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Thailand-Malaysia 2023

  

Day 9: Monday 09 January 2023

Surat Thani, Thailand – Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

Today we drove to Penang by minivan.

On the road to Penang
Today was 12 hours spent in 2 minivans to pass by Hat Yai (5.5 hours) and into Malaysia, passing through Thai then Malaysian immigration controls. The first minivan was packed to the gills with 12 tourists and a lot of luggage. Two Turks (a young married couple and professional diving instructors), 2 Italians from Torino who had been traveling the world, first in South America, 2 Brits, and 2 Austrians and 1 French-Swiss.

George Town Harbour, Penang Island, Malaysia
George Town is Malaysia’s second largest metropolitan area, with a population of nearly 800,000. The George Conurbation, which encompasses Penang Island and surrounding islands, has a population of 2.84 million, and is the second-largest metropolitan economy in Malaysia, and the top exporter. Along with an international airport, two bridges linking the island to the mainland, Swettenham Pier is the busiest cruise terminal in the country.
George Town is named after King George III, who ruled from 1760-1820. It was governed by the British East India company from 1786-1858, then the British Raj from 1858-1867, then part of the Straits Settlements till 1941, under the Japanese from 1941-1945, then the Malayan Union 1946-1948, then the Federation of Malaya 1948-1963, and since 1963 Malaysia.
The acquisition of the island was achieved at the request of the Sultan of Kedah State, in exchange for military protection from the Bugis of Selangor, the state further down the west coast of the Malay peninsular. It marked the first step in the gradual colonisation of Malaya.

George Town Harbour, Penang Island
Established as an entrepôt in 1786 by Francis Light (1740-1794), George Town was the first British settlement in Southeast Asia. Francis Light was a RN officer, and explorer, best known for founding the colony of Penang. He was, incidently, the father of William Light (1786-1839), who founded Adelaide, South Australia in 1836.
Penang lies in a strategically important location along the Strait of Malacca, with 94,000 ships passing through it each year, it is the busiest shipping lane in the world.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia
Map showing the Malacca Strait in dark blue, connecting the Andaman Sea and the South China Sea.

Traditional clan jetty, George Town Harbour, Penang Island.
There are today seven surviving of the original nine wooden villages along the coastal road, Weld Quay. Each belongs to a different Chinese clan: Ong, Lim, Chew, Tan, Lee, Mixed Clan and Yeoh. They were constructed between the 1880s and the 1960s.
Most of the Chinese immigrants arriving by the 1880s were Hokkien-speaking people from Fujian. They lived in a zone next to the coast, and after land was reclaimed in 1882, they created jetties to receive near arrivals, and to serve as loading/unloading docks. These eventually developed into housing, and today are a major tourist draw as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, declared in 2008.

‘Boy on Motorcycle’ street art by Ernest Zacharevic (b. 1986).
A humorous painting on a door in old George Town by the Lithuanian artist. Zacharevic is based in Penang, and his range of works include oil paintings, installations, sculptures, and stencil and spray public art. In 2012, he became famous for a series of six street art murals in George Town, for its town festival. The BBC called him Malaysia’s answer to Banksy.

Little Children on a Bicycle, by Ernest Zacharevic. Image courtesy of Wikipedia
He is also known for his creative use of reclaimed and discarded materials. His first solo show in Penang was entitled Art is Rubbish Rubbish is Art. Lovely work!

George Town has an old centre, which has a mix of cultures and religions. Here are Chinese mini-temples along the street.

Travel Diary
The drive between Thailand and Malaysia is a mountain chain and Penang appears as a distant island that reveals a skyscraper skyline. Butterworth is for us a construction of freeway intersections until we reach the long, elegant Penang bridge. To the south we see another bridge to the south-east corner. Penang has changed beyond all recognition. If the intense stream of peak hour traffic both directions is anything to go by, the idea that prior to 1985, the year the bridge was constructed, a single ferry service could serve the island as it is, is ludicrous. So when I was here in 1986 I was the last to witness Penang/Georgetown as it was: an island. The bridges have made it an extension of the mainland. The old town of Georgetown is a tiny suburb in the new city which covers all flat land up to the peak. The minibus takes the passengers to their hotels: 3 Chinese girls, then 2 Malaysian men, then the driver and his assistant kindly negotiate the jam-packed roads to find our obscure hotel, The Reunion Residence. Once found, and we do eventually, we ascend the steep stairs to our 2nd floor room, which has been ingenuously inserted into the refurbished old building. And that is the UNESCO Heritage old town: old buildings that are within the full range between dilapidated to facade-maintained, but interiorly modernised. In some places, streets have been gentrified, and chic boutiques, cafès and shops glean something from the heritage. After settling in we venture out to check out the neighborhood heading straight for the Chew Jetty along the water which is nearby. The Chew Jetty consists of 75 elevated houses, several Chinese temples linked by elevated wooden walkways. It was fun seeing the different houses and peeking in the windows. Later after a lot of walking we come across an inviting Indian restaurant in, of course, Little India, Bhai Biryani Penange. Cindy has lamb, Andrew has tandoori chicken and Sean has spicey chicken, byrani and naan, raita and mango and kurma lassis, almond milk with cardamon, tropical and peach non-alcoholic beer, durma chai. Yum Yum!! We find our hotel, trudge up the steep steps and settle in, washing clothes, and setting up the computer to rewatch ‘Knives Out’ because we fell asleep at the important parts last night in Surat Thani.