LOCATION:
Everywhere in Penang, but a huge concentration of pre-war shop houses are located in downtown Georgetown.

DESCRIPTION:
There are reasons why Penang has become a premier tourist destination in Asia. One of them is the huge collection of old and colonial buildings scattered throughout the city. In fact, Penang is trying to get into the list of UNESCO World's Heritage Site for this particular reason.

While a number of these pre-war buildings are left in a sorry state of disrepair, a lot of them have been rejuvenated and converted into beautiful cafés, fashion stores, small shops or even boutique hotels. Local laws and regulations prohibit a direct demolition of these historic buildings, hence business owners and developers decided to build on the original building design with added colors, a commendable measure to breath a new lease of life into these buildings.

With the rising affluent of this island-state, along with the increasing influx of tourists, there are more and more buildings are being refurbished for commercial and tourism purposes.

Apart from pre-war shophouses, there are also a lot of colonial mansions that have been converted into modern-day museum, government offices, art galleries or even restaurants.

MY VERDICT:
Unique experience overall. Not many places in Asia offer similar attractions (Singapore, Shanghai, Ipoh and Kuching come to mind).