Gurney Drive, Penang
I had been to the esplanades in Singapore and Hong Kong. Also been to the riverbanks of River Seine in Paris. And the canals of Venice in Italy. Not forgetting the Sydney harbour and opera house view. Well, these places are ‘touristy’ in their own way.
But there is none like Gurney Drive or Esplanade (Padang Kota Lama). Over here, it spells magical, rojak, exotic, unique and all the nice things I can think of.
Along these 1-2 KM of the waterfront, we have so many things. Couples can phak-thor (dating, nuzzling, whatever they fancy) at one end of Gurney. Families can have a pretty good time at the other end. In between, there are plenty of foods. The variety is endless. Fresh seafood, Western food, hawker food, you name it, you can find it along Gurney Drive. Penang most hip and happening shopping mall, Gurney Plaza is also located along Gurney Drive.
Expensive condos dotted the beachfront and in between there are many quaint old buildings like the College General and Uplands school. One can jog in the early morning, stroll during the day and just taking in the breeze in the evenings and nights.
It is not surprising that Gurney Drive is very popular with locals and tourists alike. The main attraction is the hawkers situated there. The stalls sell a variety of Penang famous hawkers’ fare.
Gurney Drive is the place to go if you are in Penang. There is another similar place called Esplanade. Next time I may blog it.
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
April 7th, 2005 at 9:57 am
Great place to go, for pak thor and nuzzling or whatever. One of the rarest places on earth where you pay for parking even on Sundays.
April 7th, 2005 at 10:08 am
.. and don’t even think of going there during the day of any festivals be it Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve … the roads leading to GD will be jammed pack and chances are u will be so diverted (by the police) and pissed off that u will end up at wherever you journeyed from two or three hours later without even having a glimpse of GD ….. *sigh*
April 7th, 2005 at 12:17 pm
Parking have to pay on weekdays till 9.30 or 10 if I’m not mistaken..? Lovely place to hangout at night, plus they’ve got live (aka illegal) fireworks show every coupla minutes (at least, when I was there in Dec)
April 7th, 2005 at 7:15 pm
Esplanade? I don’t know its filled with transexual street walker.. or did they just gave it a face lift?
April 8th, 2005 at 12:59 am
garney drive! I’m coming to you!
April 8th, 2005 at 1:38 am
Not sure if Gurney Drv can still keep her charm after the land reclamation project???