GEORGE TOWN - Cultural Heartland, Food ParadiseBy Khoo Salma
“Your heritage buildings are quite charming, take me around to see more of them,” a newly-arrived traveller requested as he was being driven through the streets of George Town. Looking puzzled, his taxi driver replied, “These are not heritage buildings… They are just old houses!”
Such was the perception of the majority of Penang people almost fifteen years ago, when a foreign journalist came to interview me about efforts to conserve historic George Town. “With hundreds of guilds and religious buildings and thousands of shophouses, the Penang people simply take their heritage for granted… What really matters of Penangites,” I said, “is Penang food.” And that interview ended like almost every meeting in Penang, with an eat-out at a hawker stall.
Heritage building in George Town
Recently, international recognition has transformed local perception and validated years of heritage conservation efforts. On 7 July 2008, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting at Quebec declared George Town a World Heritage Site. It is a tribute to George Town, the capital of Penang, as an embodiment of the religious pluralism of Asia, the city’s extensive architectural environment of shophouses and streetscapes, and its multicultural living heritage.
Nominated by the Malaysian government, Melaka and George Town are jointly inscribed on the list as “The Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca”. The UNESCO citation reads, “The influences of Asia and Europe have endowed the towns with a specific multicultural heritage that is both tangible and intangible… The two towns constitute a unique architectural and cultural townscape without parallel anywhere in East and Southeast Asia.”
Together with Singapore, George Town and Melaka were administered as the British Straits Settlements (1826-1957). This accounts for the similarities in the three settlements’ architecture and urban patterns. Melaka’s history goes back much longer than Penang’s – it might be apt to say that while Melaka has the depth of history, George Town has the breadth of heritage. Bordered by the sea, George Town’s extensive terracotta roofscape, punctuated here by a minaret, there by a temple’s swallow tail roof, is a picture that says a thousand words.
Penang coastline today
Penang is not an ancient port, yet the threads of its history stretch back into the distant past. Its relevance stems from the maritime trade which began more than a thousand years ago, with Indian seafarers coming to Kedah, guided by the ancient landmark, the Kedah Peak (Gunong Jerai) that rises dramatically by the Kedah coastline. The South Indian traders brought Hinduism, Buddhism, and then Islam.
In the 15th century, Melaka became a great emporium, where long-haul seafarers from East and West could stop midway on the trade route, halving their journeys and doubling their profits. When Melaka fell to the Portuguese, the trading hub moved to other ports along the Straits of Malacca – to the Johore-Riau archipelago in the south and to Aceh, as well as Kedah, in the north.
In 1786, the British East India Company captured much of the trade of the northern Straits when Captain Francis Light established Penang as a trading post. It might serve well to remember that the government of Penang was once called “The Company”, referring to the world’s first multinational, the East India Company, which was accustomed to unduly influencing sovereign governments as well as maintaining private armies and navy.
Fort Cornwallis with statue of Captain Francis Light in the foreground
The treaty with the Raja of Kedah was not yet a done deal when Francis Light planted the British flag on the northeast promontory of the island. Perhaps for that reason, he quickly named the territory “Prince of Wales Island” after George IV (although the name Penang was always preferred), the port settlement “George Town” after George III, and the garrison base “Fort Cornwallis” after the Lord Charles Cornwallis who was promoted to Governor-General of India not long after losing the American Revolutionary War by surrendering to George Washington. As for Penang, the matter of the East India Company’s debt to Kedah was later settled with gunboat diplomacy. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Penang attracted settlers and sojourners from the Malays kingdoms, the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), Siam, Burma, China, India, Sri Lanka, Europe and the Middle East. At one time the island was also home to Armenian, Jewish, Parsi and Japanese entrepreneurial minorities.
From this intermingling of nations, Penang cultivated variety in its people, architecture, culture and cuisine. The settlers took local wives and evolved
Penang hawker food became famous all over the world
peranakan (local-born), hybrid communities such as the Baba Nyonya, Jawi Peranakan and Eurasians. Local-born daughters were much treasured in those days because women were scarce and well-bred women, even scarcer: Men predominated among the earliest migrants, and only the fortunate few could avail themselves of the comforts of the household. Under such circumstances, the bulk of the population was fed out of company kitchens, and on street food. Necessity, being the mother of invention, invented the most amazing range of culinary fare, of such a persistence and quality that Penang hawker food became famous all over the world.
“Penang has a subtle fascination that it is difficult to define”, wrote Arnold Wright and H.A. Cartwright in “Twentieth Century Impressions of British Malaya” in 1908. “It lacks the variety to be found in Bangkok or Tokyo; it has not the degree of Orientalism to be found in Pekin or Canton… And yet, withal, its charms attract the “exile” from home…’
Wright’s traveller arrived one hundred years ago, in the heyday of British Empire, yet we are still able to retrace his steps and see the sights that he saw. Coming by ship, you would alight at Swettenham Pier, named after Sir Frank Swettenham who, more than any other colonial official, was considered the architect of British Malaya. Instead of the hand-pulled rickshaw of prewar days, a trishaw (tricycle pedicab) would convey you along Weld Quay; this waterfront thoroughfare is still lined with handsome century-old shipping offices, through which once passed a great deal of the Peninsula’s tin and rubber trade.
Weld Quay waterfront
Proceed in style along Downing Street, turn right, then left, and you will soon find yourself in the middle of the civic quarter, consisting of a parade ground or “padang” at its centre, encircled by a string of white-washed colonial buildings, and the Esplanade with its expansive seaview. At one corner, at the very tip of the George Town promontory, stands Fort Cornwallis, a real cornerstone of the city in terms of both space and time. Continue your trishaw tour ride through a leafy boulevard, overtaking on either side the court-houses, churches and schools through which thousands of students have passed, before stopping for a well-earned rest at one of the city hotels.
Like its famous sister The Raffles Hotel in Singapore, The Eastern & Oriental Hotel was established as a 19th century hostelry by the famous Armenian hoteliers, the Sarkies brothers. Here, after browsing in the “Bombay Bookshop”, you might arrive at some historical observations – that without Kedah and Melaka, there would not have been Penang as we know it, and without Penang, there would not have been colonial Singapore, but similarly, without the Eastern & Oriental Hotel, there might not have been a Raffles Hotel.
To complete your colonial tour, treat yourself to high tea or a sumptuous buffet at the E & O Hotel.
Eastern & Oriental Hotel
Nearing sunset, step out onto the lawn of what was once “the longest sea front of any hotel”, East of Suez. It is likely that the hotel’s erstwhile guests, Noel Coward, Rudyard Kipling, Somerset Maugham and Hermann Hesse – after whom the Writers Suites are named – also lingered here for breeze and inspiration, refreshed occasionally by the frothy spray of waves breaking over the sea-wall. Before you is the magnificent Kedah Peak rising dramatically from the waters of the North Channel. At the foot of yonder hill lie the ruins of Bujang Valley, the ancient Hindu-Buddhist kingdom founded in 300 C.E. Imagine that the historic thread, begun by ancient Indian traders coming to Malay waters, has never been broken but only picked up and spun in greater orbits by the British and the Chinese – that civilization, then, is the precursor of the bustling metropolis which is George Town today.
If, like many 21st century enlightened travellers from the West, you are not simply satisfied with the city’s colonial charms, but wish to see what makes Penang unique, then get out early the next morning and take a stroll through the heart of George Town. Penang is a fairly walkable city – once you get used to the slightly haphazard traffic. Most of the historic attractions are within walking distance, and delectable food options are always in view, wherever you go, in case you want to stop for a bite.
If this is your first time in Penang, I would recommend a tour of the “Street of Harmony”, a marvelous one-kilometer stretch which features ten major religious institutions representing various world religions – these are the Church of the Assumption (Catholic), the St. George’s Church (Anglican), the Goddess of Mercy Temple (Chinese fusion of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism), the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple (Hindu), the Teochew Temple (Taoist and Confucian), the Kapitan Keling Mosque (Islam), the Yap Temple (Confucian), the Hock Teik Cheng Sin Temple (Taoist), the Khoo Kongsi (Confucian) and the Acheen Street Malay Mosque (Islam).
Co-existence is something that locals tend to take for granted but this is what impressed the UNESCO World Heritage Committee at Quebec. Penang is a “living testimony to the multi-cultural traditions of Asia, where the greatest religions and cultures met. The co-existence of distinct faiths, both tangible and intangible – in particular the different religious buildings – is a testament to the religious pluralism of Asia.” In this complex world, the challenge of religious and cultural co-existence has acquired a new importance in the eyes of the world.
You can begin your tour by visiting the Penang Museum on Farquhar Street, for an insightful introduction to Penang’s culture and social history, or save the museum for later. Next to it is the Church of the Assumption, established by the Siamese Eurasians who came together with Francis Light in 1786. The church moved to the present site in 1860. Here, according to Malcolm Rudland in Musical Times, survives “the British bastion of organ Building” a two manual dating from the First World War, by Morton amd Moodly of Oakham. The church was elevated to a Cathedral in 1955.
St. George’s Church
Goddess of Mercy Temple
Further down is the St. George’s Church, the oldest Anglican church in Southeast Asia. The white-washed Anglo-Indian church dates from 1818 and was designed by Captain Robert Smith of the Bengal Engineers, who painted the early views of Penang. In the picturesque grounds stand a memorial dedicated to Francis Light.
Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling (originally called Pitt Street, after William Pitt the Younger), is simply Penang’s spiritual heartland, as here you will find, at various times of the day, peoples of faith praying at three of the most
important houses of worship on the island. The first is the Goddess of Mercy Temple where, surrounded by swirls of smoke rising from the joss offerings, you can observe a few hopeful supplicants consulting the “oracle sticks”. At the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple, prayer time is marked by the clang of the temple bell and the auspicious sound of the nadaswaram, a classical reed instrument of South India, intoxicatingly played by an old Tamil musician whose inflatable cheeks never fail to remind me of the jazz legend, Dizzy Gillespie. The Indian flower-sellers who ply their trade between the Goddess of Mercy and the Sri Maha Mariamman temples, cleverly compose sweet-smelling flower offerings and garlands for sale to devotees of both the Buddhist and Hindu goddesses.
Sri Maha Mariamman Temple
Kapitan Keling Mosque
The largest monument in this collection is the Kapitan Keling Mosque. Its beautiful call to prayer is always followed promptly by the sight of the Muslim faithful in songkok and chequered sarongs rolling up their sleeves and dipping their elbows almost down to the shimmering water pools, taking their ablution before lining up for prayers.
Khoo Kongsi
Penang is well known for its Chinese temples, some built by the Chinese “companies” or Kongsis. The Overseas Chinese who made their fortunes in Penang have developed perhaps the most complex network of mutual help societies and fraternal organizations to be found in Southeast Asia. We will encounter several on this route, the Han Jiang Ancestral Temple or Teochew Temple, which won a UNESCO Asia-Pacific Cultural Heritage Award for its community-driven restoration; the Hock Teik Cheng Sin Temple, a former headquarters of Penang’s 19th century “secret society”, recently restored, revealing a number of secret passages once used by members of the clandestine brotherhood to enter and exit the temple unseen; the Yap Temple whose patron deities attract a substantial following beyond the clan; and the famous Khoo Kongsi complex, with its magnificent clan temple, an architectural and artistic masterpiece of the late Qing dynasty.
Malay Mosque at Acheen Street
Last but not least, you will come to the Malay Mosque at Acheen Street, built by a Hadhrami Arab merchant-prince from Aceh. This mosque complex, dating from the late 18th century, seems all the more precious after some of its counterparts in Aceh were destroyed by the 2004 tsunami. This tight-knit neighbourhood was a hub of Malay and Sumatran spice traders, booksellers and pilgrim brokers during the days when the journey to Mecca was made by steamship.
When you have completed your Street of Harmony tour, you might want to ramble along Armenian Street, or come back the next day. This is a special enclave, not only because it used to be the address of Penang’s early Armenian traders, but because it has a most interesting assortment of galleries, shops and restaurants, all occupying 19th century shophouses. Start from the Penang Heritage Centre around the corner, at the junction of Acheen Street and Carnarvon Street, for an introduction to the specific qualities of the World Heritage Site. Then drop by the Islamic Museum, which displays Penang’s Muslim community history in a former mansion of an Acehnese Arab pepper trader. On a good day, you might gain entry into the Sun Yat Sen Penang Base, which was the revolutionary party’s headquarters when the doctor lived in Penang for over four months in 1910, winning followers, raising funds and planning revolution.
Along this street you will find several art galleries, one of them featuring the works of Fuan Wong, an international fused glass artist. The shops around it sell designer soaps, designer jewellery and art photographs. A quaint attraction of this area is the industrious Indian recycler, who collects newspaper, cardboard, aluminium cans, bottles and other materials, sorts them and reassembles them in meticulous order before reselling them to the private or industrial buyer. Such has been his trade for decades, and such has been the habits of Penangites, guided by the maxim “waste not, want not”, rather than by municipal regulations or fears of global warming.
Further down the road is the Edelweiss Café, run by a heritage guide who is married to a Swiss expatriate (hence the café’s redolent name). Lunch and dinner are served in an exquisite heritage setting, and if it is not too busy, the owner might let you wander up to the private museum upstairs. Past this is another clan temple, the Cheah Kongsi, tucked into a private courtyard. At the eastern end of the street, a shop sells Nyonya beaded shoes, hand-made and custom-fitted by the resident cobbler.
On your way back, walk through Little India, the most vibrant part of George Town today. With the smells of Indian incense, the sound of Bollywood music, and the sight of resplendent sarees hanging at the shopfronts, you might suddenly think you are in South India. If you are really keen to learn about the story of spices (or if you would like to try out the most highly rated tour according to a recent national survey) then you must engage Teresa Capol (yes, the woman who runs Edelweiss Café), to take you through the spice market at Market Street.
Terracotta roofs in the old quarter of George Town
By now, you may have surveyed a few shophouses inside and out. Bear in mind that the entire old quarter of George Town is made up of rows upon rows of shophouses – almost 2,500 in the World Heritage Site Core Zone, and roughly equal the number in the Buffer Zone. Some are still inhabited by extended families who have lived there for three or more generations, others serve as regular shops and eateries. During the first few years after Rent Control Repeal in 2000, a portion of the old houses were decanted and left looking rather forlorn. After a slow turnaround, an increasing number of these are being rescued from ruin and given a new lease of life by loving new occupants.
“Shophouse” is a generic term for a double-storey terrace house. Originally “shop + house” applied to a unit with a shop below and living quarters, upstairs, but nowadays, it might refer to a terraced house of wholly residential or wholly commercial use. A row of shophouses is fronted by the five-footway (so called, whether they are indeed five-feet in width or not) formed by a continuous front arcade with public right of way. Even though he (or she) might impede pedestrian access, the ubiquitous hawker, and occasionally the cobbler and fortune-teller, add intrigue to the streetscapes.
Times moves slowly for some Penangites – the joss-stick maker who still rolls the incense sticks by hand, the goldsmith who sits cross-legged on the floor hammering an ear-ring by lamplight, the coffee roaster patiently turning his beans over a stoked wood fire, the maker of songkok or Muslim headgear running every seam on his vintage hand-operated sewing machine. Some of these trades hang in the balance. Will the lanterns maker who fabricates the traditional Chinese surname lanterns with bamboo and rice paper teach his craft to another generation? Will the signboard maker find a talented apprentice who can simultaneously master the skills of woodcarving, gilding and calligraphy?
Goldsmith at work
Fortunately there are some traditional trades that are in no danger of disappearing – the ones that produce food for the thousands of constantly hungry Penangites. Like Tolkein’s hobbits, most Penangites enjoy at least six meals a day – breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, tea, dinner and late supper. Fortunately there is no shortage of variety as far as food is
Traditional trade
concerned – all kinds of rice, noodles, breads, sweetmeats, curries, stir-fries, soups, dumplings and puddings are being freshly prepared at any time of day.
Penang, which prides itself as the world capital of street food, is home to all sorts of cooking legends. Nasi Kandar (literally, “yoked rice”) was once carried by itinerant Tamil Muslim hawkers on shoulder yokes, but is now loosely franchised as Nasi Kander shop throughout Malaysia, proffering a dazzling range of Indian curries. Western-Oriental fusion food was concocted by Hainanese cooks who, tired of being called “Hylam boys” by their colonial masters when they were closer to 60 than 16, opened their own restaurants known for a crispy fried chicken known as Inche Kabin – the No. 1 top secret ingredient being Lea & Perrin’s Worcestershire sauce! Penang Laksa, a healthy concoction of rice noodles and salad fish soup, was created by Straits Chinese womenfolk who pressed their silky white noodles by hand and plucked edible ginger flowers and fragrant herbs from their bounteous gardens.
Thaipusam
Of course, there are special foods for festivals, and with our multicultural society, there are festivals all year round. Like Malaysia, Penang celebrates major festivals like Hari Raya (Idul Fitri), Deepavali (Diwali) Christmas and Chinese New Year. In addition, we have a spectacular Thaipusam Festival (some say the largest in the world), with the procession of the silver chariot and self-mortifying feats endured by the kavadi-bearers. Previously banned in Communist China or having withered away elsewhere, many Chinese festivals are still vigorously celebrated here – the eve of the Jade Emperor’s birthday, when every Hokkien (Fujian) family in town puts out their altars decorated with sugar-cane stalks, or the Hungry Ghosts Festival during the seventh lunar month, where elaborate offerings and performances of Chinese opera are set out before a paper-and-tinsel likeness of the King of Hades, before the effigy is publicly destroyed in a bonfire at the end of the three-day feast.
If you are here on the last Sunday of the month, you can catch the monthly Little Penang Street Market, an exciting arts and crafts bazaar with free live music and cultural performances. On any other Sunday afternoon, drop in to see Chinese opera practiced at the Penang Teochew Association in Chulia Street, or listen to a round of Cantonese classical singing at the Sun Tak Association in Love Lane.
Pinang Peranakan Mansion
If you are here any day of the week, catch one of the twice-daily tours of the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion at Leith Street, a traditional Chinese courtyard mansion and now an enchanting boutique hotel. The tours focus on Chinese architecture and feng shui. Yet another courtyard mansion was converted into the Pinang Peranakan Mansion, which showcases the opulent lifestyle of the Straits Chinese, and their eclectic Chinese and European tastes. Both these mansions are splendid examples of the virtual palaces built by the fabulously rich Chinese of the Straits Settlements.
Much of the built heritage which I have described today, would have disappeared years ago if not for the dedicated efforts of the Penang Heritage Trust, community groups such as the Penang Teochew Association, many private owners who put their money where their mouth is, and the good people of Penang, who steadily gained a sense of pride and responsibility towards their “old houses”. In the last few years, the Penang diaspora have shown a renewed interest in their hometown – these sons and daughters of Penang went abroad to study and work years ago, but continually returned due to their strong sense of belonging and even stronger love of Penang food.
If you are thinking of traveling through Asia, you would do well to choose George Town, a city at the crossroads of Asian civilizations. And if you come with a purpose, to learn something about Asia’s spiritual traditions, to immerse yourself in Asian architecture or to revel in the variety of its living heritage, you will not be disappointed. This is what the authors of “Twentieth Century Impressions” meant, when they advised the traveller to Penang that he is “on his mission – not to ‘see Naples and die’ but to see Penang, and live ever afterwards with only the most pleasant memories of this visit, be it long or brief.”
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