In Georgetown, Penang

Asia » Malaysia » Penang » George Town
June 11th 2011

Published: June 12th 2011

Penang is an island off of Malaysia, in the Melacca Straits, the narrow, strategic passage where all the shipping has always moved between Asia and India / the Middle East / Europe. I’ve been visiting the city of Georgetown, or George Town, which is the main city on the island and one of the larger cities in Malaysia. Georgetown is a fascinating mix of Chinese, Malay, and Indian culture. Its cu... Read Full Entry

Photos are below

Photos: 63, Displayed: 21

Cantonese Opera Statge

This is where I watched Cantonese opera. Later in the evening, there was a larger crowd, but much of the crowd was sitting back at the temple watching.

Beautiful Princess

This young girl was beautiful, and appeared to be "good" at the Cantonese opera, despite being so young.

Drama Queen

This is one of the more serious, drama queen characters in the Cantonese opera

Willowing Armsleeves

In the Cantonese opera, there was lots of swinging their long sleeves around, like this. It was pretty neat - they would sort of unfurl the long sleeves in time with the music.

Shophouse Window, Chinese Sign

Huge Chinese Temple

On the outskirts of Georgetown, halfway up a jungly mountain.

Odd Temple Building

At a huge Chinese temple on the outskirts of Georgetown.

Protestant Graveyard

This has been the Protestant graveyard in Georgetown since the late 1780s. It was fascinating, and spooky, jungly, dark, and full of mosquitoes and monitor lizards.

Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion

The blue mansion

Shophouse Windows Again

Clan Jetty

Each clan (Chinese family) has built houses out over the water on piers, and you can walk out to the end and see how they live. Probably 40 or so families in each jetty.

Restored Shophouse

Much of Georgetown's historic center was full of shophouses like this one. This one has been restored; many are more lived-in.

Offerings, Chinese Temple

These were some sort of offerings in the very active central Chinese temple.

Active Chinese Temple

This is the interior of the main, central Chinese temple, where I watched Cantonese opera. Sometimes it was so crowded with worshippers you couldn't move.

Sacred Tree

This tree was just outside the active Chinese temple. It had a Chinese altar on one side, and a Hindu altar on the other. That sort of sums up Georgetown.

Chinese Altar on One Side

This is the Chinese altar on one side of the sacred tree in the photo above.

Hindu Altar on the Other

This is part of the Hindu altar on the other side of the sacred tree in the photo above.

At the Market

On a busy Saturday morning

Buying Vegetables

At the market

Fruits for Sale

The purple ones are mangosteens, which I don't think we have much in the US. They're very tasty - white, sweet, succulent, sort of grape-like but better.

Choosing a Durian

It's durian season now. Durians are the king of fruits for much of Southeast Asia. They smell really strongly, and taste really odd.

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In Georgetown, Penang

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