Penang Mural + Heritage cycling trip part 1

Finally I come back to my bloggie again! after I almost got hematemesis with my case write up. LOL. maybe I should blog something more about my life in hospital?? haha but wait the, today Im going to blog about another Penang trip again. yes, mural trip again. But what is so special this time?? it was a cycling trip!! Basically it was a short break during Hari Raya this year and I invited Patricia ( Pat) to stay overnight in Penang and had a tour together. Do I get bored to blog about mural for 4 times?? erm, partly yes, but partly no becoz I always surprised with unexpected discovery during my mural trip!! 

For more information about my mural trips, plz click HERE. Actually I was thinking to delete this previous post, yea since I broke up and I think this post looks so sarcastic to me. But since most of my readers love this post, I decided not to delete any post about me and him. just as a memory and a lesson, 

I always want a cycling trip but always failed =..= since the number of murals is increasing and the distribution is getting wider, it is quite hard for us to visit murals by walking recently. Trishaw is another option to visit murals, with RM 40 for one round of heritage trip and sometimes can get a free tour guide too haha. There were a lot shops and stalls provide the service for bike and motor bike rental, so have no worries about it. We rent our bicycles at a stall behind the Kwang Hwa Yit Poh in Gat Lebuh China, location for the basketball siblings. The rental fees are standard, RM10 for a single bike for whole day ( until 7pm if not mistaken?). Don you think it is worth for it?? and some stalls provide city bike too, which is 2-3 persons in a bike like a trishaw. Will get more information when I get back to Penang then ^^ 

For the parking, I parked my car at the roadside of Gat Lebuh China. FYI, sunday is no car day in Georgetown Heritage Zone so make sure you park your car nicely then ^^

So, here is the route map of my cycle trip that day. The blue one is the 1st part of the cycling route, the green line is the 2nd part, and the red one is the 3rd part of the route. Green colour mark is the location of murals, and pink colour one is the landmark of the location. What is so special about the orange landmark?? it is the most famous mural in Penang!! The cycling siblings in Lebuh Armenian. 

A~ the basketball siblings

B~ Siblings on the swing

C~ 101 lost kittens

D~ Trishaw uncle

E~ Kungfu girl

F~ the kicking lady

G~ Wall climbing kid

H~ Wedding couple

I~  Minion c u ^^

J~ The kid with dinosaur, teen on bike, Bruce Lee with cats

K~ Collection of Cats, the giant cat, the blissful cat

L~ The happy grandparents 

1. Standard Chateterd Bank

2. St.George Church

3. Penang High Court

4. Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion

5. Penang Camera Museum

6. Mugshot cafe and Rainforest Bakery

7. The owl shop

8. Khoo Kongsi

9. 14 lifestyle art gallery

10. Penang Peranakan Mansion

11. Penang secret garden

For couples, can take this bike ^^ RM30 for the rental fees if not mistaken. I did not take this one before, since I ride it with Pat it looks so awkward if we do so haha. My parents rent this bike and had their 101 lost kittens hunting before haha. 

Ok, let's start our journey then!!

Pat with the basketball siblings in Gat Lebuh Chulia~ 

cycled to the opposite 'step by step lane' and we found a funny quote from the owner of the shop. It means that if the tauke ( owner) cannot sleep at night then he wont close his shop. But if he woke up late then he will open his shop late too haha. 

Me and Pat with the siblings played the swing together~ wee ^^

We then cycled to the opposite road in Lebuh Victoria and found our first mural in the project "101 lost kittens". it was the main attraction for the Penang Georgetown Festival 2013 too. Can you count how many kittens were in the mural? Pat is cuter or the kittens are cuter? haha

We cycled to our next stop~ Lebuh Pantai ( Beach Street). I love this street so much with all its European style buildings. It looks like we were in overseas haha. Look almost exactly the same like York Town in Perth!! haha. should be a nice place for photoshooting ^^

From Lebuh Pantai, we passed by the Standard Chartered  Bank office and turned left into Lebuh Light, which was opposite to Esplanade Park. We turned into Lebuh Farquhar  at the third junction, which the Penang High Court was on our right. We crossed the road to reach to our next destination, St George Church. 

The beautiful of St.George church. Peaceful in this noisy town. everything look so synchronise here. It is one of my favorite photo when I edited them. Love this feel~ here is some information about St.George Church from the internet:

St. George’s Church is set next door to the Penang State Museum & Art Gallery. Built in 1817 by the East India Company using convict labour, it is Southeast Asia’s oldest Anglican church and one of the oldest buildings in Penang. The architecture and design is largely Greek and relatively unpretentious.

The gracefully proportioned building was designed by Captain Robert Smith (a military engineer) whose beautiful oil paintings still hang in the Penang State Museum. The interior is a cool pastel blue with marble floors and outside the main building on the church grounds is a memorial to Sir Francis Light in the form of a Greek temple – an elegant pavilion with definite Victorian style to it. It was built in 1886 on the centenary of the founding of Penang; just down the road is the double-spired Cathedral of the Assumption.

forgot which church was this, but it just located next to St.George church. Not sure is it opened to public or not, so we just had a quick peek into the interior design of the church. Both of us are catholic ^^ 

We turned left into the next second junction into Lebuh Leith. Had a stop to have beautiful pictures ^^

me with the beautiful Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion. I went for mural trips for 4 times but I never get into it LOL. But nevermind, becoz I planned to bring Pat to another beautiful heritage house~ Baba Nyonya mansion in the evening. Will visit it if I really got time then haha 

Pat was so excited with the trishaw outside the mansion. Trishaw was one of the trademark for Penang too!! If you are not local, having a tour with trishaw is not bad and recommended. 

**this trishaw is not permanent display, we just so lucky to have one outside while the owner waited his customers in the mansion for a tour. 

Opposite the mansion, it is Obake-Ya restaurant. Heard about it before, it is a prison-theme restaurant. Hmm mark it down into my cafe bucket list haha. 

From Lebuh Leith, we turned right into Jalan Penang at the first junction. Becoz we just wanna took picture with the BULE House. Our next destination, is the biggest mural in Jalan Penang, located inside the carpark in Red Garden food court. It is located just oppostie to the CITITEL Penang. 

Pat with the bicycle and the trishaw uncle. The biggest mural in Penang!!!

Since there was no cars in the parking lot in the early morning, there were a lot of pigeons inside. Pat was so excited with such a big flock of  pigeons and went to kacau them with her bicycle haha.

From Penang Road, we cycled into the Lebuh Muntri ( first junction on left side). 

and here we are!! the 'Kungfu Girl' on the wall of Moontree 47 cafe. 

we were so surprised with the launching of Penang Camera Museum! For more information about my visit to Penang Camera Museum, plz visit my previous post ya. 

End my 1st chapter for our mural and cycling trip here with an awesome pose from Pat!! haha. Awesome kick huh. Located at the road junction between Jalan Muntri and Love Lane. don miss it out!!

Some tips if you wish to have a cycling trip

1. Make it as early as possible. No one wish to cycle under a big hot sun with sweat haha. Best time for cycling is from 8am onwards until evening. If not planning to visit all murals ( only those famous murals by Mr. Ernest), can consider to start the tour around 4pm.
2. Again, sunblock is so essential together with a cap. Just pray more to the God so it wont rain la haha. Wear appropriate attire for the tour. Don suffer yourself with mini skirt haha. and shoes too~ sport shoes is the most ideal one, although I was wearing sandals that time. No difficulty to me haha.
3. Book the bicycle with the owner first if the mural trip plan is on weekends or public holiday. just for in case, who knows?? If don wish to book, better come earlier in the morning haha. FYI, Sunday is no car day in Penang Georgetown heritage zone, which we can have a better bike route then. Obey all the rules and regulations on the road is the most important. Don expect those drivers will give way to you becoz Penang had the worst driving attitude in Malaysia XD
4. When comes to cycling, safety first is the most important. Double make sure that the bike is in good condition, especially the gear, and the brake. Remember to get the key and chain from the owner too so we wont lost our bike for safety precaution. The place where I rent my bike was nice and recommended ^^ Don worry if you dunno how to ride 2-wheels bike becoz they got 4-wheels bike too. and also city bike haha.
5. Bring as little as possible in backpack, and a convenient camera. Well DSLR is the most ideal gadget to take beautiful and awesome photos, but how are you going to handle the bike with a heavy DSLR?? instead of DSLR, bring more water then to prevent dehydration =)

That is all, hope you enjoy the reading =)) thank you for visit ^^