AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures
Penang : Cycling The Streets & Alleys Of George Town Pt.1: Gurney to Armenian
George Town, Penang : Friday, 16th December 2022
Cycling Distance: 12.42 km. | Level: Easy
Time : 12:00 pm to 4:10 pm
Time Taken : 4hrs 10mins. (including many stops for photography, brunch, & rest).
(Click here for the Google Map Cycling Streets & Alleys of George Town Route Link )
Route Recommendations:
1. Traffic Directions!
Malaysia's traffic is right-hand drive, so drive or cycle on the left. Same thing applies when crossing the road, be careful and take note of the direction in which traffic is approaching from!
2. Route & Traffic Conditions
3. Places of Interest
En-route were several places of interests, some of which we visited and others we did not for lack of time. (Note: click on the GPS coordinates for directional map to the respective places):
For the origin of the street names and their names in local Traditional Malay, Hokkien & Traditional Tamil,
Click here.
5. Weather
Located near the equator, Malaysia's climate is categorised as equatorial, being hot and humid throughout the year. Malaysia faces two monsoon winds seasons, the Southwest Monsoon from late May to September, and the Northeast Monsoon from October to March. The Northeast Monsoon brings in more rainfall compared to the Southwest Monsoon. November is Malaysia's coldest month. Even then, at Penang, mid-afternoon temperatures were 30°C, so do cover up or apply sun-block lotions. Night temperature averaged 25°C. It rained in the late afternoon and evening.
6. Communicating with Locals
For the uninitiated cycling in foreign lands can be a daunting experience, especially when one can only speak a smattering of the local language or if there is no common language to speak to each other (like English). Most Malaysians can speak fairly good English; but in the rural areas the locals speak only some rudimentary English, so learning some basic phrases in Bahasa Malaysia will be helpful. This could be partly overcome by using translation apps like Google Translate. Do install this app into your phone and before you leave on your tour do some basic translation as it will be saved onto a list of recent translations. And do install memory-resident translation apps into your mobile phone.
7. Staying in Touch
When travelling in a group it's important to be able to communicate with each other, especially if one got lost or just to share photos and moments. Pre-paid phone sim-cards are easily available from most phone shops in the main towns.
8. Service Your Bicycles & Carry Tools and Spares
Before leaving on your tour, it will be good to service your bike and bring along some spares like tubes, puncture patches, brake pads and the relevant tools.
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It's the first time this Penang Kia is flying back to Penang and riding there since my left knee operation in late August, three months ago. From a month after the operation, I have been slowly getting up onto the pedal. and gradually riding longer and longer distances. And I am glad to say that my knee don't hurt anymore when I walk around.
The lanes where still there but just blocked off; so I carried my bike over the barricade and happily cycled on. But just after E-Gate the lanes were totally blocked off! I gave up, but no way was I going to cycle along the very busy Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway with fast speeding vehicles, it's just to risky and dangerous! So I did the next best thing and sheepishly and reluctantly called a e-hailing Grab car to safely continue on my journey to Tanjung Tokong. Hah! I was e-hailing at E-Gate! What a coincidence! Anyway, today's story was not about my home-coming misadventures, it's more about my wonderful ride streets & alleys of George Town. Do note that George Town is spelt as two words and not as Georgetown. _________________________________________________________________________
THE RIDE
The route goes around the the UNESCO Heritage Core & Buffer Zones of George Town; trying to view as much of the council's upgraded side-lanes & alley, with some surprise find of pocket parks and nice street art. It is a easy flat route within the city, some roads are shaded while others are not, so do cover up or apply sun-block lotion.
Cycling Distance: 12.42 km | Level: Easy
(Click here for the Google Map Cycling Streets & Alleys of George Town Route Link )
Cycling does have it's advantage, it's slower place means finding beautiful "nooks" & "crannies" that one would otherwise miss if driving around - like the above two locations that gives a scenic vista of the Gurney Drive coastline.
This newly opened Esplanade walkway designed so that it's lower promenade gets slightly underwater for people to ‘feel’ the tide during high tide.
Today was a bright sunny day, from here we had a beautiful view of blue skies with rolling clouds over the Kedah Peak (locally called Gunung Jerai) with it's pointed top in the horizon!
This upgrading is sponsored by the Bank of China, a good social exercise carried out by the City Council to involve local businesses.
This old temple attracts many visitors, some to prayer others as tourist attracted by the temple's architecture and also the colourful giant dragon joss-sticks sold at the adjacent shops. Decades ago, there were shops near the temple making these joss sticks, but sadly they they are not there anymore for people to see how these joss sticks are made. For those interested, there is a cottage-factory making them near the Penang International Airport; click the following coordinates for directions to the joss-stick "factory" - 5.28651, 100.26037.
Adjacent to Lorong Muda, a back side-lane has been upgrade with red & gray paver bricks.
We exit out onto Chulia Lane; take a peek to the right and will be seen these two old colonial houses on Stewart Lane, in their attractive original state with timber louvered windows. Many of these old colonial houses have been taken over by home-stays and even boutique hotels. Soon, perhaps these two will will be spruced up and turned into a hotel too, losing their old charming identity!
But we won't be heading there; instead we cross over to another side-lane on the opposite side, one that's next to Kafe Chap Chit Keng (and opposite 20 Chulia Lane Cafe), it is nicely finished with terra-cotta stamped concrete.
Alas! Further in, it continues to a back-alley that's not so "attractive"; take a virtual stroll with the above interactive Google Street view to get a feel of this!
Perhaps this untidy back alley will be spruced up too in future. At the end of the back alley, making a right will lead to an open car-park of Love Lane.
But we take a left and loop back to Chulia Lane as we have more to explore at this vicinity. In the past this street was unique in the sense that it borders Little India and China Town. One section of the street nearer Stewart Lane would have Chinese shops selling Chinese goods & even had a shop where an old lady manually made chee cheong fun (steamed rice rolls). And the centre section near Lorong Pasar would have Indian shops, like grocery shops selling goods imported from India. Then a short section near Chulia Street would have Chinese shops again. But these days those shops of old are gone, having been replace with newer ones like cafes, and a Thai eatery, etc. Don't get me wrong, the old shops are still physically there, but have been taken over by new owners, spruced up with with newer timber windows and a fresh coat of paint.
Interestingly, toddy is used to make a Nyonya cake called Huat Kueh. The toddy reacts with the sugar in the rice batter and makes it "huat", i.e. rise - hence the name huat kueh.
Making a left into Love Lane from there Love Lane Hotel (GPS: 5.41967, 100.33721) is a boutique hotel housed in an Anglo-Indian bungalow in George Town, Penang. This two-storey building is believed to have been erected after 1877, according to studies done on a survey map of that period. Located at 23 Love Lane, entry to the compound is through a Chinese gate that is believed to have been built before 1891. "There is no complete agreement as to how Love Lane got its name. There is a belief that it was named after a British officer named Love, but this has not been verified. Another belief is that it was the site for early 19th century brothels for sailors and soldiers. The adjacent road, Muntri Street, was where the rich Straits Chinese lived, and it is widely believed that these men kept their mistresses along Love Lane." These days Love Lane houses are slowly being converted to cafes and affordable hotels/hostels; but back then these housed guilds, and artisans shops, including a mahjung tiles maker.
Interestingly, this section of Chulia Street is known in local Hokkien as Gû-kan-tàng (牛干冬) as there were cattle pens (kendang) located here decades ago.
Presently this road is resided mainly by locals with cottage industry such a tailors, and gold-smiths. But slowly some of the houses are being converted into trendy cafes and charming home-stays.
This mosque was built in the 19th century by Indian Muslim traders and is named after the prominent Indian Muslim leader, Cauder Mohudeen, who was the first Kapitan Kling
But the narrowest section of the street only extends for 20 meters of its 100 meters length, i.e. fronting four houses only. This ambiguity opens up a challenge for the title of the narrowest street from Boat Alley, or from a section of Seck Chuan Lane just behind Cheapside, and or even Cek Em Lane!
Well that's my cycling adventure of these streets for the moment, click here to continue on to the next interesting section.
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