Penang Little India

This guide to Penang Little India follows the Atta Kavadi procession, held every year since 1927, when a devotee crosses the neighborhood with hooks in his skin and a steel tower balanced on his shoulders on his way to the Sri Mahamariamman Temple. It traces the 1801 land grant to Betty Lingam Chetty that founded the oldest continuous Indian settlement in the Malay world, and the vow of Thaipusam that still draws devotees through these lanes. You'll pass the spice sacks, sari shops and jewelers weighing gold along the way.