Penang Esplanade Walking Tour - Part 1

The Penang Esplanade Walking Tour is a tour of the northern part of UNESCO World Heritage Site of George Town. It covers a distance of 2 miles (3.2 km) and can be done on foot. Depending on your speed, you can complete it in between 1 1/2 to 3 hours. This is quite a long walk for some, so I recommend doing it in the early part of the day which is cooler. On this tour, you pass by some of the oldest buildings in Penang which form the civic center of the British colonial administration. The tour ends at the Eastern & Oriental Hotel, itself a heritage building. You may print out this self-guided tour for your own personal use.

The walking tour starts at the Queen Victoria Memorial Clock Tower. It was built by a local millionaire in 1897 to commemorate the diamond jubilee of the British queen. The tower is sixty feet tall, with each foot representing a year of Victoria's reign. Sadly, however, the queen passed away before the tower was completed in 1902.

Walk along the left side of Jalan Tun Syed Sheh Barakbah. To your right is Port Swettenham. Cruise liners as well as ferry boats from Langkawi and Sumatra arrive here. On your left is Fort Cornwallis.

The fort that you see today dates to 1810. This is the second time it was rebuilt. The original fort was just a hurriedly erected stockade of nibong trunks, constructed as soon as Captain Francis Light landed in 1786. It was put up because Light got the island of Penang under less-than-transparent circumstances. He had the Sultan of Kedah believe that the British would offer the sultan military protection against his enemies, when in actual fact, Light's superiors never made such a promise. After the British had settled on the island, a more permanent fort was put up in the place of the nibong fort in 1793. In 1810, the fort was again renovated into the shape we see today.

The road you are standing on, Jalan Tun Syed Sheh Barakbah, comprised two roads during the British time. Fort Road runs along the east side of Fort Cornwallis until the tip of the cape, which was called Fort Point. In Hokkien, Fort Point translates as "Kuan-a Kark" and was used to refer to the entire Esplanade as a whole. Jalan Tun Syed Sheh Barkbah makes a turn to the left into The Esplanade. The name "esplanade" means a flat, open space with room for a promenade, and preferably along the shore.

As you walk towards the bend, you can upon the Fort Cornwallis Lighthouse. Compared to the fort, it is a rather late arrival, being built only in 1882, when Penang harbor was experiencing increasing traffic from tin mining and other economic activities. At the time it was built, it was called the Fort Point Lighthouse. It is one of the two lighthouses on Penang Island itself. The other one is the Muka Head Lighthouse, while the Pulau Rimau Lighthouse is located on Pulau Rimau, just off the southeast coast of Penang Island. The beam of the Fort Cornwallis Lighthouse - now no longer in use - can be seen as far as 16 nautical miles.

Follow the road turning left and you're at The Esplanade. The sea is to your right. You can see Gunung Jerai, or Kedah Peak as the British called it, in the horizon. To the 18th century British, Kedah Peak and all the land on the other side of the sea, represented enemy territory, so they need to put up something to protect their newly acquired asset. They did that, with Fort Cornwallis.

Note the empty land between the road and the fort. There used to be a moat around Fort Cornwallis. It measured 27 feet wide and 6 feet deep. Over time, however, the moat became nothing more than a ditch, a filthy one too. Eventually the authorities filled it in, around the 1960's or 70's, and now only grass grows there.

The main entrance to Fort Cornwallis is on the west side, facing the Padang. You can go in to walk around. There are entrance fees. Inside the fort, you will find the statue of Captain Francis Light. It was built in 1978 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the founding of Penang. Nobody knows for sure how Light looked like. To create this George Washington-like statue, they modeled it after pictures done of Light's son, William Light.

Fort Cornwallis is much emptier today than it was, during British time. There were civic buildings for the colonial administration. These have all been pulled down. What's left are the chapel and the magazines. In the 1970's, some near-sighted powers-that-be built an amphitheater within the fort. Today, as should be expected, the 70's addition look drab and out of place.

The Padang, or field, outside Fort Cornwallis was where parades, military practices and sporting events were held. Today it is called Padang Kota Lama, or Field of the Old Fort, but many locals simply call it The Padang. It is also emptier today than it was during the colonial era. The Penang Sports Club (Cricket Section) and the Penang Recreation Club used to have their clubhouse on the Padang (similar to the structures still standing on the Padang in Singapore). The clubhouses on Penang's Padang were destroyed during World War II, and were never reconstructed. Also gone is the Vermont Memorial, a cast-iron structure where bands used to play and ceremonial events were held. It is located close to where the Millennium memorial is located today.

Part One of our tour ends here. For the full tour, visit George Town Walking Tours. For more information about visiting Penang, visit the Penang Travel Tips website and also view the Tourist Attractions there.