View of the sun setting from Bukit Genting, a hilltop restaurant at Balik Pulau, where you gotta muster some courage to drive to. I remember trying to coax my Kelisa up an almost 45-degree slope to reach here, AFTER half and hour of winding in and out round the hill road. But once you reach there, the views of the unspoilt beaches of the South, the paddy fields and the mangrove forests are worth all of the jitters. This is a shot rarely seen of my home state. Sorry for the lousy shot, we were a bit late getting the shot and the sun was already on its way down.
The unspoilt, almost secret Pantai Kerachut. It's inaccessible by car, you park at a fishing village in Batu Maung then hike a narrow path to the beach. It's the ONLY beach in Penang where the water is crystal clear on a sunny day, like the undeveloped Malaysian East Coast. The last time I went there, we took a boat half the way and were rewarded by the sight of dolphins!!
You can glimpse monitor lizards and otters too if you're lucky (and very quiet, which my group wasn't). But there's no thrash, no picnicking families and and no jet skis. Most likely just you and nature.
Shots of Bangkok Lane, a row of conservation houses that the tenants so impressively made their own:
Vintage car in one of the driveways. Just completes the look, doesn't it?
Love the way those climber plants wind their way up the walls and pillars of the house, and the look of those wooden shutters.
Window planter boxes.
The ugly drain covers and covered up, and the entire driveway prettied up by a plethora of plants. Pretty sure the owner doesn't own a car though, or parks outside *grin*. Great inspiration for my future house - didn't realise there were so many shades of green :)
I just pray, that with the Unesco World Heritage status, that the people who we put in charge of Penang would do her justice. A true melting pot of Peranakan, Mamak, Eurasians admist the Chinese, Indians and Malays. Where you can find a mosque next to a Chinese Temple. Where Thaipusam is celebrated big time with kavadee carriers, brass milk pots, coconut thrashing and pilgrims from all of the North. Where people happily sit next to a drain to slurp a bowl of laksa. Where goldsmiths, lion dance costume makers, joss stick makers, songkok makers share the same row of shophouses as they did eons ago. Where stately white, wide-pillared colonial buildings meld with the Cheong Fatt Tze Blue Mansion, with the Khoo Kongsi, with the Kapitan Keling mosque. Shophouses where the tiny tiles are little works of art. Stalls that have been there and run by the same uncles, like, forever. No wonder the NY Times recommends Penang as one of the 44 places to visit this year.
Window planter boxes.
The ugly drain covers and covered up, and the entire driveway prettied up by a plethora of plants. Pretty sure the owner doesn't own a car though, or parks outside *grin*. Great inspiration for my future house - didn't realise there were so many shades of green :)
I just pray, that with the Unesco World Heritage status, that the people who we put in charge of Penang would do her justice. A true melting pot of Peranakan, Mamak, Eurasians admist the Chinese, Indians and Malays. Where you can find a mosque next to a Chinese Temple. Where Thaipusam is celebrated big time with kavadee carriers, brass milk pots, coconut thrashing and pilgrims from all of the North. Where people happily sit next to a drain to slurp a bowl of laksa. Where goldsmiths, lion dance costume makers, joss stick makers, songkok makers share the same row of shophouses as they did eons ago. Where stately white, wide-pillared colonial buildings meld with the Cheong Fatt Tze Blue Mansion, with the Khoo Kongsi, with the Kapitan Keling mosque. Shophouses where the tiny tiles are little works of art. Stalls that have been there and run by the same uncles, like, forever. No wonder the NY Times recommends Penang as one of the 44 places to visit this year.
So Mr. Lim, I humbly present my suggestions for the good of my beloved home state:
1) For goodness's sake, you gotta improve the public transportation system. Be it dedicated bus lanes with LPG-powered buses, and we are SO in need of a monorail. Penang is tiny - I would think that a monorail would do it so much good without the need for more roads. There's just too many cars on the road now. My family alone owns four cars, for the simple reason that there is just No other alternative. So much productivity is lost in those traffic jams, and ironically Penang's size makes it so simple to do something to overcome this! Low hanging fruit!!
2) Get the taxis to use their meters! Convert them to LPG taxis like in KL, and make their meter use mandatory. I know from talking to so many taxi drivers in KL that they're earning a couple thousand bucks per month, one of main reasons being that LPG is so cheap. It's a damned shame that we have to pay 30 bucks for 8 kilometers worth of driving. If Penang is so small, then up the cost per km a little, but don't suck their blood so as to turn people off that it's a bane to tourism in the state.
3) NO MORE HILLSIDE DEVELOPMENTS!
4) Clean up Sungai Pinang. Singapore and even Malacca cleaned up their river, Penang can do it too, even if it takes 20 years. Move the squatters into low cost housing in the mainland, and plant mangrove trees on its banks.
5) Fine every soul who dares throw thrash outside of a rubbish bin.
6) Give our faithful hawkers good plumbing and waste disposal facilities, make it mandatory for them to use them so they don't throw their waste into the drains.
Some things to keep:
1) Those gorgeous roadside trees that have been there since the British were here. You can't buy these.
2) Pantai Acheh and Kerachut, and Gertak Sanggul. Compared to the overrated BAtu Feringghi, these are unspoilts paradises. Leave them be, accessible only by die hard nature lovers.
3) The Little Penang Street Market, what a wonderful way to bring crafts, cuisine and culture into a little event! I've been luckly enough to go to one and came away totally charmed by the people and the stuff they sold.
4) E & O Hotel, The Blue Mansion, the Khoo Konsi, Kek Lok Si, Beach Street of international banks occupying heritage buildings.
5) Conservation of heritage buildings like those on Millionare's Row, and Bangkok Lane, Nagore Road.
6) Our Botanical Gardens and Durian and Nutmeg Orchards in Balik Pulau
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