*Malaysia Special* - Penang

Next, Penang island!

Penang is the Malaysian state with the highest density of Chinese speakers. The Chinese influence here is so strong that you can find people of different races communicating with each other in Hokkien 福建 – A Chinese dialect from the Fujian Province. Even police officers in Penang take up courses in Hokkien! People here are a living proof of a multicultural population.

Penang, like Malacca is very rich in cultural heritage. Penang was the next booming port for trading after Malacca, and where there is trade, there’s a multitude of nations that come together from all around the globe to seek their fortune. And one of them who made it big, is the owner of this big beautiful Blue Mansion!

Like many other Chinese fortune seekers in the 1800s, 16 year old Cheong Fatt Tze

张弼士 boarded the boat to the South East Asian region, known as Nanyang 南洋 -- the ‘Land of Opportunity’. This penniless teenager who hailed from Taipu in Guang Dong province 广东大埔 (where my ancestors are from) ended up as the ‘Rockefeller of the East’. This entrepreneur was involved in many lucrative ventures. For those who've lived in China, perhaps you may have come across this brand of wine called ChangYu 张裕.  I was surprised to find out that Cheong Fatt Tze is the founder of ChangYu winery in ShanDong 山东Province – China’s oldest and largest winery. 

So the next time you see this ChangYu 张裕 brand of wine, remember that this man has a beautiful Blue Mansion in Penang that’s worth a visit.

Another place I’d highly recommend to visit in Penang would be the Clan Jetties, close to the Penang Ferry Terminal. These jetties are unique Chinese settlements established in the mid-19^th Century when there was an influx of Chinese who migrated here. Each jetty is occupied by people of the same surname/last name. I guess being with people coming from the same region definitely made them feel more ‘at home’ in a foreign land.

Residents of these jetties still go about their daily lives, and being there makes you feel like you’re one of them and that is what I absolutely love and appreciate about this place.

I probably shouldn’t be taking a photo of this lady who was just lying at her front door, enjoying the cool sea breeze, but I wanted to show you just how unaffected by tourists these locals are.

I do have one little request though: When you’re there, please do keep noise at a minimum, as these are actual living quarters. The last thing we’d want, is to drive out the residents by making this place noisy and unlivable eh?

Take a closer look at what’s being used as stilts… Empty paint buckets!

Penang is positioning itself as the first ‘Green state in Malaysia’, and this is just one of the many examples of Penang working towards becoming a greener, more sustainable and environmentally-friendly state!

This is serene and charming… See those two people there? They’re home-stay guests. The next time I go to Penang, I’m staying here and I will do just what they’re doing – Sit there, read a book with the sound of the waves at the background, occasionally looking far out at fishermen returning with their catch, or simply allowing the rhythm of the bobbing boats to lull me to sleep... Certainly sounds good to me.

Alright, let’s not get too sleepy here... Let’s crank things up as I speak about FOOD!!!

Penang is famous for its hawker fare. Forget dining indoors if you’re here for a short time – Head out, sweat it out and sample the myriad of local food Penang has to offer!

Some of the best places for food are situated in the most inconvenient of places, so you might want to ask locals for recommendations. But if your time in Penang is limited and you’re already hungry and cranky – Gurney Drive, a promenade by the sea has all the popular local fares in one place.

It’s too bad I don’t have a wide-angle camera when I took this photo as there was more food at the sides which my camera couldn’t capture. Gurney Drive in Penang is definitely the place you can stuff yourself silly.

More food!! Gosh, I’m getting hungry just looking at these photos…!

This is only the tip of the ice-berg of what we’ve eaten in Malaysia. The food we’ve had was simply amazing! I’m quite certain our team members had put on some weight after filming in Malaysia.

We had exactly 24-hours in Penang to film and off we went to the airport to catch our flight to our last stop – Langkawi!

You can view this episode of Travelogue which I presented, and wrote for CCTV News, on Pangkor Island, Penang and Langkawi -- The west coast of the Malaysian Peninsular:

(In case video does not appear, you can watch it here.)