One of the interesting highlights of Chinese New Year festival in Penang is the interior design and decoration of Queensbay Mall. The shopping mall has always created a visual spectacle in conjunction of every festive season. This year for Chinese New Year, it created a small ‘old Chinese town’ that includes facades of vintage shops and even small boats on a faux river.
Today marks the birthday of the Jade Emperor deity.
During the Chinese New Year’s 15-days period in Penang, the celebration for the birthday of the Jade Emperor will fall on the 9th lunar day of Chinese New Year. This day is particularly celebrated a lot by the Hokkien community in Penang and is also commonly referred to as the Hokkien New Year. There will be lots of prayers, food offerings and various festivities held for the Jade Emperor on this day. Two popular areas in Penang where this day is celebrated are the Jade Emperor Pavilion temple at Ayer Itam and the Clan Jetties area at Weld Quay, George Town.
This beautiful temple is one of the oldest Hindu temples in Penang, and is also the main hosting temple for the famous Thaipusam festival that is being celebrated annually by Hindu devotees.
This old but large ‘turtle liberation pond’ of Kek Lok Si temple complex can be found near the entrance of the temple if one decides to walk up the hill from the Ayer Itam town. The pond is surrounded by many souvenir and gift stalls and similar stalls are set up along the way to the pond and the temple.
This 20 meter art mural at Alliance Française de Penang was created by local Malaysian artist Elan Hasyim and it was painted in a way to portray the relation between the two cities, Paris and Penang.
It can be found on the wall of the building of The Alliance Française de Penang (a French learning center), which is located right at the corner of Jalan Phuah Hin Leong, George Town:
Click on the image for a larger size.
Street arts featured in this map:
The Old Fisherman Mural, The Silat Master and The Rubber Tapper by Julia Volchkova.
The Old Man Portrait by Ernest Zacharevic.
For other street arts in Penang, please click HERE.
A large art mural portraying an old fisherman mending a fishing net can be found at the side wall of an pre-war shophouse in Balik Pulau town, Penang. This amazing and vivid painting was done by Russian street artist Julia Volchkova. This is one of the two murals painted by her in Balik Pulau town.
For Volchkova’s other works in Penang, please refer HERE or for her Facebook page; https://www.facebook.com/volchkovastreetart.
A popular recreation area for the locals, the surrounding hills of Ayer Itam Dam host a number of forested paths for hiking, jungle trekking and cycling activities. The hills are also linked to the Penang Hill. The Ayer Itam Dam is the first dam to be built in Penang.
