PENANG

Alan and I last visited Penang about 15 or so years ago, way before it became a World Heritage Site.  George Town today, is unrecognisable from the city we vaguely remembered.

So many of the buildings are either under or have been renovated.  This beautifully restored building is now the Penang Heritage Museum.

 Lots of the buildings had these Chinese lanterns.

The museum was set up to show the inside of a rich man's house, in slightly differing styles.  We came to see that gold, anything gold, was a big decorative feature in Penang.

This is the temple attached to the house.  Imagine owning a temple for your ancestor worship, ans then imagine it being this big.

The walls were lined with these small dioramas, way up above head height.  I often wonder why this is so because they are not really placed in an easily viewable spot.

I soon found out why there was a lot of netting in the temple.  those black things up in the roof, are bats!

Every road in George Town appeared to be lined with temples and clan houses.  Look at the roofs, aren't they amazing?

Giant joss sticks outside a temple.

 Decorative window shutters.

A familia site in Asia.

The two people are looking inside the open drain area that runs along the gutter area.  They had seen a big rat, which had run under the stone that connected the road to the temple.  They were throwing bread down in en effort to get it to come out so they could take a few pictures.  Does the word mad spring to mind?

Painting on a temple door.

Kapitan Kling mosque, the oldest mosque in Penang.

 Yes, you can still get a bicycle rickshaw in Penang.

Many streets were decorated with lanterns, which may have been because Chinese New Year had just finished.

A door for Janice!

The old colonial buildings were either brightly painted, or had brightly painted shutters.  This is the Penang Islamic Museum.  Before it was renovated, a scrap metal merchant had used it as his storage yard.  The house was to have been demolished, but luckily it was saved.

The old Protest cemetery.

The famous Eastern and Oriental Hotel, where many famous people have stayed, such as Rita Hayworth, Noel Coward, and Joseph Conrad.

This building was such a rich and startling colour.  It had been turned into a museum and a bed and breakfast.

Roof detail.

We visited the Penang Botanical Gardens.

An interesting plant.

I loved the shadows this palm cast.

Flower from a Cannonball tree.  This grows in Thailand also.