Penang 2015 Part 1: Steel Art and Street Art

It has always been my dream to travel. This year, I would try and travel more than I did last 2014.

Last week, our company sent me and my colleague, Wincee, to a business trip to Penang, Malaysia. It was my first time but it was her second time to visit the place.

We were to go to Georgetown. This is the capital of the state of Penang in Malaysia. Further to my research, which also made me excited to go, is that the inner city of GeorgeTown is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place (such as a forest, mountain, lake, island, building, complex, or city) that is listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as of special cultural or physical significance. 

We arrived in George Town, Penang at around 10am. The trip from our city to George Town took about 10 hours by van. After settling in the hotel, doing the business we were sent for and resting, we then braved the streets of Penang. We had to stuff ourselves with food first, so we had lunch at a clean local restaurant. This chicken and rice meal cost us 4.90RM.

While walking along the streets of the city, I have observed that most buildings were old but were still being used for commercial spaces. George Town is officially recognized as having a unique architectural and cultural townscape without parallel anywhere in East and Southeast Asia.

Before we came to Penang, all I wanted to see were the famous street art they had. I was amazed to know that they had these steel art in their streets too. The concept of the steel art is to relate the history or characteristic of the selected street. That is a cool concept for me as the steel art was witty and informative. Walking along the streets, these were a few of what we found.

This steel art says that this street is the place where the famous shoe designer, Jimmy Choo, started his apprenticeship.

I thank God for having a friend with me in my trips. I have difficulty reading maps and if I were alone I'd surely get lost. She did all the map reading and I did the following. Our goal was to find the street arts of Penang.

From the map we got, I learned that it all started with a street art project called Mirrors George Town by George Town festival 2012. Since then, street art has been popping up all over the inner city. Here are a few we have seen during our excursion.

This is called Reaching Up. A boy reaching up from for a hole in the wall is painted but with a real chair for added effects.

 Kids on Bicycle.

What a gigantic cat! This art is named Skippy comes to Penang. This is one of the murals painted to create awareness of the need to protect animals and get people to foster a love for pets.

Brother and sister.

Lion Dance

Brother and sister on a swing.

It was like visiting a trick eye museum however we had to walk on real streets and watch out for cars and bicycles. The street art was challenging to find too. We found most art because of people flocking in the area and taking photos. 

Watch out for Penang 2015: Part 2 :)