Esplanade
Grassy waterfront field where colonial cricket pavilions once stood beside a cannon revered as a fertility charm.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Esplanade in Penang Island starts with incense smoke and flowers on an open field that is not a temple, and with the bronze cannon that childless women once came here to touch. It follows the gun back to a Dutch gunsmith in 1603 and through the hands of sultans and soldiers, then stops for the legend of how it reached the water's edge. Best heard standing on the grass, with the sea behind you.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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