It's funny how one has to see one's own hometown in the eyes of a stranger or in my case, a foreigner, to really get to know the place.
I was born and brought up in Penang.Yet i never really 'knew' Penang as I thought I had until last weekend.Thanks to a Swiss friend of mine who was down for a visit, I had to play a 'pathetic tourguide'.
A pathetic tourguide I was because I realized how little I actually knew about my own hometown!A guided trip (by a professional tour guide of course) down the Heritage Trail really did open my eyes and senses in a way and boy have I fallen in love with the little shophouses here which I have always been oblivious to!
It was also a trip down memorylane for me as I walked through the tiny lanes and rode on trishaws or better known as "beca" over here.Now I look twice when I pass a shophouse and know what 'elements' (water/fire/earth/metal/wood) the owners wanted, and which era they were built in, and how wealthy/or not the owners were, etc.
The Cheong Fatt Tze mansion of course takes the cake but then again some other places with exceptional restoration done would include the Swiss restaurant, 'Edelweiss',the few art galleries along Armenian street and Little India.
All in all it was a wonderful experience and I'd do it again!
I am now even more proud to be a Penangite.