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| The original Bruce Lee |
Free walking tours are available all over the world. They are an excellent way to learn about the history of a city, and to see parts you would not normally see. We have done walking tours in Brussels, Melbourne, Sydney, and now here in George Town. Our guide was excellent, and explained that the street art we saw yesterday was created to be interactive. Several of the pieces, all by the same artist, have items mounted to the pictures and people are invited to be part of the picture. The history of the city is that it is the mid point port between China and India. With the British controlling India, and therefore the spice trade (which at the time was worth more than gold), they founded George Town as their main port. They brought many people from India to work and therefore the large Indian population. Tin then became a huge commodity and very important to the George Town economy. The local population were farmers and fisherman, so not good for this type of labour. The tin tycoons therefore brought Chinese workers from SE China in, basically as slave labourers. The tin tycoons were actually the leaders of the Chinese Triad, or mafia, so they were not much into worker rights.
That evening we checked out the local mall. Wow. Eight levels of major stores. Penang is a major port of call.
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