The things that captivated me, as I was walking toward the direction of the heritage clan jetties, were the lines of hand-painted lanterns hung across the lamp posts of a supposed park.
A search on the web revealed that it was called Sia Boey and tagged as an urban archaeological park; said to be the first of its kind in Malaysia. Now, my lack of knowledge pushed me to assume that it's of historical value.
I had thought it was related to the abandoned dilapidated buildings on the side but the focus was more on the 220-meter long canal which was said to be large enough for "small boats to transport goods from the piert to the inner parts of the city" but was "progressively covered up for road construction".
Another focus was on the market hall which was built in 1960 with "48 cast iron columns" with "wooden louvers for natural lighting and ventilation". The market was relocated in 2004 and served as an event space nowadays with the launch of the urban archaeological park.
There were also modern amenities; like a kid playground to attract families.
Some interesting trees near the playground that gave us the creeps! Given the nearby event, the place was still relatively crowded but once the crowd died down, I can imagine how eerie the above would appear to be.
Informative context on how the chronological timeline of Sia Boey Urban Archaeological Park. By the way, Urban Archaeological Park is defined as the "sub discipline of archaeology specializing in the material past of towns and cities where long-term human habitation has often left a rich record of the past."
Now, let's check out the event at the market hall.
The Midnight Leng Leng Street.
Rules and regulations!
View of the market hall - as you can see, the supports were all from the cast iron columns on the sides; there's no support beam in the middle and this resulted in a large space that's 50 meters long and about 13 meters wide.
Given religions play a humongous part in Malaysia, I am supposed to see dogs at the stalls since this would have resulted in unhappiness amongst certain community even in Singapore.
In the tropical weather, only two drinks will placate my thirst; sugar cane or watermelon juice! And this stall (Mangogo) stood out for declaring their watermelon juice was as natural and as pure as you can get; no water and sugar added!
It didn't come cheap; costing at least RM 16 for a medium watermelon. Note, it's a watermelon, not in cup form, and they were all pre-chilled in a box filled with ice.
This looked so enticing right?! I remember something similar in a night market at Bangkok but the queues were always so long that I didn't bother. Right here at Sia Boey, I was first in line! So one watermelon it shall be!
Basically, the operator would cut out a hole on the watermelon and then use a hand blender to mash up the meat within, resulting in a rich slushie that had both the thick texture and the natural sweetness! Plus, we got a watermelon "lollipop".
Best buy ever!
And thirst quenching it was.
List of vendors at this Midnight Leng Leng Street.
Unlike Singaporeans, it's heartening to see Malaysians being so outwardly passionate about displaying their patriotism. In Singapore, it's mainly in the hearts as we are too mindful of being labelled pretentious if we do the same.
Ending the visit to Sia Boey Urban Archaeological Park by relaxing outside the historical market hall, where a live band played Mandarin songs that I can hum / sing along too.
=====
Address
50, Jalan Dr Lim Chwee Leong, George Town,
10100 George Town, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Map
As above.
