slightly astray

Penang is a small island city known for some of Malaysia’s best street food, cute colonial heritage houses, and street art.

The last item – hunting street art – is perhaps the most fun thing to do in the city. It’s a great way to explore the Georgetown area. Most hostels in town will pass out a map with locations of the famous murals. It feels like a scavenger hunt as you search for each one and then snap a photo when you find it. Some are located in little alleyways so you have to search harder for it. It’s always worth the effort! And as you’re searching for a particular one, you may find other surprises on the way.

I admit, though, that I didn’t try particularly hard to find every single famous one. When my sister and I were in Penang, it was DREADFULLY hot. And of course, it’s best to search for street art when it’s still bright outside. We waited until about 1.5 hour before sunset to start hunting, but the heat was still terrible. So we only hit up the ones around Armenia Street.

There are better posts about Penang’s street art (such as Angie’s post. She wrote more about the history of it, and she found WAY more art than I did!), so mine is mostly just photos. They’re in no particular order. Enjoy!

Let’s start with a couple of my favorite ones!

This one is perhaps the MOST iconic Penang street art piece. It has practically become a symbol of Penang. A lot of souvenir items feature this brother and sister on a bike.

I love how a lot of the art have 3D elements that allow you to interact with the piece and become part of it. I love this one below too.