

"Teenagers appreciating our heritage"

taken from The Star Online - Metro North on 18/01/2006 :
Teens take the lead - By SIOW YUEN CHING

TEENAGERS Natasha Khanum, Hor Wei Vern, Nur Muna Mazlan and K. Shalene probably know more about George Town?s heritage than their peers.

The girls boldly and confidently shared their knowledge on the city?s history, heritage conservation, traditional trades and food when they led some 30 foreigners and locals on the heritage trail around inner George Town.

The walkabout on Monday was one of the activities of the Third Sub-regional Southeast Asian Training Workshop on Using Art to Teach About World Heritage.

The participants comprised educators, heritage experts and resear-chers from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea, Mongolia and Malaysia.

The five-day workshop, which started on Monday, is jointly organised by Penang Heritage Trust, Arts-Ed and Badan Warisan Malaysia.

Themed ?Seeing With Young Eyes?, the heritage tour aimed to look at how young people research heri-tage.

All the four girls were previously involved in the Anak-Anak Kota educational programme to educate young ones on the heritage of George Town.

Natasha, 17, a former student of SM Convent Light Street, said al-though she was born and raised in Penang, she did not know much about the local history except for what was taught in the school?s syllabus.

?Through the programme, I have learnt how to think out of the box and appreciate the historical architecture designs and traditional trades that we come across everyday in the inner city,? she added.

Natasha, who is now waiting for her SPM results, said she joined the Anak-Anak Kota programme when she was 13 years old.

?I was very excited when I got to interview the traditional traders and old people to get their oral histories,? she said.

Hor, 17, formerly from SM Con-vent Green Lane, said when she was taken on a heritage trail for the first time, she felt like a tourist in her own hometown.

?Last time, when I walked around George Town, I only see the buildings as merely buildings but now, with more in-depth knowledge of the building structures and architecture design, everything seem more interesting,? she said.

According to Nur Muna, 19, it is important that they do not impose their personal values on the local community that they interview du-ring the programme.

?That way, you will be able to broaden your perspectives on a lot of issues and topics outside the school academic system,? added Nur Muna, a former student of SM St Georges Perempuan who is waiting for her STPM results.

As a young child, Shalene, 17, thought George Town only revolved around Market Street where her fa-ther?s sundry shop was located.

But after joining the Anak-Anak Kota programme, she began to wi-den her horizon beyond the bustling Market Street in Little India.

?The more I learn about George Town, the more I feel proud to be a Penangite,? said the former student of SM Convent Light Street