Friday 28 December 2012

HERITAGE WALK ~ ON THE TRAIL OF ERNEST ZACHAREVIC


So much has been heard about this amazing artist from Lithuania and his street paintings around Penang.  There has been so much publicity about his artwork in the newspapers and in the internet that I decided that I just have to personally see it for myself. I discussed this trip with my family and at once everyone got as interested as I am.

After doing some planning & a bit of research, we decided on a weekday so as not to be caught up in the weekend jam.  Our initial plan was to go by bus and then take the ferry to Penang but we finally decided to drive to Penang instead, thinking this would save time (so we thought). As it turns out, we ended up wasting more time than expected, reaching Penang almost close to noon, double the normal travelling time due to a massive traffic jam.

We parked our car at a private parking lot along Pengkalan Weld close to Chew Jetty where we will begin our walk.( Parking charge was only RM3.00 for whole day)

Our guide map ~ Ernest has a total of 8 street paintings around Georgetown

Our walk began at one of the Clan Jetties of Penang ~ Chew Jetty, which is the most famous & well known clan jetty in Penang.


Chew Jetty ~ declared as UNESCO World Heritage Site


No. 1 ~ “Child on Boat” by Ernest Zacharevic



Handicraft made out from Pandan Leaves(screwpine)

T-Shirt available for sale

Leaving the jetty we headed towards Lebuh Armenian looking for his next artwork entitled “Child on Bicycle”.  This seems to be the most famous & most photographed mural which is located at the corner of Lebuh Armenian & Lebuh Pantai.

No.2 ~ “Child on Bicycle” by Ernest Zacharevic

People come far & wide just to make cameo shots with his creations

This is my shot….lol

The next street art is just around the next corner along Lebuh Ah Quee.  “Boy On Bike & Little Boy with Pet Dinosaur” is another one of his popular artwork.

The famous walls of Lebuh Ah Quee

No.3 ~ “Boy On Bike & Little Boy With Pet Dinosaur” by Ernest Zacharevic

A close-up shot of the murals

My girls getting amazed by his creativity (^-^)

My girls cameo shot with Ernest street art ~ “Little boy with Pet Dinosaur”  =)

We noticed at just around the corner, towards the back lane of this building, there is a sketch of another dinosaur. Not sure if it’s drawn by Ernest or just a copy-cat drawing. Then on the walls of the back lane, we found another mural done by another artist.



Another beautiful mural done by a local artist

We walked further up Lebuh Armenian looking for Ernest’s next mural titled “This Old Man”.  This was when we noticed that there are quite a few different type of artwork ~ sculptures made from steel rods, all depicting the old lifestyle of Penang.

The steel-road sculpture on the left is named “The Hand Pulled Rickshaw” and on the right is the sculpture of the Tua Pek Kong(A Chinese diety) float procession along Lebuh Armenian

This “Policeman on Bike” mural is just beside the “Tua Pek Kong” steel-rod sculpture

An interesting bicycle shop with a rickshaw parked outside its shoplot

Old houses along Lebuh Armenian. On the right is some sort of arts & craft shop

We did not have the opportunity to look inside as it was closed for the day

No.4 ~ Ernest Zacharevic’s “This Old Man” mural on the corner of Lebuh Armenian & Lebuh Cannon

As you can see, weather condition has taken its toll on the mural and it is fading away.  We actually missed it earlier on and got its location from the Tourist Information Centre along Lbh. Cannon.

The Yap Kongsi building at the junction of Lbh Armenian & Lbh Cannon

Then turning left into Lebuh Cannon, not very far ahead is the “Reaching Up” mural

Beautiful well maintained buildings along Lebuh Cannon

The Aceh Street Mosque at the end of Lbh. Cannon (The “Reaching Up” mural is just on the left)

No.5 ~ “Reaching Up” mural by Ernest

Our cameo shot, don’t think anyone can resist taking photographs with this mural.

We were discussing if we should end our walk here as the sun was so scorching hot.  It was really a hot afternoon (but thankfully at least it didn’t rain or we wouldn’t have come this far)

The next stop would be the “Little Girl In Blue” in Lebuh Muntri and we will have to walk quite a distance to reach.
We took a breather to cool down under the shaded trees there.  Previously this place seem to be some sort of drinks café guessing
from the many empty bottles stacked up & some abandoned tables & chairs


After some cooling drinks from our flask & some biscuits to fill our rumbling tummies, we decided to carry on.

Walking towards Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling, we headed left onto Lebuh Chulia then onto Love Lane before turning into Muntri Street to look for the “Little Girl In Blue” mural.

The Kapitan Keling Mosque

My girls taking another breather under one of the trees in front of the Kapitan Keling Mosque.

Along Lebuh Chulia, we kept to the shaded 5-foot way along the shophouses to keep out of the sun.

The corridors of the shop houses along Lebuh Chulia

From Chulia Street turning into Love Lane to get to Muntri Street, we came across this mural which we later found out that it was another one of Ernest Zacharevic’s artwork entitled “Broken Hearts”

No. 6 ~ “Broken Hearts”

But someone had taken the ‘initiative’ to mend the broken hearts

The original did not have strings with the wordings “Happily Everafter” attached to it.


Saw this creative house No. plate along Love Lane

Another steel-road sculpture along Love Lane ~ “Where’s My Husband”

Muntri Street

Love this creative lamp made from empty biscuits tin at Moon Tree47 Homestay

I also found this interesting sketch just outside Moon Tree 47 Homestay along Muntri Street

Hainan Temple along Muntri Street (Tien Hou Gong)

Finally after close to half an hour walk there it was ~ “The Little Girl in Blue”, painted on the wall of one of the shop houses along Muntri Street.

No.7 ~ “Little Girl In Blue”

It doesn’t really look so ‘Little’ does it…lol

Walking along Muntri Street, we found another sculpture……

Amahs of yesteryears from Guandong China sclupture

Another steel-road sculpture depicting how Muntri Street got its name

Another sculpture on the famous shoe designer Jimmy Choo

From here we decided to go all the way to Penang Road to see Ernest’s last mural entitled “The Trishaw Man”

Junction of Muntri Street & Leith Street with the Cititel Hotel in the background

Taking a right onto Penang Road, we found Ernest’s last mural painted on the wall of a building just next to a parking lot.


No.8 ~ “The Trishaw Man”

My girls with the mural
It was way pass lunch time & we were all famished.  Tummies rumbling we walked along Penang Road looking for a good eatery.  That’s when we came across Café 78, located at the corner of Jalan Bahari and Penang Road.  As it turns out, we made the right choice


Lunch at Café 78, Penang Road

From top left: Hokkien Mee, Curry Mee, Wantan Mee & Chicken rice

The verdict? Well the Hokkien Mee was nice, but lack ingredients. Curry Mee was so so. The Chicken rice was rather tasteless but the salted vegetable soup with chicken feet that came with it was tasty.  Their Wantan Mee was really superb, one of the best I have tried. There was also a Yong-Tau Foo stall & a Nasi Lemak Stall. 

Their Nasi Lemak stall seems popular considering the number of people ordering but did not want to try it as it was such a hot day & eating something spicy would be really make me uncomfortable.

After satisfying our rumbling tummies & cooling down with glasses of cold drinks, it was time to head on back to Chew Jetty where we parked our car, but that was not before stopping over at the once famous Chowrasta Market.

Chowrasta Market was once the most popular shopping complex in Penang way back in the sixties.  Back then the ground floor consists of fruit stalls & a wet market whilst the top floor was a supermarket.  Presently the market still exists & so does the fruit stalls but the upper floor is quite empty except for some small shop lots selling mainly clothes.  What interests us was the HUGE second-hand bookstore located at the back portion of the upper floor.

Second-Hand Bookstore @ Chowrasta Market
Books piled along the corridors. From novels, school books and some that you may even consider antique books and maps…all stacked up, right up to the ceiling!



View from the top floor of Chowrasta market

One thing that we all couldn’t resist was the huge variety of PICKLES!! This place seems to be famous for its pickles, even way back then.


Shop selling pickles & all sorts of snacks

PICKLES!! From top right ~ My Favourite … Attap Chee (Buah Kabung), Buah Kerinchi (that has a slight bitter taste to it) & pickled Buah Salak

It was a long walk back to Pengkalan Weld. We walked through Campbell Steet, Lebuh Buckingham & passed Lebuh Ah Quee where the “Boy on Bike/Dinosaur” mural was then walked along Lebuh Pantai & Lebuh Armenian before reaching CF food Court for some cooling drinks before embarking for our journey back home.

Taking a rest along Campbell Street

Buildings along Campbell Street

Rock World ~ which was a discotheque. It was formerly one of the famous nightspots in Penang.

Campbell House Boutique Hotel

We had a smooth ride home ~ no traffic jam.  We had a tiring but productive & fruitful day.

We managed to see all of Ernest Zacharevic’s street art, which was amazing and we got to enjoy the beauty of the heritage zone of Georgetown from a different prespective.  We always hear about his beautiful artwork, but nothing is more fulfilling than to see it for yourself!!




                     MISSION ACCOMPLISHED !!!