Surprised By Penang
Ahhhhhhh. Penang. You surprised us. We have been here 2.5 weeks now and have been having a blast. We never had Malaysia on our top 10 list of places we wanted to visit, but because it's in the same hemisphere as India and we need to be back there in December for the birth of our first grandchild, and because we have friends here, we decided to pay a visit to Penang and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
We had no idea there was so much to see and do here. We arrived in Penang August 21 and will be here through the end of September. We stayed in a nice hotel for 4 nights, with Mike and Stephanie O'Quin (dear friends of over 30 years) for 6 nights, and are now in a condo we've rented through the end of the month.
Penang has so much to offer - incredible history and rich culture, a huge foodie paradise, great weather, super easy transportation, awesome medical care, and reasonable prices on food and housing. We will share highlights over the next several blog posts, but I wanted to use this one to talk about some of the fascinating historical sites we've visited so far.
Georgetown is the capital of the Malaysian state of Penang. It was established as a trading port for the East India Company in 1786 and was the first British settlement in Southeast Asia. Three dominant religions are practiced here by a blend of people groups - Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism. You can see architecture reflecting the different cultures who have made Georgetown their home over the centuries - Chinese, British, Indian, and Malaysian.
Georgetown was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008 so no historic buildings are allowed to be torn down. It's fascinating because you'll see these really old Chinese and British homes that are in terrible neglect and overtaken by nature, but they cannot be torn down. If someone wants to spend the money to restore them to their former glory, they are allowed to do so, but the investment is not one many are keen to make. A couple of fabulous restoration projects that have been done are the Blue Mansion and the Peranakan Mansion. We have toured both of these.
The Blue Mansion was the home of a man from a true rags-to-riches story named Cheong Fatt Tze. He was a poor boy who carried water for wealthy families in Jakarta, Indonesia, but he became one of the most powerful, influential, and wealthy men in Asia. He is often referred to as "The Rockefeller of Asia". The mansion in Georgetown is nicknamed The Blue Mansion because of its indigo-blue outer walls. Its history is absolutely fascinating. We went on a tour of it with this fabulous tour guide and, halfway through the tour, we discovered she was actually the owner of the mansion and she and her husband had bought it and done the restoration of it which took 6 years! It is now a museum but also a hotel.
It can also be rented out for events, and several movies have been filmed there including "Crazy Rich Asians" and "Indochine". If you've seen "Crazy Rich Asians", the long mahjongg scene was filmed in one of the foyers/living rooms of the mansion. We were blown away by the beauty of the design and structure of the mansion as well as its fascinating history.
The Peranakan Museum was also super cool with a rich blend of European and Chinese architecture and decor. The mansion was owned by one of Penang's "Peranakans" who were a prominent community of acculturated Chinese immigrants who had come to the British colonial-ruled ports of Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore and married local women of those countries. The result was a unique hybridization of ancient Chinese culture with the local cultures of those regions.
The term "Peranakan" dates to the 15th century A.D. when a legend says that a Chinese princess married the Sultan of Malacca, a port city of Malaysia. Men from her entourage married local women and their children were called "Peranakans" which means "local born" in Malay. Many of these became traders and built great wealth, hence their homes were opulent and full of imported design and decor from both Britain and China.
We toured a well-preserved Peranakan Mansion in Georgetown and marveled at the collection of antiques, the "Mahjong Room", the clothing, jewelry, woodwork, and the fascinating culture of the Peranakan families. One thing we were tickled about was they had this "wedding bed" which was this very small, super uncomfortable-looking piece of furniture that was pretty high above the floor. The story was told that, according to Chinese culture, on the wedding night they would place a box with two chickens underneath the bed. In the morning, the couple would open the box and whichever chicken jumped out first, the male one or the female one, would tell the gender of the baby the couple was going to have. Since the male was usually the one that would jump out first, all the wedding guests and family would excitedly exclaim, "Hooray! You're having a BOY!"
The Peranakans, commonly referred to as Nonya and Baba, even have their own cuisine which is enjoyed even to this day!
As with many ancient cities, there is a mix of old and modern throughout. Scattered around Penang you'll find tons of modern shopping malls, high-rise apartment buildings, large hospitals and medical centers, and ancient Chinese and British structures mixed in. One of our favorite remnants of the past are the "shophouse" neighborhoods. Shophouses are buildings which serve as both residences and businesses, usually with the "shop" being on the first floor and the residence being above.
These are common all over Southeast Asia. They stand in a terraced house (rows of joined houses sharing side walls) configurations and are often fronted with colorful arcades or collonades. Today in Penang there are many shophouse areas, some of which are pretty rundown but some that have been restored and look really cool. Georgetown is full of them, and you'll see lots of cool street art painted on the walls of many of the houses.
There is much more to be discovered, so stay tuned!
