june-2012

GEORGE TOWN FESTIVAL
The George Town Festival takes
place from 15 June to 15 July 2012.
Here are some highlights:
15 JUNE: SILAT — OUR HERITAGE
FOR THE WORLD
The gala opening performance is
a ‘hybrid theatre performance’ by
award-winning producer-director
Saw Teong Hin, featuring traditional
music plus visual and martial arts.
5, 6, 7 JULY — RASA SAYANG
A new interdisciplinary dance
theatre developed by Malaysian
director-dancer Tony Yap with
musician-composers Tim Humphrey
and Madeleine Flynn, visual artist
Naomi Ota and creative collaborator
Ben Rogan. Named after his mother,
it’s based on a mix of Eastern and
Western spiritual themes.
6, 7, 8 JULY — UNESCO
ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
Taking place in the George
Town Heritage Zone, this is an
introduction to regional performing
arts such as Chinese puppet theatre,
angklung and sufi singer, which are
in danger of disappearing.
MIRRORS GEORGE TOWN
Mural paintings on buildings in the
heritage area by international artist
Ernest Zacharevic, which portray
the residents of Penang celebrating
multiculturalism and diversity, will
turn George Town into an open-air
free gallery.
CLOCKWISE FROM MAIN: The 1881
Chong Tian Cultural Hotel has two
eateries, a small museum and
two serene air wells
of only two buildings in Asia to
make the list.
Built in the 1890s by a penniless
Hakka water bearer from China,
who went on to become one of the
wealthiest businessmen in Asia,
the traditional Chinese courtyard
house became derelict but was
restored to its former glory in the
1990s. Daily tours are conducted
and there is a small museum on the
ground fl oor.
In Chulia Street, an impressive,
traditional Chinese entrance
leads to the 20-room Yeng Keng
Boutique Hotel, set in an Anglo-
Indian family bungalow built in
the mid-1800s. The building was
extended and converted into a
HERITAGE //
hotel at the beginning of the 1900s, but by
the 1980s had deteriorated into a run-down
hostel for backpackers. In 2009, the present
owners renovated it, adding a swimming pool
and ensuite bathrooms — and in the process
unearthed some original features like the fl oor
tiles which had previously been hidden under
layers of concrete.
In the late 19th century, the horses that drew
the carriages of the nearby grand folk were
stabled in Muntri Street, and in a small mews
halfway up, the carriages themselves were
housed in a deep, two-storey building, which
has now been converted into Muntri Mews.
“The drivers and staff were quartered
above,” explains Ong, who bought the Grade
2-listed building in 2009. His ground fl oor
Mews Café is a peaceful place to chill.
Hotel Penaga at the corner of Hutton
Lane and Lebuh Clarke is a project by
KL architect Hijjas Kasturi. Converted
from a cluster of 15 pre-war terraces and
shophouses using recycled material where
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