Carnarvon Street, George Town

EarthDocumentary World Budget Travel Guide

Compare Hotel Room Rates from different Booking Sites

Lebuh Carnarvon

Carnarvon Street, or Lebuh Carnarvon, is a major street in George Town. It starts at Chulia Street and ends at Prangin Road.

The street was created in the 1860's, and named after Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon, who was Secretary of State for the Colonies (the person in charged of the colonies within the British cabinet) between 6 July, 1866 and 8 March, 1867. The year 1867 also happens to be the year that racial polarization erupted into open warfare called Penang Riots, which pitted the Cantonese against the Hokkiens, and both affiliated with Malay groups called White Flag and Red Flag societies. The Cantonese (Ghee Hin) are based around Rope Walk while the Hokkiens (Khian Teik Secret Society and Hai San) are based in Armenian Street.

Carnarvon Street became the border between the Cantonese sector and Hokkien sector of town.

Today, in the 21st century, part of Carnarvon Street forms a new border, between the core zone and buffer zone of the George Town Unesco World Heritage Site.

In the mid 20th century, Carnarvon Street was the place to find book shops and coffin makers. This is where you can see the huge Chinese coffins stacked one on top of the other. Paper effigies for use as offering to the departed is another speciality of these shops - all the pleasures of the material world can be reproduced in paper and burnt as gifts for the hereafter. Today almost all the coffin shops have left Carnarvon Street - I am not sure whether the few left are still operating.

Getting there

You can reach Carnarvon Street by taking the Rapid Penang Free Shuttle Bus to Station No. 14 (Lebuh Carnarvon). Rapid Penang bus No. 10, 301, 302, 307, 401, and 502 pass through Carnarvon Street.

Sights along Carnarvon Street

Teoh Kongsi

Li Teik Seah Building

Campbell Street Market

Penang Tourism Information Centre

Click for list of Streets of George Town

In Other Words ...

Hokkien: Lam Chan'a: damp paddy fields

Carnarvon Street Location Map

Photos of Carnarvon Street

Carnarvon Street sign (12 November 2008)
© Timothy Tye using this photo

Get the best rates when booking Penang hotels

Before booking a hotel room, make sure you are getting the lowest price for it. Different hotel booking websites offers the same room at different prices. If you stick with one site all the time, you could be paying more for the same room. Now why pay more?

The form below is a Research Engine. It doesn't take bookings. Instead it lets you find the hotel booking website that offers the room you want at the lowest price. You can see and compare what different sites are offering, and then click to choose the one with the best price. Do this, and you're guaranteed to save a whole lot of money on your room reservations!

Find a hotel

New York City
Bangkok
Amsterdam

Guests:

Rooms:

Great Travel Deals Wego.com

Flight Checker

Our Flight Checker helps travelers compare flights and get the lowest fare for their trips. If you're flying somewhere, use our Flight Checker to compare the rates from different airlines. To use it, enter where you will be flying from, where you will be flying to, your departure date and return date. Select the number of passengers, and then click search.

Our engine will return you a list of possible flights that you can take. You can compare the fare of different airlines for your trip. Click on your selected airline, and we transfer you to the airline website.

Return to Penang Travel Tips homepage

My message introducing God to all the world: THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO TIM

Penang Travel Tips is researched and written by Timothy Tye, universally known as Tim. The text is the copyright of Timothy Tye, and may not be copied for commercial use or re-published in another website without the author's permission. Information provided is in goodwill and is believed to be correct and up-to-date at time of writing. Photographs on this website are the copyright of the author and may not be reused without prior permission. For commercial licensing of photographs, read the licensing terms.