Penang George Town Sketchwalk Day 1

First of all, thanks to Ch'ng Kiah Kiean, Khoo Cheang Jin, Bo Juan and all other Urban Sketchers Penang members for organising and inviting us to the George Town Sketchwalk.

This sketchwalk is held in conjunction with the George Town Festival, a month long festival to celebrate George Town's inclusion into the list of UNESCO Heritage Sites.

For some strange reason, this event is not covered on the Urban Sketchers main blog so I'll be covering it.

Here we are at the budget terminal in Changi. We had to walk all the way to Gate 1 to find out that boarding has changed to Gate 6. There's quite a few of us on the same Tiger Airways flight. Tia, her husband Albert, Ng Woon Lam, Hong Ban Pang, Lim Han Seng, Favian Ee and me.

Very reasonable prices, said Tiger Airways.

Tia started the sketching marathon on the plane. It's an hour's flight to Penang from Singapore. That's quick. It's the same amount of time for me to take the public train to the airport.

Don, Zhu Hong were already there before us and had started drawing. We had just left our bags at the hotel and came out for lunch when we spotted them.

My first sketch in George Town.

We had chicken rice for lunch.

Don and Albert planning the route.

Old style meters. We don't have this in Singapore.

Love Lane. A street with several hostels and very old shophouses.

The shophouses look similar to Singapore's on the outside. But they are different inside.

Tia and her masterpiece. She's one of the few who likes the square format.

Paul with his colour pencils.

So we were not the only ones who came here for the George Town Festival.

One of the many wire exhibits by Low Chee Peng. They are found around George Town.

This is a nice view to sketch but unfortunately I never got around to sketch it.

Students having a basketball match as parents cheer them on.

A heritage hostel on Love Lane with a beautiful and simple garden. I heard this is a very expensive hotel.

Penang trishaws have flowers by the side, sits one person and the seat is in front. It cost RM$10 for a ride.

This is from the ceiling of a shop. Many buildings are very old, some more than 100 years old.

The hotel I'm staying at, Chulia Heritage Hotel. Nice, but doesn't come with a toothbrush which I didn't bring. At least it has wifi.

Several of us were staying there. It cost me RM$590 for the 5-day-4-night stay. Now that I think of it, it's rather expensive, relatively speaking.

This is the dinner reception on the first day. It's at China House. That's Bo Juan and Lijynn at the table.

This is the courtyard. The whole place is several shophouses joined together.

Ch'ng Kiah Kiean signing his lanyard card.

Zhu Hong with his.

Here's a better view of the courtyard.

Lots of freshly drawn wall murals.

Alvin asking one of the cooks what he's cooking.

A nice idea.

There's lasagna, chicken, macaroni.

The food was great.

The hosts Ch'ng Kiah Kiean and Khoo Cheang Jin from Urban Sketchers Penang talking about the program tomorrow.

The wall was white just now.

I saw this while walking back to the hotel.

It's a night cycling event with probably hundreds of cyclists. You probably can't tell from the photos but George Town is a busy place with lots of traffic.