PENANG'S WATERFRONT ALLURE IS LEGENDARY. FOR CENTURIES, DIVERSE PEOPLE FROM AROUND THE WORLD WERE DRAWN TO THIS SCENIC WATERFRONT, ENTICED TO DROP ANCHOR IN ITS HARBOUR, TO LAND, LINGER AND IN MANY INSTANCES, NEVER TO LEAVE AGAIN.

Arriving in trading ships, junks and steamers from China, Europe, Arabia, Burma, Indonesia and India, merchants traded in ivory, ebony, aloes, camphor, spices and silks, and soon a lucrative tea and opium trade between England and China was established.

Here on the waterfront, British, French, and Portuguese adventurers battled for colonial power and Japanese forces in World War II pushed for imperialist domination. In the 18th and 19th centuries, thousands of Chinese immigrants in huge sailing junks thrilled to the first glimpse of Penang's waterfront, a vision of the promise of a better life oystered in this perfect pearl of the Orient.

It was the beginning of many 'rags-to-riches' stories Penang would tell. It was also the beginning of what would make Penang uniquely different from any other place in the world.

Today, that same magnetic allure of Penang's waterfront is just as strong, just as compelling, and emanating from one exciting new source…'THE LIGHT.'