Penang

Penang is well known domestically and in Singapore for being the “food paradise” of Malaysia. Remember Penang Curry? It’s an island on the north west corner of Malaysia near the Thai border. The state of Penang is made up of two parts, Penang Island, a turtle-shaped island in the Straits of Malacca 8km west of Peninsular Malaysia, and Seberang Perai (formerly Province Wellesley), a rectangular-shaped district that is situated on Peninsular Malaysia.

Penang was part of the Malay sultanate of Kedah until 1786, when Captain Francis Light built a fort at the site of present-day Georgetown and managed to get the island ceded to the British East India Company. The island, along with Malacca and Singapore, was one of the three British Straits Settlements.

The capital city, Georgetown, was named after King George III of Great Britain. Today, Penang Island is Malaysia’s second largest city and has the highest population density in Malaysia. In addition, Penang is the only state where the ethnic Chinese are the majority. Penang also has the third-largest economy amongst the states of Malaysia, after Selangor and Johor, incredibly for its tiny size.

The cargo trade has largely shifted down to Port Klang and Singapore since Penang lost its free-port status in 1969, but now Penang makes a good living off tourism and electronics manufacturing. The multi-national corporations that operate factories in Penang’s Free Trade Zones include Intel, AMD, AVX, BBraun, Dell, Flextronics, Agilent, Osram, Motorola, Seagate, and Jabil Circuit. Penang was granted Cyber-City status on 21 June, 2004. At the World Heritage Committee Session in July 2008, Georgetown and Malacca were listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Old Dutch Colonial Town

Releasing these birds is like releasing your hangups

Street Closure for Gangnam Style (only girls participated??)