The history of modern Penang was shaped by British colonialism, beginning with the acquisition of Penang Island from the Sultanate of Kedah by the British East India Company in 1786. Developed into a free port, the city state was governed as part of the Straits Settlements, together with Singapore and Malacca. When Sir Francis Light came ashore on the island of Penang. But Francis Light was not a representative of the British Government. Sir Francis Light was a Captain in the Honorable East India Company, the chartered company that established British rule in India. At the end, in 1955, Tunku Abdul Rahman held a meeting with the British to discuss the end of British rule in Penang with a merger with Malayan Union which was then replaced by Federation of Malaya.
Penang Island or also known by the name of Pearl of the Orient is a small island located in the north-western coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Penang is famous for its beautiful cultural diversity. Also, with the majority of the inhabitants being Chinese, you can feel like in China when visit to Penang. This gives the island something 'typical Asian', which cannot be seen as clearly anywhere else in Malaysia. Georgetown is George Town, the capital city of Penang. Penang is a great destination, absolutely need to have a visit. Penang also is one of the most popular tourist destinations within Malaysia. Tourists nowadays visit Penang because of the attractions and food.
So there is lot of things that you need to do in Penang such as go to their attraction places and taste their delicious foods. One of the most attractions in Penang is their Street Art. There are more than one hundred great pieces of wall art in George Town. Next, the most popular wall paintings are Penang Street Art, “Little Children on a Bicycle” Mural, Armenian Street, and “Boy on a Bike” Mural, Ah Quee Street. The beautiful wall paintings are made by Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic. He leave his mark with beautiful wall painting of children all across historical Georgetown. The artworks are funny, fascinating, and very much open to everyone’s interpretations. Some tourists come to the Penang because of the Street Art and usually taking some photos with it to make memories with the arts. For your information, there is a variety of museums such as camera museum, upside down museum, 3D art museum etc. Meanwhile, the latest one in town is Wonderfood Museum. Wonderfood Museum is a food wonderland, it is not edible because all the food are made by synthetics, plastic, silicone and a mix of various chemicals and materials. This museum aims to promote the varied types of multi-cultural food in Malaysia. Other than that, the museum has divided into three zones. Stepping into the Info Zone (Zone 1), visitors have the opportunity to learn multi-cultural food available in Malaysia! Every food in the museum is well-labelled. And also, the history of the food is displayed on the wall too. It is super informative and easy to understand. Even if you are bring your children together, they must be understand the information and it would be fun if you are come to the museum with your beloved family. This is also the zone for the visitors to learn Malaysian eating habit in the past. For example, roti canai stall, roadside mamak stall and dessert stall. When you are looking at the miniatures, it will bring back your childhood memories.
Next, the WOW Zone (Zone 2). Here is the zone to give you a fantastic experience with food and also boost your imagination. There also have the giant replica food such as cendol, laksa, satay, curry mee, hokkien mee, rojak, ais kacang, char kuey teow and nasi lemak! I would say here is the section with the most people because everyone wants to take photo with the food because this section is rare for the visitors and they are also amazed with the giant replica food. The Educational Zone (Zone 3). The visitors will be exposed to Penang Trail. If you have children, here is the place you can tell them the story of revolution! There are also have a small section that displays “Fat vs Lean Muscle”. Visitors can experience how both fat and lean muscles feel like in the same weight. The entry fee of the museum is only RM25 for adult and for the children only Rm15. The operation hours is 9AM until 6PM daily. Last but not least, the whole museum is almost one hundred percent same with the real food.
Everyone loves food. Penang is also one of the most popular food heaven. This very popular Transfer Road Roti Canai has been feeding the hungry locals & visitors for over 40 years now. Its base cilentele are Malay/Muslim visitors to Penang, who’d make a long queue for this eatery in the mornings.“Roti canai” is Malaysian-speak for Indian paratha bread. In Singapore, it’s called “roti prata”, but Malaysians know it as “roti canai”. Transfer Road Roti Canai seats its patrons on long benches, back to wall, whilst the city’s busy traffic by inches away from you whilst you dig into your “roti canai” with chicken or dhal curries, washed down with hot “teh tarik” - local sweetened milk tea. The current owner is Abdul Karim, a genial, confident “mamak” (local term for Indian-Muslims). A bowl of cendol may look humble but certainly has its own irresistible charms. Easily one of Malaysians’ favourite desserts, cendol is strikingly simple but satisfying. Cendol usually consists of the conspicuous green jelly noodles immersed in shaved ice mixed with coconut milk, gula melaka, and kidney beans. Some stalls would enhance the dessert by adding in chunks of ‘pulut’, sweet corn and nuts. If you are ever on Penang Island, cendol is a must-try. As one of the most popular cendol stalls around, this family-run business in Lebuh Keng Kwee attracts both locals and tourists. Their customers would usually stand beside the stall or take cover under a shade nearby while enjoying the cendol. Their opening hours is around 9AM until 7.30PM. Furthermore, if you want to taste ais kacang kepal, you can buy them at 70’s Ice Ball. The seller filling up two bowls full with shaved ice. Then she topped one bowl on top of the other. Removed the top bowl, compact and rotated the ice shavings into a ball. There were many flavors available on the menu and the best part is that we can have two flavors. Also, if you can request for asam boi. Syrup would be the exact flavor that they used to have on ice balls because it is old school. The visitors are supposed to just suck the syrup from the ice ball and not munch on the ice.
So in the conclusion, Penang is a beautiful, magnificent and historical state in Malaysia. Penang also might be a second smallest state in the country of Malaysia but has a magnificent tourist attraction which is full of flora, fauna and many historical sites. It is not only famous for the tourist attraction sites but also its uniqueness in its food variety that can attract tourist travel for food.
