About Pulau Tikus | George Town tourists tips
About Pulau Tikus | George Town tourists tips | ||||
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Pulau Tikus is 'Rat Isle', situated just north of Penang Island. However, when people talk about Pulau Tikus they are usually referring to a middle-class suburb of George Town. The main street of Pulau Tikus is Jalan Burma, where it makes a junction with Jalan Cantonment. Pulau Tikus has several historic communities, namely the Eurasians, the Burmese, the Siamese, the Arabs and the Straits Chinese. Today, Pulau Tikus is a choice address for the Penang middle-class and expatriates. The suburb has maintained its roadside trees and low building density. One exception is the very dense shopping complex called Midlands Complex, or alternatively, the One-Stop Centre or Looking Good , where a number of cheap computer CD stores are located. This was formerly a neighborhood park which the Municipal Council privatized to a developer for extra revenue. Pulau Tikus is now also a favorite place to wine and dine, with places like the Orange Café & Bar, Al Fresco Italiano, Ristorandte Bella Italia, Babylon Birstro and Chi Ki Nyonya Bistrol. The German restaurant WunderBar and companion the X Pub are located in a restored old bungalow, tucked away behind a petrol station. Clay Craft, operated by architect trained Tim Yee, sells casual and chick pottery, gift and household accessories from all over Asia. They are also reasonably priced. The Art Gallery at Belissa Row regularly organizes current art exhibitions and has a file on most of the contemporary Penang artists. The Pulau Tikus Market is often called the "rich wives' wet market." Here you can find, for example, the more expensive varieties of fish and kampong chicken (non-battery chicken). In the mornings, a small stall sells a remarkable variety of Nyonya dishes such as nasi ulam (herbal rice) and kerabu beehoon (spiced vermicelli salad). In the afternoons and evenings, a hawker complex springs up in front of the market. Pulau Tikus was formerly the site of a Burmese village. It was a village of fishermen and cultivators, but all that remains today is the Dhammikarama Burmese Buddhist temple, founded in 1805. The stupa and Sima Hall were featured in several early paintings. Wat Chaiya Mangkalaram is a Siamese temple which was officially given its site in 1845. Its 33m gold plated reclining Buddha, once regarded the third largest in the world, has probably been superseded by more ambitious new statues. Photography is probhibited, unless you commission the temple photographer. Throughout their history, both temples have been mainly supported by wealthy women patrons. As a result of generous donations, more and more fanciful structures have been put up in recent years. The traditional Buddhist festival of Sonkran is a joyous occasion which gives people an excuse to behave like children and splash water on each other. The water splashing begins at the Thai temple and moves on to the Burmese temple. Pulau Tikus was in its prime during the internecine period, when the Straits Chinese and Eurasians led a charmed existence here amidst their holiday bungalows, fruit orchards and horse stables. All over Pulau Tikus you can see pretty bungalows which are raised on brick piers with a crawl space underneath. A classical Penang bungalow dated 1918 on its façade, at the junction of Jalan Kelawai and facing Jalan Cantonment, was built by a Jew named D'Mordicai. After a change of hands, and a period when the building had multiple tenants, it was recently restored by Soo Joo Heng of J. Heng Consulting Services. Lorong Bangkok is elegantly lined with forty link houses, developed by an early motorcar dealer, Cheah Leong Kah, and designed by Chew Eng Eam, the favourite architect of the affluent Straits Chinese. The street is even prettier at night when the lights in the houses come on and scintillate through the coloured glass panes. The architecture is a successful example of link housing, providing parking space for the emerging one-car middle-class families, while maintaining a tightly-knit neighbourhood instead of letting it sprawl. Unfortunately, this much admired design has not spawned any imitators. In 1810, a group of Portuguese Eurasian relocated from Phuket and settled in Pulau Tikus. The Church of Immaculate Conception was the focal point of this Catholic community, and next to the church was the Eurasian village called Kampung Serani, which more than any other place in Penang, gave the Eurasian a sense of place, belonging and identity. According to strong oral tradition, the land was meant for the Catholic poor, although the Church held the title to the land. In modern times, the Church called in a developer to jointly develop this "under-utilised" land, and in 1992, the assortment of timber homes were cleared away, not without some resistance. The Eurasians in the end compromised for a "Heritage House", a community centre provided by the developer. Also along Jalan Burma is an Arab village called Kampung Syed. Nearby, at the junction of Jalan Jones and Jalan Kelawei is Pak Kechik's, an assortment of roadside food stalls which has grown to become the social centre of the Malay community at Pulau Tikus. Whether you have Pak Kechik's early morning nasi lemak, the famous Jones Road curry puffs or Malay cakes for afternoon tea, don't miss out on Mat's irresistible teh tarik. | ||||
