Checking out Penangs street art in Georgetown

Georgetown, on Penang Island, is on all the recommended itineraries for Malaysia and as there are loads of cheap flights from Kuala Lumpur we decided to head there next. On the drive from the airport to Georgetown we soon realised this wasn’t going to be a tropical Island experience, as all around us was tarmacked roads and concreate shopping malls. 

Georgetown is a UNISCO world heritage site due to the amount of colonial architecture and historical buildings. Maybe we have been to one too many colonial towns but we were not blown away.

Another advertising feature of the city is its unique street art painted by Ernest Zacharevic. You can follow a map which details where the paintings are located or, alternatively, you can hire a Trishaw to take you to a few.

The paintings are interesting and incorporate parts of the street.

One of the most well-known pieces is the “Little Children on a Bicycle” mural.

We did end up feeling sorry for the guy having to push us around in 30 degree heat.

The art was good, but we were less than impressed with the city, so we decided to see what the nightlife was like, and found a few cool bars near our hotel filled with a nice crowd of backpackers. This turned into a night filled with several buckets of beer, a bizarre ladyboy show and a stolen bottle of tabasco sauce.

Penang does have many other attractions, including a national park and popular spice plantation but we decided to save the national park visits for Borneo, and after our night of drinking we didn’t feel like hiking around a spice plantation. We may well have missed out on some sites but we are sure the rest of the country will deliver.