Penang - Indian Garland Making

Garland making is a part of the Malaysian Indian culture and is commonly seen especially during festival celebrations. These colorful garlands are also in demand for religious occasions like moving house and weddings.The material used to make the garlands is the more fragranced type.

Colorful garlands

Two types of flower

Multi flower

There are many stalls making this type of garland around Georgetown. Some uses one type of flower whereas some comes in multi flower. The commonly flower used is marigold, jasmine, hibiscus, roses and also leaves.

Master of garland making

Old Classic Signboards of Penang

Take a walk down the streets of Penang and you can see all kinds of signboards hanging on the shops. Here are a few signboards that survive the passing of time which is mostly written in Chinese.

The signboard in this case is embedded on the pillar of the building itself. Look at the wordings on the signboard…WAVING PARLOUR.

Signboards made of metal mounting on the wall of these old shops with the description…HAIR DRESSING SALOON and PERM PARLOUR.

This signboard on the pillar of the shop is very eye-catching. It uses Chinese wine bottles to show the merchandise that they are marketing, really tell so much.

This signboard expresses Hacks which is a favorite sweet for some of us. It also combine the name of the shop owner as well.

The Fashionable Char Koay Teow Sellers

Penang’s famous for its great cuisine, Char Koay Teow. This is two of the most famous CKT hawkers in Penang on legendary Lorong Selamat! Just look at their outfit as compared to those CKT sellers in the olden days...definitely with very fashionable caps and goggles.

Surfing on Rapid Buses In Penang

On 13th May 2009, Rapid Penang launched the high speed WiFi service in two of their fleet of buses here for a trial period of three months. Passengers can surf the Net, Facebook, check emails or even watch videos on the You Tube using their laptops or handphones with internet access at 3.5G speed while on board the bus. Wow...just imagine high speed entertainment while travelling on a bus, pretty cool.

Photo courtesy of The Star

The WiFi service is currently available on two long distance routes :
101 - Batu Ferringhi-Weld Quay route via Burma Road
401A - Balik Pulau-Airport-Weld Quay

You can expect to see the service extended to all their 180 buses in the state if it becomes a hit among passengers. Let's hope it works.

A big applause to Rapid Penang for being the first bus company to take the initiative to provide this service to the general public of Penang.

Chowrasta Market, Penang

Here are some of the photos taken at the Chowrasta Market located in Penang Road after my morning breakfast of charcoal toast bread (Roti Bakar) at nearby Toh Soon Cafe.

This is one of the more well known market in town. You will find traders selling all different kinds of goods, from perishable to non-perishable. Be prepared to navigate your way through the crowd especially on weekends.

For those looking out for tasty hawker food around this market area, do check out the Pork Innard Porridge, Jawa Mutton Satay and the cool refreshing drink, Window Sherbet (Ais Tingkap) with the Cucur Udang right beside it.

Check out the signboard of the shop behind the stall…

Stall of the Pork Innard Porridge

This is also the great place for those looking for seasoned fruits (jeruk) and also second-hand books.

Wesak Day – 9th May 2009

Wishing a Happy Wesak Day to all my readers celebrating this occasion. These photos were taken on the eve, and I’ll like to share my favorite snapshots with you.

Memory Lane of Penang

Going down the memory lane of Penang.

Life was simpler back then when people do not need to travel much to buy things as vendors will come to their door steps. Check out how the vendors looked like way back then.

Many kids would wait for the balloon man to pass by

  I am sure many of us would remember our favorite ice-cream guy

 Back then breakfast was mostly eaten at home 

Housewives need not travel to do their daily marketing

Even light furniture comes to the door steps

These pictures certainly bring back lots of good old Penang to many of us. Many thanks to my friend, Aik Chin for sharing all these pictures of the vendors.