geography walking tour

GeogNYC, with Jack Eichenbaum

Tours of nyc focused on geography and demographics, ๏ the geography of nyc, with jack eichenbaum.

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THE 10 BEST Phoenix Walking Tours

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American Geographical Society

Nyc walking tours with geography professor dr. jack eichenbaum.

For more than 160 years, the American Geographical Society has been working to harness the power of human exploration and geographic inquiry to enhance policymaking, scientific research and public education.” New York City again plays host to Geography 2050 in November, 2015. This event is complemented by two walking tours that will help participants, particularly out-of-town visitors, become familiar with evolving urban geography. These walks bring folks to places where new plans and changing demography  are dramatically altering the city.

1. Transformation of the Waterfront and

Daylight Factory Buildings

A century ago Long Island City, Queens, with superior transportation access, was NYC’s

2. Immigrants in NYC: From Ghettos to an

Interwoven Fabric

Walk 1. takes place on Saturday, November 21 from 11AM to 1PM beginning at Queensboro Plaza.

Walk 2. takes place on Sunday, November 22 from 11AM to 1PM beginning at 69 St. (#7 train)

Each walk is limited to 30 participants who must register in advance with Jack ([email protected])

but pay on the tour. Fees are $25/person, $20/person for those registered with AGS for

Geography 2050 Registrants will be confirmed or wait-listed and asked to reconfirm shortly before

the tour. As each tour ends at lunchtime, restaurant suggestions in the vicinity will be distributed.

In 2015, Lonely Planet guidebooks named Queens as the Number 1 tourist destination in the USA.

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National Geographic Walking Paris, 2nd Edition: The Best of the City (National Geographic Walking Guide) Paperback – March 1, 2016

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Map for Tour

Glassboro geography walking tour, tour description, locations for tour, franklin house, e. l. lacy automobile, bicycle repair, colonel thomas heston homestead, state street, s. h. stanger general store and fountain, first united methodist church bible school, state street, looking south, methodist episcopal church (first united methodist church), first united methodist church choir, the first methodist church announcement sign, the auditorium, interior of the auditorium, fire at the auditorium, academy street public school, academy street school fire, 1917, whitney glass works, glassboro title and trust company, uhl bros. groceries and meats truck, civil rights march in response to martin luther king jr. assassination in 1968, high street glassboro, nj, early photograph of high street, whitney building (junior mechanics building), interior of whitney general store, the remains of the whitney glass works company store after devastating fire, corner of high street and main street (facing east), glassboro fire department, tour postscript.

Going on a Field Trip: Critical Geographical Walking Tours and Tactical Media as Urban Praxis in Sydney, Australia

• Craig Lyons University of Wollongong http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2683-0689
• Alexandra Crosby School of Design, Faculty of Design Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8959-7971
• H Morgan-Harris Independent Scholar

How to Cite

• Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)

Introduction

The walking tour is an enduring feature of cities. Fuelled by a desire to learn more about the hidden and unknown spaces of the city, the walking tour has moved beyond its historical role as tourist attraction to play a key role in the transformation of urban space through gentrification. Conversely, the walking tour has a counter-history as part of a critical urban praxis. 

This article reflects on historical examples, as well as our own experience of conducting Field Trip , a critical geographical walking tour through an industrial precinct in Marrickville, a suburb of Sydney that is set to undergo rapid change as a result of high-rise residential apartment construction (Gibson et al .). This precinct, known as Carrington Road, is located on the unceded land of the Cadigal and Wangal people of the Eora nation who call the area Bulanaming.

Drawing on a long history of philosophical walking, many contemporary writers (Solnit; Gros; Bendiner-Viani) have described walking as a practice that can open different ways of thinking, observing and being in the world. Some have focused on the value of walking to the study of place (Hall; Philips; Heddon), and have underscored its relationship to established research methods, such as sensory ethnography (Springgay and Truman). The work of Michel de C erteau pays particular attention to the relationship between walking and the city. In particular, the concepts of tactics and strategy have been applied in a variety of ways across cultural studies, cultural geography, and urban studies (Morris). In line with de Certeau’s thinking, we view walking as an example of a tactic – a routine and often unconscious practice that can become a form of creative resistance.

In this sense, walking can be a way to engage in and design the city by opposing its structures, or strategies. For example, walking in a city such as Sydney that is designed for cars requires choosing alternative paths, redirecting flows of people and traffic, and creating custom shortcuts . Choosing pedestrianism in Sydney can certainly feel like a form of resistance, and w e make the argument that Field Trip – and walking tours more generally – can be a way of doing this collectively, f irstly by moving in opposite directions, and secondly, at incongruent speeds to those for whom the scale and style of strategic urban development is inevitable. 

How such tactical walking relates to the design of cities, however, is less clear. Walking is a generally described in the literature as an individual act, while the design of cities is, at its best participatory, and always involving multiple stakeholders. This reveals a tension between the practice of walking as a détournement or appropriation of urban space, and its relationship to existing built form. Field Trip, as an example of collective walking, is one such appropriation of urban space – one designed to lead to more democratic decision making around the planning and design of cities. Given the anti-democratic, “post-political” nature of contemporary “consultation” processes, this is a seemingly huge task (Legacy et al .; Ruming). We make the argument that Field Trip – and walking tours more generally – can be a form of collective resistance to top-down urban planning.

By using an open-source wiki in combination with the Internet Archive, Field Trip also seeks to collectively document and make public the local knowledge generated by walking at the frontier of gentrification. We discuss these digital choices as oppositional practice, and consider the idea of tactical media (Lovink and Garcia; Raley) in order to connect knowledge sharing with the practice of walking.

This article is structured in four parts. Firstly, we provide a historical introduction to the relationship between walking tours and gentrification of global cities. Secondly, we examine the significance of walking tours in Sydney and then specifically within Marrickville. Thirdly, we discuss the Field Trip project as a citizen-led walking tour and, finally, elaborate on its role as tactical media project and offer some conclusions.

The Walking Tour and Gentrification  

From the outset, people have been walking the city in their own ways and creating their own systems of navigation, often in spite of the plans of officialdom. The rapid expansion of cities following the Industrial Revolution led to the emergence of “imaginative geographies”, where mediated representations of different urban conditions became a stand-in for lived experience (Steinbrink 219). The urban walking tour as mediated political tactic was utilised as far back as Victorian England, for reasons including the celebration of public works like the sewer system (Garrett), and the “othering” of the working class through upper- and middle-class “slum tourism” in London’s East End (Steinbrink 220).  

The influence of the Situationist theory of dérive has been immense upon those interested in walking the city, and we borrow from the dérive a desire to report on the under-reported spaces of the city, and to articulate alternative voices within the city in this project. It should be noted, however, that as Field Trip was developed for general public participation, and was organised with institutional support, some aspects of the dérive – particularly its disregard for formal structure – were unable to be incorporated into the project. Our responsibility to the participants of Field Trip, moreover, required the imposition of structure and timetable upon the walk. However, our individual and collective preparation for Field Trip, as well as our collective understanding of the area to be examined, has been heavily informed by psychogeographic methods that focus on quotidian and informal urban practices (Crosby and Searle; Iveson et al).

In post-war American cities, walking tours were utilised in the service of gentrification. Many tours were organised by real estate agents with the express purpose of selling devalorised inner-city real estate to urban “pioneers” for renovation, including in Boston’s South End (Tissot) and Brooklyn’s Park Slope, among others (Lees et al 25). These tours focused on a symbolic revalorisation of “slum neighbourhoods” through a focus on “high culture”, with architectural and design heritage featuring prominently. At the same time, urban socio-economic and cultural issues – poverty, homelessness, income disparity, displacement – were downplayed or overlooked. These tours contributed to a climate in which property speculation and displacement through gentrification practices were normalised. To this day, “ ghetto tours ” operate in minority neighbourhoods in Brooklyn, serving as a beachhead for gentrification.

Elsewhere in the world, walking tours are often voyeuristic, featuring “locals” guiding well-meaning tourists through the neighbourhoods of some of the world’s most impoverished communities. Examples include the long running Klong Toei Private Tour, through “Bangkok’s oldest and largest slum”, or the now-ceased Jakarta Hidden Tours , which took tourists to the riverbanks of Jakarta to see the city’s poorest before they were displaced by gentrification.

More recently, all over the world activists have engaged in walking tours to provide their own perspective on urban change, attempting to direct the gentrifier’s gaze inward. Whilst the most confrontational of these might be the Yuppie Gazing Tour of Vancouver’s historically marginalised Downtown Eastside, other tours have highlighted the deleterious effects of gentrification in Williamsburg , San Francisco , Oakland , and Surabaya , among others. In smaller towns, walking tours have been utilised to highlight the erasure of marginalised scenes and subcultures, including underground creative spaces, migrant enclaves, alternative and queer spaces .  

Walking Sydney, Walking Marrickville  

In many cities, there are now both walking tours that intend to scaffold urban renewal, and those that resist gentrification with alternative narratives. There are also some that unwittingly do both simultaneously. Marrickville is a historically working-class and migrant suburb with sizeable populations of Greek and Vietnamese migrants (Graham and Connell), as well as a strong history of manufacturing (Castles et al .), which has been undergoing gentrification for some time, with the arts playing an often contradictory role in its transformation (Gibson and Homan). More recently, as the suburb experiences rampant, financialised property development driven by global flows of capital, property developers have organised their own self-guided walking tours, deployed to facilitate the familiarisation of potential purchasers of dwellings with local amenities and ‘character’ in precincts where redevelopment is set to occur. Mirvac, Marrickville’s most active developer, has designed its own self-guided walking tour Hit the Marrickville Pavement to “explore what’s on offer” and “chat to locals”:  

just 7km from the CBD, Marrickville is fast becoming one of Sydney’s most iconic suburbs – a melting pot of cuisines, creative arts and characters founded on a rich multicultural heritage. The perfect introduction, this self-guided walking tour explores Marrickville’s historical architecture at a leisurely pace, finishing up at the pub. So, strap on your walking shoes; you're in for a treat.

Other walking tours in the area seek to highlight political, ecological, and architectural dimension of Marrickville. For example, Marrickville Maps: Tropical Imaginaries of Abundance provides a series of plant-led walks in the suburb; The Warren Walk is a tour organised by local Australian Labor Party MP Anthony Albanese highlighting “the influence of early settlers such as the Schwebel family on the area’s history” whilst presenting a “political snapshot” of ALP history in the area. The Australian Ugliness, in contrast, was a walking tour organised by Thomas Lee in 2016 that offered an insight into the relationships between the visual amenity of the streetscape, aesthetic judgments of an ambiguous nature, and the discursive and archival potentialities afforded by camera-equipped smartphones and photo-sharing services like Instagram.  

Figure 1: Thomas Lee points out canals under the street of Marrickville during The Australian Ugliness, 2016.

Sydney is a city adept at erasing its past through poorly designed mega-projects like freeways and office towers, and memorialisation of lost landscapes has tended towards the literary (Berry; Mudie). Resistance to redevelopment, however, has often taken the form of spectacular public intervention, in which public knowledge sharing was a key goal. The Green Bans of the 1970s were partially spurred by redevelopment plans for places like the Rocks and Woolloomooloo (Cook; Iveson), while the remaking of Sydney around the 2000 Olympics led to anti-gentrification actions such as SquatSpace and the Tour of Beaut y, an “aesthetic activist” tour of sites in the suburbs of Redfern and Waterloo threatened with “revitalisation.” 

Figure 2: " Tour of Beauty ", Redfern-Waterloo 2016 . 

What marks the Tour of Beauty as significant in this context is the participatory nature of knowledge production: participants in the tours were addressed by representatives of the local community – the Aboriginal Housing Company, the local Indigenous Women’s Centre, REDWatch activist group, architects, designers and more. Each speaker presented their perspective on the rapidly gentrifying suburb, demonstrating how urban space is made an remade through processes of contestation. 

This differentiation is particularly relevant when considering the basis for Sydney-centric walking tours. Mirvac’s self-guided tour focuses on the easy-to-see historical “high culture” of Marrickville, and encourages participants to “chat to locals” at the pub. It is a highly filtered approach that does not consider broader relations of class, race and gender that constitute Marrickville. A more intense exploration of the social fabric of the city – providing a glimpse of the hidden or unknown spaces – uncovers the layers of social, cultural, and economic history that produce urban space, and fosters a deeper engagement with questions of urban socio-spatial justice.

Solnit argues that walking can allow us to encounter “new thoughts and possibilities.” To walk, she writes, is to take a “subversive detour… the scenic route through a half-abandoned landscape of ideas and experiences” (13). In this way, tactical activist walking tours aim to make visible what cannot be seen, in a way that considers the polysemic nature of place, and in doing so, they make visible the hidden relations of power that produce the contemporary city.  

In contrast, developer-led walking tours are singularly focussed, seeking to attract inflows of capital to neighbourhoods undergoing “renewal.” These tours encourage participants to adopt the position of urban voyeur, whilst activist-led walking tours encourage collaboration and participation in urban struggles to protect and preserve the contested spaces of the city. It is in this context that we sought to devise our own walking tour – Field Trip – to encourage active participation in issues of urban renewal.

In organising this walking tour, however, we acknowledge our own entanglements within processes of gentrification. As designers, musicians, writers, academics, researchers, venue managers, artists, and activists, in organising Field Trip , we could easily be identified as “creatives”, implicated in Marrickville’s ongoing transformation . All of us have ongoing and deep-rooted connections to various Sydney subcultures – the same subcultures so routinely splashed across developer advertising material. This project was borne out of Frontyard – a community not-just-art space, and has been supported by the local Inner West Council. As such, Field Trip cannot be divorced from the highly contentious processes of redevelopment and gentrification that are always simmering in the background of discussions about Marrickville. We hope, however, that in this project we have started to highlight alternative voices in those redevelopment processes – and that this may contribute towards a “method of equality” for an ongoing democratisation of those processes (Davidson and Iveson) .

Field Trip: Urban Geographical Enquiry as Activism  

Given this context, Field Trip was designed as a public knowledge project that would connect local residents, workers, researchers, and decision-makers to share their experiences living and working in various parts of Sydney that are undergoing rapid change. The site of our project – Carrington Road, Marrickville in Sydney’s inner-west – has been earmarked for major redevelopment in coming years and is quickly becoming a flashpoint for the debates that permeate throughout the whole of Sydney: housing affordability, employment accessibility, gentrification and displacement.  

To date, public engagement and consultation regarding proposed development at Carrington Road has been limited. A major landholder in the area has engaged a consultancy firm to establish a community reference group (CRG) the help guide the project. The CRG arose after public outcry at an original $1.3 billion proposal to build 2,616 units in twenty towers of up to 105m in height (up to thirty-five storeys) i n a predominantly low-rise residential suburb. Save Marrickville , a community group created in response to the proposal , has representatives on this reference group, and has endeavoured to make this process public. Ruming (181) has described these forms of consultation as “post-political,” stating that

in a universe of consensual decision-making among diverse interests, spaces for democratic contest and antagonistic politics are downplayed and technocratic policy development is deployed to support market and development outcomes.

Given the notable deficit of spaces for democratic contest, Field Trip was devised as a way to reframe the debate outside of State- and developer-led consultation regimes that guide participants towards accepting the supposed inevitability of redevelopment. We invited a number of people affected by the proposed plans to speak during the walking tour at a location of their choosing, to discuss the work they do, the effect that redevelopment would have on their work, and their hopes and plans for the future. The walking tour was advertised publicly and the talks were recorded, edited and released as freely available podcasts .  

The proposed redevelopment of Carrington Road provided us with a unique opportunity to develop and operate our own walking tour. The linear street created an obvious “circuit” to the tour – up one side of the road, and down the other . We selected speakers based on pre-existing relationships, some formed during prior rounds of research (Gibson et al .) . Speakers included a local Aboriginal elder, a representative from the Marrickville Historical Society, two workers (who also gave tours of their workplaces), the Lead Heritage Adviser at Sydney Water, who gave us a tour of the Carrington Road pumping station, and a representative from the Save Marrickville residents’ group. Whilst this provided a number of perspectives on the day, regrettably some groups were unrepresented , most notably the perspective of migrant groups who have a long-standing association with industrial precincts in Marrickville. It is hoped that further community input and collaboration in future iterations of Field Trip will address these issues of representation in community-led walking tours.

A number of new understandings became apparent during the walking tour. For instance, the heritage - listed Carrington Road sewage pumping station, which is of “historic and aesthetic significance”, is unable to cope with the proposed level of residential development. According to Philip Bennett, Lead Heritage Adviser at Sydney Water, the best way to maintain this piece of heritage infrastructure is to keep it running. While this issue had been discussed in private meetings between Sydney Water and the developer, there is no formal mechanism to make this expert knowledge public or accessible.  

Similarly, through the Acknowledgement of Country for Field Trip , undertaken by Donna Ingram, Cultural Representative and a member of the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council , it became clear that the local Indigenous community had not been consulted in the development proposals for Carrington Road. This information, while not necessary secret, had also not been made public.  

Finally, the inclusion of knowledgeable local workers whose businesses are located on Carrington Road provided an insight into the “everyday.” They talked of community and collaboration, of site-specificity, the importance of clustering within their niche industries, and their fears for of displacement should redevelopment proceed.

Via a community-led, participatory walking tour like Field Trip , threads of knowledge and new information are uncovered. These help create new spatial stories and readings of the landscape, broadening the scope of possibility for democratic participation in cities.  

Figure 3: Donna Ingram at Field Trip 2018.

Tactical Walking, Tactical Media  

Stories connected to walking provide an opportunity for people to read the landscape differently (Mitchell). One of the goals of Field Trip was to begin a public knowledge exchange about Carrington Road so that spatial stories could be shared, and new readings of urban development could spread beyond the confines of the self-contained tour. Once shared, this knowledge becomes a story, and once remixed into existing stories and integrated into the way we understand the neighbourhood, a collective spatial practice is generated. “Every story is a travel story – a spatial practice”, says de Certeau in “Spatial Stories”. “In reality, they organise walks” (72).  

As well as taking a tactical approach to walking, we took a tactical approach to the mediation of the knowledge, by recording and broadcasting the voices on the walk and feeding information to a publicly accessible wiki .  

The term “tactical media” is an extension of de Certeau’s concept of tactics. David Garcia and Geert Lovink applied de Certeau’s concept of tactics to the field of media activism in their manifesto of tactical media, identifying a class of producers who amplify temporary reversals in the flow of power by exploiting the spaces, channels and platforms necessary for their practices.  

Tactical media has been used since the late nineties to help explain a range of open-source practices that appropriate technological tools for political purposes. While pointing out the many material distinctions between different types of tactical media projects within the arts, Rita Raley describes them as “forms of critical intervention, dissent and resistance” (6). The term has also been adopted by media activists engaged in a range of practices all over the world, including the Tactical Technology Collective . For Field Trip , tactical media is a way of creating representations that help navigate neighbourhoods as well as alternative political processes that shape them. In this sense, tactical representations do not “offer the omniscient point of view we associate with Cartesian cartographic practice” (Raley 2). Rather these representations are politically subjective systems of navigation that make visible hidden information and connect people to the decisions affecting their lives.  

Conclusion  

We have shown that the walking tour can be a tourist attraction, a catalyst to the transformation of urban space through gentrification, and an activist intervention into processes of urban renewal that exclude people and alternative ways of being in the city. This article presents practice - led research through the design of Field Trip . By walking collectively, we have focused on tactical ways of opening up participation in the future of neighbourhoods, and more broadly in designing the city. By sharing knowledge publicly, through this article and other means such as an online wiki, we advocate for a city that is open to multimodal readings, makes space for sharing, and is owned by those who live in it.  

References 

Armstrong, Helen. “Post-Urban/Suburban Landscapes: Design and Planning the Centre, Edge and In-Between.” After Sprawl: Post Suburban Sydney: E-Proceedings of Post-Suburban Sydney: The City in Transformation Conference, 22-23 November 2005, Riverside Theatres, Parramatta, Sydney. 2006.

Bendiner-Viani, Gabrielle. “Walking, Emotion, and Dwelling.” Space and Culture 8.4 (2005): 459-71.  

Berry, Vanessa. Mirror Sydney. Sydney: Giramondo, 2017.

Castles, Stephen, Jock Collins, Katherine Gibson, David Tait, and Caroline Alorsco. “The Global Milkbar and the Local Sweatshop: Ethnic Small Business and the Economic Restructuring of Sydney.” Centre for Multicultural Studies, University of Wollongong, Working Paper 2 (1991).

Crosby, Alexandra, and Kirsten Seale. “Counting on Carrington Road: Street Numbers as Metonyms of the Urban.” Visual Communication 17.4 (2018): 1-18.  

Crosby, Alexandra. “Marrickville Maps: Tropical Imaginaries of Abundance.” Mapping Edges , 2018. 25 Jun. 2018 < http://www.mappingedges.org/news/marrickville-maps-tropical-imaginaries-abundance/ >.

Cook, Nicole. “Performing Housing Affordability: The Case of Sydney’s Green Bans.” Housing and Home Unbound: Intersections in Economics, Environment and Politics in Australia. Eds. Nicole Cook, Aidan Davidson, and Louise Crabtree. London: Routledge, 2016. 190-203.

Davidson, Mark, and Kurt Iveson. “Recovering the Politics of the City: From the ‘Post-Political City’ to a ‘Method of Equality’ for Critical Urban Geography.” Progress in Human Geography 39.5 (2015): 543-59.  

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Dobson, Stephen. “Sustaining Place through Community Walking Initiatives.” Journal of Cultural  Heritage Management and Sustainable Development 1.2 (2011): 109-21. 

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Gibson, Chris, Carl Grodach, Craig Lyons, Alexandra Crosby, and Chris Brennan-Horley. Made in Marrickville: Enterprise and Cluster Dynamics at the Creative Industries-Manufacturing Interface, Carrington Road Precinct . Report DP17010455-2017/2, Australian Research Council Discovery Project: Urban Cultural Policy and the Changing Dynamics of Cultural Production. QUT, University of Wollongong, and Monash University, 2017.

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Gros, Frédéric. A Philosophy of Walking . London: Ve rso Books, 2014.

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Heddon, Dierdre, and Misha Myers. “Stories from the Walking Library.” Cultural Geographies  21.4 (2014): 1-17.  

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Author Biographies

Craig lyons, university of wollongong, alexandra crosby, school of design, faculty of design architecture and building, university of technology sydney.

Alexandra is the Associate Head of School of Design at the University of Technology Sydney. Her background is in visual communications and the ethnographic methods of International Studies. She is one half of the research studio Mapping Edges, and she is also a janitor at Frontyard Projects in Marrickville.

H Morgan-Harris, Independent Scholar

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Georgetown walking tour 2024 – penang guide.

Table of Contents

If you are looking for a Georgetown walking tour in 2024 here is a route for you to make sure you see all of the main Georgetown sights and attractions. Georgetown in Penang is a beautiful UNESCO world heritage site with temples, street art, street food, colonial buildings and its own little India.

DON’T MISS our ULTIMATE GUIDE ON The Best Georgetown Heritage Hotels – you will be amazed by the history, style and culture you can immerse yourself in. Alternatively there are also some great BUDGET hotels in Georgetown .

The following walking tour is a loop including many of the main attractions of George Town. On this tour we have included some amazing Georgetown street food too… it wouldn’t be Penang without some great food ! 

SHORT OF TIME IN PENANG? Don’t miss our 3 day Penang itinerary

One of the best ways to immerse yourself in the smells, sights, history and culture of this beautiful town is to take a walking tour. There are other alternative ways between these attractions. For example you can take bicycle rickshaw rides around Georgetown. It costs around RM 30-40 for a 1-hour rickshaw tour of Georgetown.

Rickshaws can normally take up to 3 people. You can find Rickshaws waiting all around Georgetown. The most reliable spot to find them is opposite to the Yap Kongsi temple (this is included on the walking tour route). Alternatively consider renting a bicycle to do this Georgetown walking tour route. 

Route map of the Georgetown walking tour

How far is the Georgetown walking tour?

The total distance of this Georgetown walking tour is around 6km (or 4 miles). The total time for the loop will take 3 – 5 hours if you stop and enjoy each attraction. And if you don’t want to walk the whole route? It is possible to use Grab taxis to get a ride between some of these attractions (this should cost around 5 ringgits (around £1 or $1.30) for these short journeys and it is usually pretty easy to get Grab taxis in Georgetown. We have suggested a couple of longer sections where you may wish to take a Grab rather than walking. 

1 Fort Cornwallis

Our Georgetown walking tour starts at Fort Cornwallis. You could start this loop at any point that is convenient for you. If you visit the destination in order (from any start point) you will minimize the distance you need to walk. Visit Fort Cornwallis (North East corner of George Town). This is a colonial fort with nice views of the jetty and little India. Opposite Fort Cornwallis is the Penang Trick Art museum. Fort Cornwallis was built by the British East India Company in the late 18th Century. 

2 St George’s Church 

As you walk up Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling you will see St George’s church. St George’s church is a 19th century Anglican Church. It is the first purpose-built Anglican church in Southeast Asia. This is just one landmark that reflects the rich heritage and diversity of Georgetown Penang. Near St George’s church you can also see the famous Goddess of Mercy temple. This is an impressive Chinese temple. 

3 Peranakan mansion

The next landmark on this Georgetown walking tour is the Peranakan Mansion. This is a beautiful ornate mansion located on church street. The Peranakan Mansion with its striking green is a celebration of the Baba and Nonya culture in Penang. The Babas and Nonya’s are descendants of Chinese and Malay people who intermarried many generations ago.

They formed their own unique culture, dress and food. This landmark is a slight detour, so alternatively you could miss this and just walk up Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling past the Goddess of Mercy Chinese temple and past the Sri Mahamariamman Hindu Temple. Entrance to the Peranakan Mansion costs 20 ringgits per person (roughly £4 or $5). 

4 Little India and the Sri Mahamariamman Hindu Temple

As you walk through little india keep your eye out for excellent indian food. Walk past the impressive Sri Mahamariamman Hindu Temple on Queen Street. You will also see shops selling Indian Spices and ornaments. If you have time we recommend exploring some of the fascinating shops in little India Georgetown. After this, our Georgetown walking tour takes you to Kapitans restaurant – a great place to stop for a drink and some food. 

5 Kapitan Tandoori

Kapitans is based on Jalan Chulia and serves amazing tandoori and Indian food. They also offer amazing Biryani sets and have various curries and breads on offer. We love the range of drinks available at Kapitans too. Try Teh Tarik (spicy, sweet Indian tea or Badam Milk – Indian Almond milk). This is a great place to enjoy the vibes and tastes of Georgetown. 

6 Kapitan Mosque

The Georgetown walking tour then passes the famous Kapitan mosque. This large and prominent mosque was built in the 19th century by Indian Muslim traders and is a testament to the rich heritage of Georgetown. 

7 Yap Kongsi Temple

A short walk from Kapitan Mosque you can see the colorful and charming Yap Kongsi temple. Just opposite this temple you can also see bicycle rickshaws. This is a very beautiful part of town. The Georgetown walking tour now leads you down into the street art district of Georgetown. This is perhaps the most iconic part of Georgetown. 

8 Famous Penang street art

Keep an eye out for the famous Penang street art. The most famous and iconic piece of street art in Penang is the children on the bicycle. This is located on Armenian Street, just a minute or two walk from the Yap Kongsi temple.

The awesome pictures are found on buildings along Muntri Street, Weld Quay, Lebuh Leith, Armenian Street, Ah Quee Street and more. Once you have explored the street art walk southbound on Armenian street until you meet the coat road (Pengkalan Weld) where you can explore the jetties and settlements that overlook the ocean. 

9 Jetties and the Hean Boo Thean Kuan Yin Temple

The jetties and settlements run for around 0.5km south of the Penang ferry terminal. These jetties (wooden piers) were built for trade and transportation by Chinese migrants who moved to Malaysia early in the 19th century to trade.

We love the fact that this is still a beautiful community. You can explore wooden winding alleys – over the water.

Don’t miss the Hean Boo Thean Kuan Yin Buddhist Temple (on the of Pintasan Pengkalan 1). You may want to take a Grab taxi for this next section of the walk.

10 Komtar tower and shopping mall

After exploring the jetties, walk up Jalan Dr Lim Chwee Leong towards Komtar tower. Komtar tower is a central shopping and transportation hub in George Town. You will see Komtar shopping mall on your left and Komtar tower behind it. If you enjoy shopping, take a little time to explore the Komtar shopping mall. At the end of Jalan Dr Lim Chwee Leong turn right onto Penang road and then immediately turn right again on to Lebuh Keng Kwee.

TOP TIP: If you have a head for heights don’t miss the KOMTAR Rainbow Sky Bridge! A great spot for a dizzying selfie!

11 Penang road street food (Lebuh Keng Kwee)

We mentioned that the Georgetown walking tour will include some food stops. During the day Lebuh Keng Kwee street has lots of small streetside stalls (hawkers) and small cafes serving Malaysian Chinese food. Don’t miss Assam Laksa (spicy noodle soup with fish).

This is an amazing intense Nonya dish. It costs around 6 ringgits for a bowl of laksa. Also make sure you try Chendul (a sweet shaved ice dessert with coconut, pandan noodles and palm sugar)

And definitely don’t miss char koay teow (Malaysian fried noodles with vegetables and seafood). After enjoying some Chinese Malaysian treats, keep walking along Penang road (away from Komtar) until the road splits. Go right along Leith street until you see the Blue Mansion on your right. 

You may want to take a Grab taxi for this next section of the walk

12 Blue Mansion (Cheong Fatt Tze)

The final attraction on the Georgetown walking tour is the Blue Mansion. The Blue Mansion was built by an influential Chinese businessman and politician called Cheong Fatt Tze, who aimed to celebrate and preserve the beautiful Chinese culture and heritage. Construction started in 1896. Cheong Fatt Tze used the finest materials and builders to construct the blue mansion, which became an iconic attraction of Georgetown. The blue mansion now offers boutique accommodation, fine dining and tours of the property. You can now do daily tours in English at 11am and 2pm. The cost is RM 25 for adults and RM 12.50 for children. You can book Blue Mansion tickets online .

At the end of the Geogetown walking tour you could also drop by Upper Penang Road (on the junction of Penang road and Jalan Sultan Ahmed Shah) where you will find several bars offering outdoor seating areas.

Why not take an official Georgetown tour?

Did you know you can actually book a half day tour of Georgetown on Klook? Learn more about the unique culture, history and heritage of Georgetown from an expert guide.

NEED SOME MORE INSPIRATION?

Why not visit the STUNNING Kek Lok Si Temple in Penang . This Chinese style hill temple is genuinely one of the MOST BEAUTIFUL temples we have had the pleasure of visiting (AND as full time travellers we have visited a lot of beautiful temples).

Life loving, adventure chasing, Mum of 3 who loves travel. Over 10 years of travel writing experience. Emma now loves to give the best tips to help other travel loving parents plan adventures with their kids. Whether you need to find the best accommodation or just need to know how to pack your bag Emma is that travelling mum who love to help you.

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Travelling solo? Three Australian women share their experiences and tips for going it alone

There can be many barriers getting in the way of travelling — the cost, getting time off and rearranging care commitments.

But for many women there can be an added barrier — having no one to go with.

There seems to be more of a stigma about women travelling alone than men. 

Because it's not just loneliness or the potential awkwardness of being alone that can put some women off travelling solo — it's also about safety.

'Geography of fear' creates a barrier for women

Catheryn Khoo, professor and researcher of hospitality and tourism at Torrens University, says safety is an issue for everyone, not just women.

"It is more the social discourse around safety that is a huge barrier for women wanting to travel solo," Dr Khoo told the ABC.

"The media perpetuates danger by reinforcing.

"It creates the geography of fear for women and incites self-doubt."

But Dr Khoo says there are many good reasons for women to travel on their own.

"Women find themselves tied to the responsibilities attached to their roles as women, mothers, daughters, wives, and partners.

"But when they go on a solo journey, they no longer have to fulfil these roles.

"They live only for themselves and only have themselves to take care of."

And when they share these experiences, it can also empower other women to break the stigma. 

"Women who have actually travelled solo are creating a social acceptance of doing so, which gives others courage to do the same," Dr Khoo says.

"For these women, the motivations are personal growth, self-discovery, empowerment, and independence."

We spoke to three women about their experiences travelling alone. 

'Yearning for adventure'

Eleea Navarro has climbed Mount Fuji, ridden bareback with Andalusian horses in Spain and braved the heat of the Sahara Desert. 

And she did it all on her own.

"I feel confident travelling by myself," Eleea tells the ABC.

"And the thing that still pushes me to travel is the thrill of the unknown, my yearning for adventure, wanting to connect with new people, and wanting to get to know myself better.

"The beauty of going solo is that the only person you have to convince is yourself."

'Liberating' and 'overwhelming'

Travelling abroad was never a possibility for Chelsea Golding's family when she was growing up.

But now she's in her 20s, things are different. 

So when the timing felt right in 2023 she decided it was "now or never" and went on a solo trip through South-East Asia for three months.

"Going off on my own for the first time was definitely a shock to the system," Chelsea tells the ABC.

"It went in waves where it was the most liberating feeling, to something that felt quite overwhelming.

"But I would absolutely do it again, it was an amazing experience."

Writing the next chapter

For Donna Manders, the catalyst for her solo adventure was a little different.

After her divorce a few years ago, she found herself experiencing a lack of identity, not knowing who she was or where she fitted in. Even though she had love and support from her children, family, friends and work colleagues.

"I felt like I still had so much to offer and that I was only halfway through my life story," Donna tells the ABC.

"The usual commentary around situations like this, a middle-aged, divorced woman with grown children, is 'just keep going as the best is behind you now'.

"But that didn't feel right to me."

So, with an unexplainable desire to push herself, Donna decided to take a leap of faith and write the next chapter of her life story.

She travelled for two and a half months through Italy, England, and Scotland solo.

"Although it was a journey of emotions along the way, I learnt how capable and resilient I actually am," she says.

"I learnt to trust my intuition, lean into the solitude and silence, so I could finally hear myself."

But it wasn't all sunshine

Eleea says being able to travel is an incredible privilege, but warns that it is romanticised online.

"Just like in real life, you're likely to get exhausted, ripped off, sick, injured, financially stressed, overwhelmed, lost, confused, or lonely.

"I've experienced everything from intense food poisoning while on a 10-hour bus commute, being scammed by a dilapidated half-built resort in Hoi An, and getting bitten by bed bugs from a cheap hostel in Budapest.

"I was also depressingly lonely for days on end on one of my first solo trips to Vietnam.

"I resorted to crossing my fingers as people walked past, hoping they'd talk to me."

Donna says that although she felt excitement and joy, there were times where she felt isolated, lonely and sad, but was able to navigate her way out of those feelings with a few tools.

"I repeated my favourite affirmations, listened to music — this is where your favourite playlist comes into the picture — wrote in a journal, and just learnt to trust myself."

Chelsea recalls times where she was shouted at and experienced catcalling in Malaysia.

"There's probably nothing I could have done in that situation to make it less confronting, as I was already dressing modestly to respect the customs."

What are their safety tips?

Eleea recommends walking with confidence and trying not to look like a tourist.

"If you're following directions on maps, try putting one headphone in your ear to listen to the audio cues, instead of constantly looking down at the map on your phone," she said.

"This helps you stay more aware of your surroundings and look more confident, like a local."

Eleea says she also wore a plain ring on her wedding finger as a deterrent from unwanted attention.

Here's some more tips from our three solo travellers:

• Learn the language and customs of your destination 
• Give friends and family members your full itinerary
• Never go overseas without travel insurance
• Dress simply and don't wear expensive jewellery to avoid unwanted attention
• Keep in touch with a good support network, even if they're back home
• Switch on a 'find my phone' setting on your smartphone
• Travel light with your luggage so you confidently carry everything without help
• Book accommodation near public transport
• Project a sense of being in control, especially in crowded places and public transport areas
• Be wary about giving out the address of your accommodation
• Get an e-SIM or local SIM card that allows you to make calls and access the internet
• Call family of friends while walking out at night on a quiet road
• Carry your valuables in bum bag strapped around your waist or a crossbody bag
• Wear a backpack on the front of your body when in crowded places or on public transport

How to overcome solo travel fears

Do your homework before you start booking.

" Join a supportive online community that supports women's travel," Dr Khoo says.

"This will mitigate perceived risks, and eliminate fear, doubt, and anxiety.

"You can also read the empowering literature on solo travel and be inspired by the stories."

This was something Donna couldn't recommend enough.

Chelsea and Eleea recommend staying in hostels as a way to meet fellow travellers and build a sense of community away from home.

"I would often meet friends in my hostel dorm or on free walking tours on my first day in a new destination," Eleea says.

"I usually opt for the largest mixed gender hostel dorm available, as it's typically the cheapest and the most likely place to meet new friends.

"And most importantly, don't be afraid to say hello to somebody and start a conversation."

Prepare yourself for a certain level of discomfort, Chelsea says. 

"You can plan as much as possible but there will always be an element that you can't predict or feels out of your control.

"So being willing to be uncomfortable is necessary."

But Eleea believes overcoming these minor discomforts can make you more confident and resilient person.

"Plus if nothing goes wrong, then you have no funny stories to tell when you get home."

'Best thing I've ever done'

Donna says travelling on your own takes confidence and courage.

It helps you gain perspective and can reveal strengths you never knew you had. 

This is why Donna says it's the "best thing I've ever done". 

"I highly recommend it to anyone, especially middle aged women who may think their story is over.

"Don't be put off by your age.

"If you want to do it, give it a go."

For Eleea, solo travel has altered the course of her life in the most positive light.

"I have never regretted a trip, even if things weren't perfect.

"I feel so lucky to have the passport and freedom to see the world, and I try to appreciate and immerse myself in every moment."

• X (formerly Twitter)

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Petersburg Garden Club walking tour, six stops: Beautiful gardens, homes, floral designs

Cockade city garden club, fundraisers benefit historic blandford cemetery, geranium sale, luncheon, fashion show by all manor of things: purchase plants in advance for favorite color.

VIRGINIA — The 2024 Historic Garden Week in Virginia is just around the bed of peonies. Do not wait until the last minute to purchase tickets for the Garden Club of Virginia's 91st annual fundraiser. Ticket holders may enjoy hospitality extended by Garden Club of Virginia members at beautiful private homes, gardens and historic properties throughout the state April 20-27.

Poplar Lawn is one of Petersburg’s grandest neighborhoods and is the location of the Petersburg Garden Club's spring tour. To make it look fabulous, a lot of dedicated citizens help maintain the park, the neighborhood’s center. Petersburg Garden Club, Historic Poplar Lawn Association, Historic Petersburg Foundation [HPF] collaborated to prepare for the big event. Some exhibitors include Petersburg Home for Ladies, Boulevard Flowers, Bartlett Trees, Wilcox Watershed Conservancy and others.

The Caretaker's Cottage at Poplar Lawn Park has recently been spruced up. The Foundation owns the structure built in the 1880s which was occupied by Dick Bragg, its caretaker. It was deeded to the HPF in 1983. In 2021, Keith and Christy Wade, ghost hunters, determined through their paranormal investigation that the historic cottage is haunted . It has been used to store park maintenance tools and was even Ward 2's voting precinct at one point. HPF keeps a close watch on it and initiates preservation efforts as needed for the tiny slice of Petersburg history.

Weather permitting, related activities will be held in the park including a complimentary tea from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. as well as a landscape architecture drawings and discussion by the Historic Poplar Lawn Association about current renovations, learn about the history of the area, view horticulture displays by area nurseries and tree experts. Ticket holders may enjoy an art and train interpretation created with flowers at Noe’s Art Studio and Train Museum located across the street from the park formerly named Central Park.

Most showcased properties are within easy walking distance of each other. On South Sycamore Street, the Ragland Mansion, a 10,000-square-foot antebellum Italianate residence erected in 1856, will serve as tour headquarters and provide facilities to ticket holders. A short drive from the park is Centre Hill mansion, a Garden Club of Virginia restoration site, which will welcome visitors.

The Petersburg tour is on Tuesday, April 23 from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. The chairs this year are Amanda Lupold and Lucia Malon. "Petersburg Garden Club is grateful for the generosity of our wonderful sponsors, and everyone's hard work, especially the owners of these beautiful homes," Lupold said. This year's sponsors are Bank of Southside Virginia, WP Poirier, Owen Printing and Petersburg Company Tours.

Historic Garden Week: Petersburg Garden Club

The walking tour this year in Petersburg includes six stops along the way. Tickets allow access to the following properties:

• Ragland Mansion, 205 S. Sycamore Street
• Augustus Wright House, 241 Sycamore Street: Brick Victorian Empire-Italianate-style home, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, first time featured during Historic Garden Week
• Syme-Pollard House, 239 South Adams Street
• Noe Art Studio & Train Museum, 109 Central Park
• Poplar Lawn Historic Park, 351 South Sycamore Street
• Trinity Methodist Church, 215 South Sycamore Street

According to Malon, the Branch House at 18 Marshall Street, originally on the tour, will not be included due to unforeseen circumstances beyond the Club's control.

Visitors are encouraged to visit the following nearby places of interest: Centre Hill Museum at 1 Centre Hill Avenue in Petersburg and Blandford Church Museum at 111 Rochelle Lane which has a Confederate memorial with 15 Louis Comfort Tiffany stained-glass windows.

Cockade City Garden Club raises funds for historic Blandford Cemetery

A luncheon sponsored by the Cockade City Garden Club will be served at Christ and Grace Episcopal Church from 11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. The delicious affair which benefits the historic Blandford Cemetery includes a continuous fashion show by Weston Manor's All Manor of Things boutique and gift shop, a geranium sale and marketplace shopping hosted by the Cockade City Garden Club.

The meal includes chicken salad, three-bean salad, fruited Jell-O salad, a roll, a beverage and a slice of cake for dessert. Before or after you dine, tour the church sanctuary's mid-19th century Tiffany-style stained glass windows.

Luncheon tickets are $14 each and may be purchased in advance at Palmore Decorating Center at 1927 S. Sycamore Street in Petersburg, Boulevard Flower Gardens at 2120 Ruffin Mill Road in Chesterfield and Ms Hairstyling at 3924 S. Crater Road in Petersburg or from Cockade City Garden Club members.

Geraniums which cost $6.75 may be ordered in advance to request a certain color. Contact Linda Wynne via [email protected] or 804-399-5258 to purchase geraniums and/or luncheon tickets. Both may be purchased on the day of the event as well.

Garden Club of Virginia: 91st Historic Garden Week

This beloved statewide event will include 30 unique tours organized and hosted by 48 member clubs located from the foothills of the Shenandoah Valley all the way to the beaches of Tidewater. Historic Garden Week has been held annually since 1929 except for a period during World War II and in 2020 during the pandemic. Members take pride in sharing warm hospitality and beautiful flower arrangements through this popular springtime tradition.

Historic Garden Week 2024 Guidebooks are available for free at Palmore Decorating Center, Boulevard Flowers at Ruffin Mill and in Petersburg at The Oak Antique Mall while supplies last. The Petersburg tour information can be found on pages 206-208. To view the guidebook online and to purchase tickets , $40 each until April 22 and $50 on the day of the tour, visit VAGardenWeek.org where you will find a tour map. Proceeds fund the restoration of historic public gardens and landscapes in Virginia. For more information, visit Historic Garden Week in Petersburg on Facebook and follow on Instagram @historicgardenweekpetersburg.

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Hang Son Doong, located in Vietnam’s Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park, may be the world’s largest cave. It takes a four-day hike through leech-filled jungle to reach it.

Trains, caves, and forests: How to take amazing no-travel trips

This month, explore the world’s largest cave, roll down the Blues Highway, and walk through one of Europe’s oldest cities.

Travel may have taken a vacation, but global exploration continues to forge ahead full speed. As virtual experiences become the new norm, the world has opened its doors digitally, offering travelers surprising perspectives on both iconic destinations and under-the-radar secrets.

You don’t have to be Ansel Adams to appreciate the picturesque vistas on California’s Yosemite National Park ’s live stream of El Capitan and Yosemite Fall . You don’t even have to leave home to embark on a virtual trip to northern Sweden , where a hot-air balloon flight over the Arctic and a trek through Lapland’s wilderness awaits. After a day of adventure, you can hunker down for an evening of drama, tragedy, and romance at Shakespeare’s Globe in London, which is streaming Two Noble Kinsmen , Macbeth , and The Winter’s Tale .

But of course you’re still filled with wanderlust, so here are five experiences that sustain the spirit of travel and keep us dreaming of our next journeys.

( Related: Will virtual travel replace the real thing? Read on. )

Discover Puerto Rico with a local

This month, virtual travelers can trek through natural wonders, navigate far-flung sites, and discover historical treasures with Puerto Rico ’s new Google Earth live-tour. The first one starts May 5, serving up visitors with island delights such as El Yunque (the only tropical U.S. national forest), Playa Negra’s famous black-sand beach, and the bioluminescent bays of Vieques. Tune into Discover Puerto Rico ’s Facebook page for the free, 30-minute live tours.

El Yunque covers nearly 30,000 acres in eastern Puerto Rico.

Follow the music to Mississippi

Ramble through the back roads and byways of Mississippi to discover the roots of the Delta blues via the Mississippi Blues Trail app . It tells the tuneful stories of nearly 200 pioneering men, women, and businesses that made blues music an integral part of the Magnolia state. Listen to works from artists including Robert Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, and B.B. King, then delve into their musical histories with an interactive timeline, and watch short videos that bring these tales—influenced by the cultural, economic, and social geography of Mississippi—to life.

Take a stroll through Krakow

Check out Krakow ’s museums, parks, synagogues, forts, and other landmarks via a virtual walking tour with 360-degree panoramas, drone views, and detailed images of the Polish city’s storied neighborhoods and architectural treasures. Start at the opulent, 14th-century St. Mary’s Basilica in Old Town before making your way to sites such as the historic Jewish district of Kazimierz; Rynek Główny, Europe’s largest main square; and Wawel Royal Castle, the world’s first UNESCO World Heritage site.

Go spelunking in the world’s largest cave

You could fit a Boeing 747 or a New York City block of skyscrapers into the Son Doong cave in Vietnam ’s Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. Since it’s difficult for travelers to visit the 2.5-mile long cave even in normal times, National Geographic Explorer Martin Edström used interactive and immersive techniques to create a virtual, 360-degree walking tour . As you navigate through, you’ll learn about the cave’s geological history, evolution, and mind-blowing dimensions.

Climb aboard Peru’s most scenic train escape

Train enthusiasts can climb aboard Ferrocarril Central Andino for an epic, four-part virtual train trip across Peru . As coastal, forest, river scenery rolls by , you’ll go from the port city of Callo through the bustling capital Lima and up into j aw-dropping mountain territory . Highlights include squeezing through narrow canyons and across the famous Puente Infiernillo or “Little Hell” Bridge and crossing over one of the world’s highest railroad tunnels.

Related: 16 scenic train trips around the world

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