Hari Raya a major festival for the Muslims

Hari Raya just opened its door. The month of Syawal is going to be celebrated for the whole month. After a month of fasting in Ramadhan, it is the time to rejoice. The highlight is of course the first of Syawal.

Everybody had been busy shopping for the big day. Little India in Penang saw a hive of activities, especially those shops selling dates and spices.

The day itself is celebrated by visiting friends and relatives. This is the time for the ladies to show off their cooking skills. Homes where the best food are to be found would have a long list of guests coming and going.

Open Day is organized throughout the month. The children are the happiest, counting who has the most "duit raya". Green little packets which contains money.. similar to Ang Pow during the Chinese New Year.

This year, the celebration is a bit subdued.. it could be for a number of reasons.. However, from the news I got from friends and members of my family, it is a special day to get together and catch up with each other.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri. Maaf Zahir Batin.

Religious festivals in Penang.

Little India in Penang.

Spice Walk with members of PHT

Every first Sunday of the month, Penang Heritage Trust organizes a site visit to its members. This time, we did not have to go far at all, just following a trail in Little India and finishing off at China Street which also makes up the squarish part of George Town that makes up Little India.

Our guide was Teresa Capol, who is also a restauranteur (she and her husband own Eidelweiss, which serves German food). The theme was Spice Walk. In this part of Penang, the tour would not be complete without a lecture about Chinese temples or clan houses. We stopped at several prominent ones at Penang Street and also dropped by at the Mahamariamman temple at Queen Street.

The highlight of the walk was to a newly restored home which will be turned into an exclusive bed and breakfast at China Street. The owners graciously served tea to everyone of us and let us meander around in this fabulous property.

After the visit, a few of us drove to Kampung Buah Pala, to see the situation there. The people of the village actually were having a festival at that time. I have been reading/listening about this controversial piece of land for many months now and finally managed to set foot on it and listen first hand to the plight of the people there.

So basically, this tour was a very fruitful one. Walking tour coupled to a visit to a successfully restored building, capped with with a supposedly a living heritage site being threatened by development.

Penang Heritage Documentary by RTM

Last January I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email from Mr. Harjit Singh Hullon from RTM. He would like me to be their guide when they shoot some footage meant for overseas satellite broadcasting about heritage buildings in Penang.

I happily obliged and spent three days showing locations to the crew which were worth filming for the documentary.


We covered Penang National Park, the Heritage Trail, Little India, Street of Harmony and also the intangible aspect of heritage like day to day lives of normal folks at the market, at the temples, etc.

The skits have not been processed yet as we speak but I will keep you posted. It would be nice to see the web site name http://www.penangheritagecity.com rolls on credit at the end of the show.