The city was founded by the British in 1786 on the jungle-covered island of Penang, which was sparsely populated at the time. Throughout the 19th century, it grew rapidly as migrants from across Asia and Europe arrived. That mix of cultures gave the place an international vibe you can still feel just walking around the streets.
Look at this building, it has 5 scripts on it: Chinese, Malay (Latin), and Indian writings - one of them must be Tamil, and the others might be Malayalam and Telugu (?)..
And of course, there are much European in the look of this town - oldtime architecture, first of all.
Some houses have clearly European design while others belong to what is called Cino-Portugese architecture.
English was and is also in active use (apart from tourism).
It would be a great surprise to meet someone who completely can't speak English - even the homeless speak it in George Town.
Another script you can sometimes encounter in Penang is Arabic (above).
And is Arabic, too (below the Chinese characters).
Armenians were once a prominent ethnic group in Penang but eventually moved to Singapore. Still, they left a lasting mark on the city's cultural history, and two streets, Lebuh Armenian and Jalan Aratoon, remain as reminders.
As for Chinese script, it is absolutely dominant in the old town.
It's because migrants from China formed the city's majority from the very beginning, and were the ones who actually built this city (under British administration).
The look of people are diverse too.
Chinese, Malays, and all sorts of Indians are the most common ethnic groups here.
I personally feel the % of South Asians has become larger in Penang compared with what I saw 10 years ago. Obviously, it's because of cheap labor. But Indians aren't anything new here: they were here from the very foundation of the city in 1786.
And Little India neighborhood in the middle of the old town is the best proof of that.
The multiculturalism is well reflected in the cuisine of Georgetown either. Although there is a division between Chinese, Malay and Indian cuisines, they all influence each other, and sometimes it is difficult for me, a foreigner, to understand what it is in front of me.
For example, I am a fan of roti gulung ayam - I eat it almost daily in this Indian restaurant. Recipe: put freshly cooked flat omelette on freshly cooked flat bread, then put some chicken curry on this and roll it - that's roti gulung ayam I eat. Both chicken curry and roti are Indian but the name of the dish Malay, although they served it to me in an Indian restaurant.
At last, another prominent group I cannot help mentioning:
Cats aren't an ethnic group, but they are the cutest living beings who always communicate in their expressive body language with anybody who notices them.
There are strays here.
But also house cats, and ones who work for people, like this labor cat below who works as a market cat... at a market:
Humans left the workplace, only this cheap labor cat is still on duty... Working for cat pellets 24h/7d... 🙂
Another whiskered person, walking on the awning of a closed cafe at night.
Clean, well-shaped, with zero fear for strangers - a house cat enjoying an outdoor nap.
I have many more cat pix but... thinking to post another story about Penang before turning the page. Stay tuned, dear cat lover! 🙂
All photos were taken with a Nikkor 50mm on a full-frame DSLR Nikon D750 by the author in June in 2025 in George Town, Penang, Malaysia