We spent the first three weeks of July on the island of Penang in Malaysia. Charlene and I may fly a fair bit, but these three weeks were really the first time in all of 2015 that we traveled somewhere not to go on a business trip to do lots of photography, promotion and website work. This was our time, we got to hang out, to shoot, write, chill, walk around and relax a bit and have some much needed time for ourselves. A little holiday.
We stayed in the world heritage protected Georgetown (the Cintra Heritage House gets my highest recommendation!). Walking around Georgetown is brilliant, the historical houses have been beautifully preserved and turned into great guest houses and cafes where we often ended up spending half a day sipping Tea or Penang White Coffee and writing or reading. The food is spectacular. It is a fascinating melting pot of many different cultures and people, and it is totally safe and you can walk everywhere. Penang gets it perfectly right, I highly recommend it.
I could not shoot a decent street photo to save my life but here is a random collection of images from Penang that I had a lot of fun making.
Like in a lot of Asia, scooters are everywhere and it takes a bit of practice to walk safely amongst them. The temple is the oldest in Southeast Asia. I am the tallest person in the picture.
More scooters. And street art. I rock at writing captions. Oh there are people too.
Very impressive street art next to a cantonese temple. Painted by a really tall person. 16mm wide angle awesomeness.
We found this little dark alley that was just a kaleidoskope of colours at night and I made my favourite picture in Penang. No I am not that tall. Shot with flip out lcd screen magic with arms raised over my head.
Again, I am stalking Charlene at one of the jetties (the Lee jetty I think, really nicely done, outshines the others).
At our favourite cafe, Ren i Tang, tea (yes I do occasionally swap coffee for tea!), books and Fujis. I sneak in a shot while Charlene reads.
Heritage festival early July on Armenian Street (spot Charlene in the crowd)
Be very careful! On the other hand, that is a bloody big mouse!
“Your village called, they are missing their two idiots!”
I really enjoyed shooting Penang at night. The darkness helps conceal my crap street photography skills!
More great street art and I am using my superpowers and flip out lcd screen and shooting from the hip
The food is amazing, truly special! Here, wonderful maggie goreng (fried maggie noodles with chicken)
It did not rain much and mostly at night, shooting in the tropical rain is great though…if you are under cover.
Do not be fooled! This is not some clever fusion of Danish and Indian briyani rice! We asked, the Danish is just a name, not because it was actually Danish. Disappointing! Ok, their briyani was actually really good.
There is something so so so so wrong in this picture!
Love Bike on Love Lane and old angry woman is pure awesome.
Making more award winning documentary art at night!
Because …. cow
Charlene down the backstreets and my second favourite Penang picture. 16mm wide angle awesomeness, even I could not screw up this picture!
16 Comments on “In Penang”
“I could not shoot a decent street photo to save my life but here is a random collection of images from Penang that I had a lot of fun making.”
Yet a lot of these are great! Really enjoyed this read, Flemming 🙂
Cya soon
/Jonas
Tak Jonas, ses snart!
also I may have been slightly ironical, at times, once in a blue moon, I make a decent street shot 😀
Super fed street som lille historie bag, og enig med Jonas der.
Takker!
ah, more memories of Penang, as I said to Charlene. Next time get out of the city and go the Snake Temple, also lovely beaches.
Thanks Lynn.
Great photos with equally great captions 🙂
Thanks Morten.
great penang street shots, flemming.
besides the maggi goreng, did you check out the famous char kueh teow/penang laksa stalls?
ken
Thanks Ken. I think we have eaten in half the food stalls and cafes etc in Penang by now 🙂 Lots of amazing Char Kueh Teow and I also really like the Penang version of Tom Yum soup. The sweet and sour pork in Penang is the best I have had anywhere in Asia.
whoa, sounds like you both really went native and ‘cari cari makan’ ;).
can’t wait to be back aug/sept timeframe for more.
cheers!
ken
“Because…cow” – hehe, love it! Great little set, we know you’re being ironic when you call your street skills crap!
Thanks Steven! I am not kidding about my street skills, give me a nightclub any day. But shoot enough every day over 3 weeks and something sticks to the sensor!