Travel: George Town, Malaysia

Published on Thursday 24 February 2011 17:02

Behind the Goddess of Mercy Temple in George Town, the capital of the Malaysian state of Penang, a rebirth is under way.

For as long as anyone can remember, the eastern end of Stewart Lane, which runs behind the temple, has been marred by the blackened shells of seven terraced houses.

Several years ago a suspicious fire left the houses roofless. But inside, allusions to a grand past remained: skeletons of timber staircases, bits of terracotta tile, indigo patches of lime wash on walls rising 25 feet.

Last June, however, work began on a costly restoration that will see the buildings reincarnated as a luxury boutique hotel, Seven Terraces, scheduled to open later this year.

The project is being undertaken by Chris Ong and Karl Steinberg, co-owners of the Galle Fort Hotel in Sri Lanka. They are also restoring George Town's carriage stables, which they plan to open as another boutique hotel and cafe.

George Town, on the east coast of Penang Island, is undergoing a renaissance of sorts, and Seven Terraces is just the latest sign.

In 2008 the city was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and there is a palpable energy on the streets, particularly in its historic inner city - its grid of streets and narrow lanes lined by mostly low-rise structures in a range of styles reflecting its history as a British colonial city and trading post.

The terraced houses were built in the late 19th century, when George Town was enjoying an economic boom as an export centre, but over the years decline set in, culminating in its loss of free-port status in the late 1960s, the development of a port near Kuala Lumpur, and a population exodus to the suburbs.

Despite all this, George Town has long been a magnet for Malaysians and Singaporeans aware of its vibrant food scene. It has also attracted the type of world traveller for whom street culture and charmingly decrepit architecture trump getting a well-made cappuccino.

Ong, born in Penang, left in 1978 and returned only three years ago to live in George Town.

The key for him is building on the city's history. "It's about creating beauty in this town and getting people to appreciate these old buildings," he said, "showing people that you can come back and have a life in this city."

Seven Terraces is just one of an impressive number of new hotels and other projects that anticipate the city as a more popular tourist destination.

Three boutique hotels have already opened, and at least six more are scheduled to open this year, along with two luxury hotels and the redevelopment of the city's long-neglected waterfront. The Eastern & Oriental Hotel - George Town's colonial-era grande dame - is adding hotel rooms in a neighbouring 17-storey tower. Work has been completed on the restoration of almost three blocks of magnificent late-19th-century commercial buildings, to be leased as retail space, in the financial centre.

And small shops, restaurants and cafes - such as Soul Kitchen, a laid-back Malay-German venture with an Italian-influenced menu, and the quirky, four-table Amelie Cafe - are popping up in old shop premises.

These developments are unfolding within the context of two large infrastructure projects: a 250 million ringgit (about 51 million) upgrade of Penang's international airport - the first phase of which will be finished by early 2012 - and the construction of a second bridge to the Malaysian mainland, scheduled for completion by the end of 2013.

George Town "is buzzing these days," said Narelle McMurtrie, who opened Straits Collection, a boutique hotel, in two rows of shop fronts last February and, last month, a furniture and clothing shop in another refurbished structure.

"But it's not just tourists. I'm seeing more locals on the streets. Penang people are taking back their city."

A sign of that effort is locals returning as residents. In May, Ocean Teh, a Penang native who lived in George Town until he was 13, opened Sri Malaya, a bistro serving a mix of western and Malay food, in a restored shop house; he lives upstairs. "It's a real city," he said. "I came back for the culture."

Just a few years ago, many islanders would have considered George Town too unsafe to visit at night, let alone live in.

Now locals outnumber the tourists dining after dark on wonton mee and curry laksa on hawker-stall-lined Chulia Street. There's always a queue around the corner at Teksen, even though the Chinese restaurant doubled its capacity last year. And Sri Malaya's dinner clientele is predominantly local.

"There's been a leap forward," says Rebecca Duckett, a Malaysian artist who opened 29 The Gallery in Little India this year. "Locals are more aware of George Town as a place of interest."

She credits events such as the Little Penang Street Market, on the last Sunday of the month, and the annual George Town Festival. Last year, the government-funded event, staged to mark the city's World Heritage designation, ran for the month of July with a packed schedule of open houses, art exhibitions, film screenings, and theatre, music and dance performances by local and international artists. Every ticketed event sold out.

"It's the energy of this city that enabled everyone to work together," said Joe Sidek, the festival director and a local industrialist and arts patron.

George Town's arts scene, though, is lagging behind other types of development - "more for lack of spaces than anything," according to Duckett. But that's changing, slowly. McMurtrie has partnered a Kuala Lumpur art gallery to stage exhibitions from that city in a gallery above her shops. All of this builds on a multiethnic and multireligious heritage. The legacy of waves of immigrants from Europe, the Middle East and other parts of Asia over several hundred years is writ large in the city's architecture and the seemingly constant street theatre of its religious festivals and celebrations.

The muezzin's call from the Kapitan Keling Mosque is answered by bells rung across the street at the Sri Mahamariamman Temple; the clack of mah-jongg tiles drifts from the doorways of Chinese clan and trade associations, and small-scale trades such as tinsmithing and incense production are still practised.

City organisers know this rich history is a large part of George Town's appeal, and that a balance needs to be struck.

"We need the touristy stuff," acknowledged Ooi Geok Ling, the global tourism managing director for Penang, "but we don't want to lose what is true and raw about George Town."

What this means for travellers is the best of both worlds: sticks of satay from a street-side hawker's grill followed by an espresso martini at McMurtrie's Kopi Cine cafe; a bit of boutique browsing after a tour of Little India's temples and clan halls.

"There's still that sense of travel about George Town," said Steinberg. "It's just more comfortable than it used to be."

THE FACTS

Flights from Heathrow to Penang start from 591, see Skyscanner, www.skyscanner.net. Yeng Keng Hotel (362 Chulia Street; 60-4-262-2177; yengkenghotel.com.my; doubles from 385 ringgit, about 78). Little Penang Street Market (www.littlepenang.com.my) is on Upper Penang Road. The @George Town Festival (georgetownfestival.com) is in July.

The New York Times 2011

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This article was first published in The Scotsman, 5 March, 2011