| Map of Georgetown | Other Penang accommodation and packages ...

Historical Places in Penang ~ Captain Francis Light | Batu Ferringhi | Pulau Kasatu | Fort Cornwallis | Convent Light Street | St. George's Church | Penang State Museum | Cathedral of Assumption | E & O Hotel and the Sarkies Brothers | Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion | The Christian Cemetery | Suffolk House | Penang Botanical Gardens | Dr. Sun Yat Sen’s Penang Base | Pinang Peranakan Mansion and the Chung Keng Kwee Ancestral Temple | Dying Trades of Georgetown ~ The Joss stick Maker | Kim Guan Coffee Factory | Ismalia Bakery's Roti Benggali | Tua Keat Seng's Red Lanterns | Signboard Engraver | Bamboo & Wooden Blind Maker | Traditional Pillow, Mattress and Bolster Maker | Popiah(Spring Roll) skin maker | Rattan Furniture Weaver | Songkok Maker | Traditional Indian Goldsmith | Traditional Penang Biscuits | Manufacturer of Preserved Nutmegs | Handmade Paper Effigies | Mahjong Tiles & Dice Manufacturer | Curry Mee Stall | Boatmaker & the Koay Clan | Education and Information ~ Tropical Spice Garden | Penang Heritage Trust | Little Penang Street Market | PAPA - Penang Apprenticeship Programme for Artisans |

 

Tropical Spice Garden

The Wilkinson family has yet again outdone themselves. With beautiful, tranquil Tiger Rock as a testament that Malaysia can have resorts or retreats that does represent our own identity and not of that of our neighbours. Although Tiger Rock is uniquely Rebecca Owen Wilkinson's identity - she being a talented artist and designer and Tiger Rock her little bit of a home gallery. But at least it's an original!

Spice Garden, on ther other hand is dedicated to educating the people out there at large that the tropical garden is beautiful... no, not the Balinese garden entirely. The Spice Garden is located in an 8-acre valley at Teluk Bahang. The thoughts that have gone into landscaping the garden and the care to retain a number of the old rubber trees, make this garden walk extremely inviting. Of course, a lot of help from a bottle of mosquito repellant would do fine.

monitor lizard up a tree, grabbing a bite at ghekko-on-the-go. unfortunately, the ghekko really had somewhere else to go

The garden is divided into 11 mini garden walks : water garden, cycad room, spice terraces, jungle trail - just to name a few. There are educational plaques along the walk especially at the spice terraces which gives visitors a clearer understanding as to the importance of the spices and herbs. The Spice Garden also has a little spice museum with loads of information on the spice trade in the early days and even the importance of spices even as of today in the daily lives of locals. There's a pleasant cafe where visitors can sit on the deck which looks over to the Batu Feringghi beach front. For more on the spice garden , click www.tropicalspicegarden.com

Opening Times: 9.00am - 6.00pm

Admission charge: RM13 adult

Guided Tours: by appointment

Lone Craig Villa, Lot 595 Mukim 2

Jalan Teluk Bahang, 11100 Penang, Malaysia

Tel/Fax: +6 04 881 1797

 

The Penang Heritage Trust

photo courtesy of Timothy Tye

No. 26, Lebuh Gereja (Church Street), 10200 Penang Malaysia. Tel: +6 04 264 2631 Fax: +6 04 262 8421 Email: phtrust@streamyx.com website: www.pht.org.my

A non-governmental organisation set up for the conservation and preservation of Penang's Architectural, Cultural and living heritage. The centre is run by volunteers, who are passionate about conserving their heritage. A number of the volunteers also conduct guided heritage walk tours, please click to Heritage Walk Georgetown for more details.

 

Unfortunately the houses along the row of Stewart Lane are in a delapidated state. After the Rent Appeal Act was repealed in year 2000, the rental in georgetown heritage sites have increased tremendously. Many tenants who used to stay in houses like these were evicted and then were left abandoned. The owners are unwilling to renovate the houses - too much money and work would have to be poured into conserving them - rewiring, plumbing, the sewage problem in georgetown proper is archaic and needs a lot of work - just too much money,really...

So little old ladies like the one in this picture, have been ousted out of homes that they've been living in for decades and Georgetown begins to decay... urbanising, modernising - the name of the game, really...

 

Dr. Sun Yat Sen’s Penang Base

120 Armenian Street, 10200 Penang. Open Daily from 10am till 12.00nn except Sunday. Admission : RM3 per person

This is a gem of a place. Restored to it original, 120 Armenian Street hold tribute to Dr. Sun Yat Sen , China's foremost founding father of Nationalistic Ideals. Dr. Sun's revolutionary ideas and ideals maintain an influence in political and socio-economic policies in some countries even to date.

The Admission fee is only RM3 per person and when we visited, a Ms Goh gave us a thorough, most intriguing tour around. It turned out that Ms Goh produced a movie on Dr. Sun Yat Sen's life in Penang. All locations were filmed exclusively in Penang and the movie previewed to a very approving crowd in 2007. The movie, Road To Dawn is available in DVD at the premise itself. This is the first China produced movie to be filmed in Malaysia and was filmed in August and September 2006. The grand premier was held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 28 June 2008. For more on this , go to : http://www.arecabooks.com . Oh by the way , just a little tip here for book buffs.. if you pick up a book published by areca books at 120 Armenian Street - you may get it slightly cheaper than elsewhere..

The premise itself has lots of information tacked along the length of both sides of the wall.

The guided tour takes about 1/2hr to 45 minutes but visitors can roam about the ground level. To the back of the house is the kitchen which has been completely restored and shows an all equipped old fashioned kitchen worth browsing around at.

For those who drive, there are parking lots along Armenian Street itself. But make sure you catch the parking attendant before he goes off shift. You may have to return to pay him the next day if you don't..

This shophouse is a fine example of restoration work. For more on 120 Armenian Street, go to : www.lestariheritage.net

 

 

 

 

 

Pinang Peranakan Mansion and the Chung Keng Kwee Ancestral Temple

29, Church Street, 10200 Penang. Open Mondays - Friday, Sunday and Public Holidays from 9 am to 5 pm; Saturday from 9:30 am to 3 pm. Admission: RM10 per person.

The Peranakan Mansion sits just across the street from Penang Heritage Trust's office. The large mansion is now wedged between a row of shophouses. With the help of Sir Francis Light , the mansion was built in 1893 by the then Kapitan Cina, Chung Keng Kwee. A prominent businessman and leader of the chinese community of the Hakka clan, Kapitan Chung Keng Kwee built this mansion by the sea after acquiring two properties along Church Street ~ a former headquarters of the Ghee Hin ( the rival clan) and a Chinese school, the Goh Hock Tong (or Ng Fook Tong in Cantonese).

On the former Ghee Hin headquarters, the Kapitan built his home and office and named it Hai Kee Chan, or Sea Rememberance Store. The chinese school was demolished and replaced with the Kapitan's ancestral temple. Chung Keng Kwee arrived in Penang to find his fortunes at the age of just 20 years old. Despite him being a true, blue chinaman.. the Kapitan commissioned his mansion to be built in the influence of the baba & nyonya or peranakan architecture. The mansion itself reflects a hotch potch of designs, decor and structure that makes the peranakan individualistic incorporating Chinese carved-wood panels, chinese courtyards and English floor tiles and Scottish ironworks.

For more on the mansion, pleas go to : www.pinangperanakanmansion.com.my

 

back to main page Penang...