Day 6: George Town, Thursday 13th June 2024
Fine, 31°
Up at 7:15am, walked to the main building for breakfast ( a small selection of food but ok ), back to the room and grabbed a bag, then out at 8am.
We walked around the block then off through the Old Town to find street art and explore. We walked north along Jalan Penang to nearly the waterfront then back through the little streets and alleys of the Old Town, generally heading south and east. Stopped to look at lots of street art and the old colonial architecture. Stopped for a coffee on the corner of Lebuh Armenian and Lebuh Pantai / Beach Street, then carried on through the heat down to the clan jetties.
The Old Town is really interesting and easy to walk around. And it feels authentic; the buildings aren’t perfect, the paint is peeling, the shops are generally small merchants selling 2nd hand electrical goods or fruit etc. There are parts that are becoming more restored ( around Armenia Street ) but they still felt ‘real’. And a few years ago the city commissioned someone to paint street art on the walls of buildings of the Old Town, which is now a tourist attraction in it’s own right. A lot of the street art is a mix of paintings and physical objects ( bikes, swings etc ) which makes it much more interactive than just paintings.
We walked out onto Chew Jetty. These jetties are what remains of the Chinese Clan culture who built their house out over the water to allow them to brings goods to shore. There are currently 7 jetties which are all open to the public, but do still have people living on them and they still use the walkways as their street, so dodging mopeds is part of the experience. Chew jetty is the most popular to visit and the busiest. We planned to come back another day to look at the other jetties but we were worn out from walking in the heat so we caught a Grab at 11:30 ( MYR8/$3 ) back to the hotel.
We relaxed & cooled off for a bit. Liz went for a swim in the roof top pool.
Out again at 1:15pm, walked through to 1st Avenue Mall which is a couple of blocks away and had lunch in the food court ( a not very exciting meal and 2 drinks: MYR20 ). Walked around the shops, bought a travel adapter MYR39/$13 and new deodorant for AC, then through the connected malls to The Top ( the entrance to the upper levels of Komtar Tower ); this involved lots of guessing of directions, and empty areas with no lights and no good signage. It turns out we were coming through the back entrance to this area but it was still much more difficult to find our way through the building than we expected.
We bought tickets to get up to the 86th/88th floors of the Komtar Tower ( MYR 150 / $50 for 2 ) then up in the lift at 3pm. The 86th floor had a movie about the building of the tower, and the addition of another 5 levels in the 80’s, then views all around and a section of glass floor to stand on. We then headed to the lift up to the top of the building, where there was a a café, open deck area and the rainbow bridge which is a glass floor platform out over the side of the building. Had the obligatory photos taken by the resident photographer ( we never buy these photos so they are a pointless excercise ). Nice view from the top in all directions; the main part of George Town is still quite colonial and low level, and quite compact.
We had a drink in the indoor bar then back down at 3:45pm and out the main entrance ( which is much easier to use than the way we came in ).
Walked over the Gama Department store, bought some supplies in the supermarket section then looked upstairs at the clothing and shoes. Back to the hotel at 4:30pm to relax again.
Out at 6.15pm, walked 3 blocks north east to Kimberly Street to the food market ( just a few food trucks so not very exciting ) then back to 1st Avenue Mall for tea at Cocohouse ( a Korean restaurant ); 3 small dishes and drinks MYR50$17.
A few more shops to look in then back to the hotel at 7:30pm.
Had a ‘planning meeting’ looking at the next stage of the trip ( George Town to Hat Yai, in Thailand ). This time we had problems booking accommodation in Hat Yai for 15th June which is when we were planning to go there, so we looked at options; nothing was decided.