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The Queen Victoria Memorial Clock Tower was built to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria by local Penang millionaire Cheah Chen Eok in the year 1897.

It was to commemorate Her Majesty’s sixtieth year of reign. The clocktower stands proudly at sixty feet tall having each foot signifying each year of the Queen’s reign.

It’s located next to Fort Cornwallis in Georgetown. You’ll not miss the clocktower as it’s one of the significant landmark visible when you are touring around the Fort Cornwallis’ surrounding area.

The Queen however, never visited Penang, nor has she live long enough to see the clocktower commemorated in her name completed. The Queen passed away in January 22, 1901 before the clocktower was completed. The clocktower’s construction was completed in the year 1902.

Penang, Holiday in Penang, Queen Victoria, Clock Tower, Memorial

When you are in Penang, one of the attractions that is uniquely Penang is the Penang Ferry services. Before the Penang Bridge was built, the ferry service was the only link which connect the mainland of Butterworth and Penang Island.

It’s a mode of transport that was heavily used by the mainlanders as well as islanders to commute from the island to the mainland and vice-versa. Nowadays, with the Penang Bridge around, the utilization of the ferry service is not so heavy as it was before.

With the government’s initiative, you’ll notice that most of the ferries has been beautifully and brightly painted as a project to beautify the ferries. You’ll never miss them when you pass by the ferry terminal near the Weld Quay area.

If you are driving to Penang, besides the Penang Bridge, this is an alternative route for you to go over to the island. An alternative route where you can stop your vehicle on the ferry and get down to enjoy the blowing sea breeze and a relaxing break prior to reaching the island to continue your trip around Penang Island.

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Chulia Street is one of the old street around in Penang. Located at Georgetown, it’s a pretty long road with pre-war houses at the both sides of the road. In the early days, the road was not that busy. Most of the houses along the road engaged in some form of small scale businesses.

Nowadays, Chulia Street is more like a Backpackers’ paradise. There are now a lot of pubs and also shops that provide backpacker type accommodation along this busy road. The price should be relatively cheap and very affordable. Dorm bed can probably be about lesser than RM40 a night or probably lesser which made this place popular among backpackers. You can always see a lot of back packers especially those from the western countries walking along this area. There are also slightly more upmarket accommodation as opposed the just dorms available.

There are also a lot of cheap cafes, travel agencies, cyber cafe and etc. It’s a very typical backpacker area in all respects.

After dark, Chulia Street will come alive with hawkers and also eating places. Hawkers will be selling local dishes after dark. It’s relatively very convenient for backpackers because food and other needed stuff are easily available.

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Wat Chaiyamangalaram Thai Buddhist Temple or more popularly known to most as the  Temple of the Reclining Buddha is one of the more popular tourist spot in Penang. It is located at around Pulau Tikus.

The piece of land which the temple was built on was donated by the late Queen Victoria to the Thai residents of Penang. The handover ceremony of the land was done by W.L. Butterworth on 22nd July 1845.

As you enter the main entrance of the temple, you’ll be greeted by some beautifully crafted statues of the devas (gods) and also multi-headed serpents. One will be fascinated by the fine design works done by the statue crafting artists of the yesteryears.

Inside the temple, there is a statue of the reclining Buddha, Pra Buddha Chaiya Mongkol which measures at the length of 108 feets. The statue was built in July 1958 to commemorate the 25th century of the birth of the Buddha. The cost was at about RM100,000 and the statue is said to be one of the largest in the world.

On the walls inside the temple, there are areas which store the ashes of Buddhist devotees which has passed away. The walls’ design and decoration follow those of the traditional Thai design. There are also Buddha statues covered with gold leaves being used as interior design inside the temple.

There are also paintings on the life of the Buddha painted by well-known Thai artists hung on the walls as part of the interior decorations. Next to the temple, there’s a five-storey Thai pagoda measuring at the height of about 165 feet high.

This is one of the must-go destination if this is your first visit to Penang. This is a place you wouldn’t want to miss

Queensbay Mall is the current talk of town since it’s opening early December this year. It’s the most happening place right now apart from Gurney Plaza which was located at Gurney Drive. Queensbay Mall is located around the Bayan Lepas’ Free Commercial Zone(FCZ). Said to be the largest and longest shopping mall in Penang. It also brings Penang it’s first Jusco shopping outlet.

Since it’s grand opening in early December, Queensbay Mall is heavily frequented with shoppers every night particularly during the weekends as well as public holidays. You can see that by looking at the number of cars parked inside as well as outside the mall.

As you enter the main entrance which is situated at the middle of the mall, you’ll be greeted by 3 Christmas trees placed on the exhibition stage right in the middle of the building. 2 of which are about 1 1/2 storeys high and another is about 2 1/2 storeys high. It’s obviously due to it’s opening was during the Christmas month and therefore, Christmas theme was used. Well, go there and look at the trees if you are interested before they give way to the next celebration.

Generally, the walkways/corridors are spacious and should be comfortable to all shoppers. At this point, not all the shops are fully operating yet. At the lower ground floor, you’ll find a wide range of eating places ranges from local to Thai as well as western delicacies. There are shops like The Old Town Cafe, The Manhattan Fish Market, Siam Express, Nando’s and etc just to name a few. You can explore yourself when you are there.

On the ground floor and above, most of the shops are selling designers’ wear and also branded items. There are also a few shops on the ground floor selling gourmet coffee in case you need to take a break to have your usual cuppa coffee or tea.

There’s a shop that caught my attention. The shop sells traditional Chinese tea. It’s call Lao Pa Cha Tea House. The first thing that came into my mind was the name would be ‘Lau Pek Teh’ in the local Hokkien dialect. For those who do not read Chinese or do not understand Hokkien, that is literally translated as “Father’s Tea” in English.

Well, on the overall, this is a nice place for everyone, whether is for shopping, relaxing, hanging out and so on. If you have not been there, go. This place is definitely a crowd puller with its list of designers’ tag to be opened in the mall and also being nearby to the FCZ and the Penang Bridge. Folks from the mainland will find this place nearer compared to other shopping places on the island.

One of the popular shopping haven in Penang is Gurney Plaza. Situated along Gurney Drive, it is popular with tourist and also locals. Most hotels provide shuttle service to Gurney Plaza as it has a wide variety of stalls and shops with something for everyone.

There are shops selling local products, boutiques selling the more upmarket branded items and it also houses many eatouts which caters for a varities of taste. Here, you can get almost any meal you fancy from Western to Japanese, from Korean to a hearty Peranakan meal.

On the groundfloor along the walkway are cafes serving gourmet coffee like Starbucks, Coffee Bean, Dome. There are those shops selling fruit juices, fast food outlets and shops selling cakes and sandwiches for shoppers who want to take a break.

On the topmost floor, there’s a multiple screens cinema showing the latest local movies and also international movies. A place that is packed on weekends where you can see people from all walks of life mingling under one roof…

Fort Cornwallis is one of the most important historical landmarks in Penang. Fort Cornwallis was named after the Governor-General in Bengal, Charles Cornwallis.

It’s located close to the Esplanade, next to the Victoria Memorial Clock. It’s the exact spot where Francis Light first landed from his ship in the year 1768. The fort’s wall is about 10 feet high. It was built as a defense against the French, Kedah and also the pirates.

Inside the fort, you still can see some of the original structures like a chapel, prison cells which were once used as barracks, ammunition storage area, harbour light to signal incoming ships, some bronze canons and also a Dutch canon named Seri Rambai.

It’s said by locals that this canon bring positive effects on a woman’s fertility. Some women are said to have came here and touched the canon while praying for an offspring. If you are thinking of having a kids, probably you can drop by and give the proud canon a try.

The Esplanade, the strecth of beach where Fort Cornwallis is located is essentially a food haven too serving sumptuos local delicacies like pasembor, laksa, cucur udang, mee rebus, fried kuey teow and prawn noodles to name a few. This is a favourite hangout of locals especially during the weekends.

Parents with their children in tow can be seen flying kites or fishing or simply just strolling along the side walk in the evening. In the late evening, the place is predominantly a place for love birds to profess their love under moon and stars…

The Goddess of Mercy Temple was founded around 1800. It features a beautiful roof with ornately decorated designs. It’s better known to the locals as the Kuan Yin Teng Temple. It’s located along Pitt Street, Georgetown.

It’s one of the most popular temple in Penang among Penangites. You can see Chinese devotees throng the temple all year round to pay homage and offer prayers to the Goddess of Mercy. It’s a well-known temple in Penang since the old days.

It was said by the old folks that during World War II, the Goddess of Mercy provided a safe shelter to many Penangites. A bomb was said to have dropped from the sky by one of the fighter jets right in front of the temple. Somehow, the bomb went dead when it touched the temple’s ground.

Perhaps it was due to that, you can see locals throng the temple during the Goddess of Mercy’s Celebration Day in the Chinese lunar calendar.

And in the front of the temple’s ground, you can usually see a lot of pigeons flying around as well as feeding on the grains which were given to them by the locals.

There are stalls located outside the temple that sell praying items like joss sticks, candles as well as praying papers for devotees who wish to offer prayers to the Goddess of Mercy. They are normally priced at about RM3.00 per set of praying items.

The Snake Temple, also known as the Temple of the Azure Cloud is probably one of its kind in the world.

Located at Sungai Kluang in Bayan Lepas near the Penang International Airport, the temple was built in 1850 in honour of a Buddhist monk Chor Soo Kong. Legend has it that this monk gave shelter to the snakes of the jungle when the temple was completed, thus the snakes have since then seek refuge there.

At the back of the temple is a snake pool which is filled with fruit trees instead of water. On closer examination you can see the snakes coiled around the branches of the trees.

Although poisonous, the snakes are not caged as they’ve not been known to bite. Devotees regard the snakes as holy and harmless. However in recent years, the rapid development around this area has caused the number of snakes to dwindle.

Snakes are now mostly kept in glass tanks to keep them from slithering out from the temple compound as what was once their natural habitat is now a concrete forest.

Every year thousands of tourist throng this temple as it is one the must see when you visit Penang island. If you are game enough and want to have your photo taken with snakes coiled on your arms or draped around your neck, there are photographers available to take your pictures for you.

At the back of the temple, there’s also an altar of the Goddess of Mercy where devotees can perform their prayers.