Georgetown is the central hub of activity and capital of Penang. It is located on the island of Penang, approximately 20 minutes away from the first Penang Bridge. The city is rich in history, marrying traditional and modern lifestyle and earning the state the Unesco World Heritage Site status in 2008.
Dating back to the British era, the capital of Penang holds many attractions from its street art and night life to its delectable street food. Sized at a relatively small 46.72 square miles, Georgetown is a self-sufficient city that provides the entire Penang all the necessities – one of the reasons for Georgetown’s high net worth properties.
One of Georgetown’s biggest attractions are its colonial styled buildings and pre-war buildings that still serve as houses and coffee shops – the other biggest attraction of Georgetown.
Penang, Malaysia
Food is especially a big pull factor in Georgetown, attracting tourists from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and China all year round. The all round favourites in this town are extensive, with some of the more popular ones being the char kway teow, nasi kandar, pai tee, asam laksa, kway teow soup, kway chap, lor bak, mua chee, rojak, chendol, oh chien, and apom. And the most attractive part about all these foods are their affordability and availability from roadside shops.
Below are the coordinates to get to some of the best food in town:
Mua Chee: Pulau Tikus night market
Asam Laksa & Pai Tee: Joo Hooi Cafe
Kway Chap: Kimberly Street Duck Kway Chap
Nasi Kandar: Line Clear & Nasi Kandar Beratur
Char Kway Teow: Sin Guat Keong & Sister’s Char Kway Teow
The other attractions that draw tourists to Georgetown is its street art. Beginning at the hotel Chulia Mansion, street art can be seen on both sides of the street. Tourists are able to take realistic photographs with popular artists here, such as with Marilyn Monroe and Mr Bean.
Walking towards Jalan Penang, tourists will be able to see a large mural of an old man on a rickshaw. There is also a street art of the “Girl at the Water”, or if heading back toward Love Lane via Jalan Muntri, tourists will be able to walk through the “mouth” of an old man.
The street art spans approximately 4 kilometres, on Lorong Steward, Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling, Ah Quee Street and Beach Street, featuring impressive paintings of “Fisherman” by Julia Volchkova, a white tiger at Tipy Tiger Hostel, Bruce Lee versus a cat, a child on a motorbike, “Kids on Bicycle” by Ernest Zacharevic and many more.
For a clear picture of where all the street art are located, check the image below, sourced from My-Road.De.
Image sourced from: http://bit.ly/2n4UH5L
Home to approximately 740,200 citizens within the capital of Penang, Georgetown also has hospitals, areas of worship and popular shopping malls.
Among the existing hospitals in Georgetown are the Lam Wah Ee Hospital, Penang Adventist Hospital, Gleneagles Penang Medical Centre, Loh Guan Lye Specialists Centre, and Hospital Pulau Pinang. Even the renowned Island Hospital with over 50 specialists is located in Georgetown, with facilities inclusive of a sports centre for physiotherapy and rehabilitation, a heart centre, spine centre, oncology centre and many more.
With the vast number of visitors to Georgetown, approximately 225 hotels can be found within the city of Georgetown itself to cater to all walks of live and price ranges where visitors can choose between seaside hotels, hotels next to night clubs or even next to the jetty if they wish.