Penang
This is a fairly complete building tour of Penang, since touring heritage buildings was mostly what we did there. I really like that Penang is filled with European buildings, Christian Churches, Chinese Temples, Hindu Temples, and Mosques.
Dewan Bandaran- the City Hall
The Syed Alatas Mansion
The Victoria Memorial Clocktower, near Fort Cornwallis
Rezo Ku Din Ku Meh
The Sun Yat Sen House, where he once lived
The St. George Cathedral
Cathedral of the Assumption (I loved the looks of this building)
The Goddess of Mercy Temple (with the hugest incense sticks I have ever seen)
The Yap Kongsi Temple
Temple of the Azure Cloud- otherwise known as the Snake Temple because it is filled with live venomous snakes. The snakes are all mellowed out because of the insane amount of incense that is burned here all day.
Note to any future travelers: This place is a tourist trap and they will try to squeeze every penny out of you in donations. This made our visit quite unpleasant, and I don't recommend visiting this place since it is far out of town and in my opinion the little snakes in trees were not all that impressive anyway
Here's a snake looking me right in the eye (left), and Mark and I were told to waft incense in our faces, and then, of course, asked to donate money (right).
Here is one of the Chinese Clan Houses. The Chinese had to stick together when they came to Malaysia so they formed clans. This one is the biggest we saw, called the Khoo Kongsi.
This one is called Cheah Kongsi
The Sri Mariamman Hindu Temple
And finally, the Capitan Kling Mosque (a postcard quality photo in my humble opinion!)
Penang is named after beetlenut- a nut that many old asian ladies chew to get a buzz effect similar to cigarettes. Unfortunately it turns their teeth purple, but they don't seem to mind. Here is a close up of unripe beetlenut.
