Penang Malaysia in Good Company
Exploring Fort Cornwallis, Georgetown Malaysia
After first year of university, I followed my new Malaysian friends back to their home country for a month where I had a sort of homestay with my good friend TJ. It was my first time off the North American Continent and I enjoyed going to several locations. These days are chronicled at the beginning of the blog. At the end of the trip, I promised that I would come back after grad.
That day had finally come this summer trip and I was glad to be back. Our first stop was Penang where we were fortunate to have had good company including Hung keat, Chai Jui, Song Ci, and Wei Heng. They took us around the little island of Penang to all the best attractions. This was a good help because public transit there isn’t nearly as good as having a car. If you don’t know, Penang is an island off the West coast of Malaysia known for it’s good food and being the second largest city after the capital, Kuala Lumpur.
One corner of Penang is the newly designated UNESCO George Town, inscribed in 2011. Yuki and I didn’t think that it was much because we’d been so some pretty crazy World Heritage sites in Japan and China but I found out after coming back from the trip that sites designated as UNESCO are slightly different than what I had originally thought. It isn’t designated from the UN but requires a large commitment from the host country first. For a place to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it goes like this:
- The Country needs to create a list of important natural and cultural heritage sites within their boundaries.
- The Country then presents a nomination file to the World Heritage Centre
- Three advisory boards, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), the World Conservation Union (IUCN), and the International Centre for the Study and the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) review the proposal.
- Once nominated and evaluated, the World Heritage Committee meets once a year to makes the final decision on inscription of new sites.
- To be included on the World Heritage List, sites must of outstanding universal value and meet one out of ten selection criteria.
The Criteria is great and all but I wonder what political factors are involved or if the drive is sometimes to increase tourism. For example, 5 of the 7 sites on Canada’s list are in regards to First Nations which might suggests that there is a significant Political motivation. Penang on the other hand, seems to be more of a tourist attraction than an iconic heritage landmark.
The UNESCO has this to say, “it is a remarkable example of historic colonial towns that demonstrate a succession of historical and cultural influences arising from its function as a trading post. These are the most complete surviving historic city centres on the Straits of Malacca with a multi-cultural living heritage originating from the trade routes from Great Britain and Europe through the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and the Malay Archipelago to China. Both towns bear testimony to a living multi-cultural heritage and tradition of Asia, where the many religions and cultures met and coexisted. They reflect the coming together of cultural elements from the Malay Archipelago, India and China with those of Europe, to create a unique architecture, culture and townscape…” (UNESCO).
We didn’t find Georgetown to be all that significant in the global scope of things because it is pretty small geographically and only dates back to the 15th century when Europeans colonized it on their way to Asia. Compare that with sites in Japan and China that are thousands of years old and their own separate parks and it doesn’t seem so big.
As a thing to do in the city, it did make for a great visit. In particular, we checked out the Khoo family house that was the centre of the Khoo family when they immigrated from China. There are houses for each of the Chinese families that came but this one is the largest and most elaborate with intricate carvings along the walls everywhere.
The Khoo Family House, Georgetown Malaysia
The Building is the most interesting part of the Khoo Family house with gold everywhere and all the carvings to examine.
Georgetown is also known for it’s colonial era buildings that are of Dutch and Portuguese influence. What most tourist find the most interesting though, is several wall paintings done around the town that one can take pictures with.
Paintings on the wall. 101 Lost kittens around town to find, Georgetown Malaysia Photo by Yuki
But get this, they were commissioned in 2012. What didn’t sit right with me was that the largest attraction in this UNESCO World Heritage site are paintings done in 2012, a year after inscription. They sure add livelihood and energy to the streets but what are they really?
The Khoo house and other family houses are quite significant, historically, and I particularly enjoyed walking around the streets and seeing the old buildings in various level of decay but I couldn’t stop to note that there wasn’t all that much else to the place save for bike rental shops and paved streets with street lights. Infact, the map of Georgetown suggests that you rent a bike and go take pictures at each of the wall paintings. What about all the history in this little town that’s suppose to be world heritage?
The Streets of Georgetown, Malaysia
A lot of travellers use the UNESCO World Heritage Sites as a starting point. It has a reputation of being the best and most places are the most renown around the world but sometimes I’m not so sure what is really being achieved. These UNESCO sites pull in a lot of tourists but don’t necessarily teach history or culture. Maybe that’s a disconnect between the host country and the UN?
Our favourite part of Penang was the food and the friends. Our friends took us to some of the best food of the trip and most certainly the best of Malaysia. Everything from Roti to Hon mee, attractions such as Kok Lok Si, Penang Hill and the Hard Rock Cafe beach take a back seat to Yuki’s upcoming post on food. As has been said numerous times before, South East Asia is all about the food and we were glad to be back in it. With that, I’ll leave the telling to Yuki’s food photos.
Hard Rock Cafe Beach, Penang Malaysia
