P01 - Penang Tour

(1) Wat Chayamankalaram

Wat Buppharam is sometimes referred as The Temple of the Lifting Buddha. The name was deprived from a mini Buddha statue which was placed at one of the room to let visitors/worshippers seeking for spiritual guidance for personal and/or business matters. The Lifting Buddha is one of the main tourist attraction of this relatively old Buppharam Thai Buddhist Temple and hopefully, the creation of this site will help to provide an addition of another interesting local tourist location in Penang.

(2) Kapitan Keling

The mosque was named after the head of the Indian Muslim community in the late 1700's and early 1800's, a prominent trader by the name of Cauder Mydin Merican, who was referred to by the British as 'Kapitan Keling'. The word Kapitan, which was probably derived from the word 'Captain', was a term that the British gave to Cauder Mydin Merican to refer to his role as the head of the Indian Muslim community back then. And contrary to popular belief, the term Keling is not a derogatory word. Keling referred to immigrants who came from South India, just as the word Benggali referred to the immigrants who came from North India.

(3) Fort Cornwallis

Inside this fort, there are numerous cannons and one of them is Sri Rambai, a brass cannon with an interesting history. The Dutch presented it to the Sultan of Johor in 1606. However, the Portuguese took possession of the cannon and somehow ended up in Jawana in 1613 and was kept there until 1795 when it was brought to Kuala Selangor.

In 1871, the Sri Rambai cannon was brought back to Pulau Pinang. However, before it could reached the shore of Pulau Pinang, the pirates captured it and threw it into the sea near the Esplanade.

According to legend, the Sri Rambai cannon possess magical power. A number of attempts were made to salvage it from the sea but it failed. In 1880, it was salvaged from the Straits of Malacca. The cannon was finally placed in Fort Cornwallis.

Now nearly two centuries old, Fort Cornwallis is probably the only remaining fort built by the British in this part of the world. A restoration committee was set up to restore the fort and was completed in 1984.