Visiting Penang, Malayasi

on

 


We decided to do our own walking tour of the harbour town. Just outside the port security was the city clocktower.



The Jubilee Clock Tower was completed in 1902. It's 60 feet tall and thereby represents the 60 years of Queen Victoria's Reign.

As we walked along the main street we came across Fort Cornwallis and City Hall.


Fort Cornwallis

Fort Cornwallis was built in 1786 and later rebuilt in 1804 to 1810.  It's the largest standing fort in Malaysia. It's purpose was to protect the area from pirates and Kedah but there is no history of military action.



The neoclassical building above is Penang City Hall built in 1903. This and other buildings are part of the George Town UNESCO World Heritage site.

We walked along Love Lane and stopped to visit Loo Pun Hong. It's a historic Chinese Taoist Temple dedicated to Lo Pan, the patron saint of carpentry and contractors. It too is part of the George Town UNESCO world heritage site.





The George Town sites are worth seeing. Although there were lots of guides available, we preferred to walk at a slow pace and use our phone maps and information to appreciate what we were seeing. There are stores and restaurants available for refreshments.

History Note

The British founded a settlement at Penang in 1786. George Town was named after King George III.

Penang is a Malaysian state on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

Money

The currency in Langkawi—and all of Malaysia—is the Malaysian Ringgit (MYR), often written as RM. We found that credit cards were widely accepted but we did get some Ringgits for small purchases. In 2026 the exchange rate was approximately 4 RM to 1 USD.

Language

We found a lot of people spoke at least basic English.  Malaysia's population included Malay, Chinese, and Indian groups.

Subscribe for more posts from our travels or browse hundred of posts from many countries.


About the Author


Geoffrey W. Sutton has a PhD in psychology and writes about psychology, culture, and travel.

Website: https://www.suttong.com/

Amazon Author: https://author.amazon.com/home

ResearchGate page: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Geoffrey-Sutton-2

Academia Page: https://evangel.academia.edu/GeoffSutton


Ad. 

Enjoy the funny and entertaining language gap in

British to American English

on AMAZON














Comments

Post a Comment