Trang Road

Jalan Trang

Trang Road, or Jalan Trang, is a minor road in George Town. It is located off Brick Kiln Road (Jalan Gurdwara). Most people will probably not know it by its actual name, but if you say "the road behind GAMA", they will know which one you are talking about. It is very near the city centre, being roughly fifty meters from Magazine Circus.

As just mentioned, Trang Road is located behind GAMA Department Store. It was named after the town of Trang in southern Thailand, which incidentally got its name after the Malay word "terang", meaning bright. To digress, Trang town got its name because early seafarers saw the flickering lights from the shore from the lamps of the settlers there. It was an important tin producing town. Much of the tin is sent to Penang for smelting, and the smelting is done at the factory located right at the end of Trang Road. That site, formerly known as Eastern Smelting, is now being occupied by the Penang Times Square development.

Jalan Trang is often misspelled Jalan Terang due to some confusion over the origin of the word "Trang". The road was named after the town of Trang, and not after the word "terang".

Getting there

Trang Road is not served by a bus route. However, it is near to Brick Kiln Road where you can catch a number of buses. Rapid Penang Bus 301, 302, 401, 401A and 704 pass through there. It is also within walking distance of the Komtar Bus Terminal.