Nightcrawler: George Town

regardless of how late you roam the streets of George Town, there's always a coffee shop, restaurant, or dive that's open to cater to your late night munchies.

The Old Quay

the island of Penang is no stranger when it comes to preserving their heritage. the streets of George Town is adorned with murals that range from tasteful to kitsch. the old Chinese and peranakan shophouses and mansions largely remain unspoiled, though recent years have seen parts of town undergoing bouts of gentrification.

the old quays of George Town, consisting of piers occupied by several Penang Chinese clans, for the better part remains unfazed by the ravages of time. our early morning bicycle ride along the quay was mostly quiet, with nary a soul astir. the rain clouds loomed above our heads as we navigate the labyrinthine alleyways buried among the wooden houses built on stilts. it was in the Tan jetty where we spotted a pier stretching out towards the peninsular mainland. as we made our way to the edge of the pier, the wooden jetty creaked under our feet and the wind started picking up in a northerly manner. we had a schedule to meet, and perhaps a looming storm right above our heads, but the brief moment of tranquillity at the edge of the pier is refreshing among the bustle of George Town. the island continues to grow - roads are widened into highways, sleek condos pop up like mushrooms after the rain, and tourists flood the island and cram up the city. yet this little corner of George Town remains as it always did, perhaps for the past hundred years.

the ocean beckons, yet the city stands firm.

Penang: The Pearl of the Orient

this is an entry i never got around to composing. in an attempt to revitalize the blog, i thought it apt to start with this trip up north to the Pearl of the Orient about a year ago.

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George Town oozes with heritage, and the locals are proud to commemorate them. walk down a random alley and a mural painted on old peeling walls greet you. there is this charm to be found in these old dilapidated buildings - maybe it is the urban dweller's recoil from all the new shiny anonymous buildings that loom above the Kuala Lumpur skyline. lanes, alleyways, old peranakan mansions, and dingy shophouses stake their claim to the glorious splendour that is old George Town. i wander about trying to absorb the antiquity and the authenticity, like a tourist in a foreign land. frozen in time, yet moving forward with the times. seventy-five years down the road, will the shiny buildings of Kuala Lumpur be gazetted as heritage sites? will microcosms like George Town be able to resist the tidal wave of development? will the murals painstakingly crafted by Ernest Zacharevich stand proudly as they once did?

but we move along - from Armenian Street, to the Esplanade, to Bishop's Lane, and back. like the passage of time, George Town and its people feels like it will move with the times. a new generation will venerate the heritage and fight to preserve it for more people to experience and appreciate. as long as people come back and tell their loved ones the beauty of this piece of history, so it shall remain in the collective consciousness that we are nothing without our roots.