GEORGE Town's Anson Road market has been around for generations. Penang people have an endearing fondness for their own neighbourhood markets and Anson Road market has been thriving on support from locals for as long as memory can remember.

Anson Road is named after the last Lieutenant Governor of Penang, Colonel Archibald Anson (1867-1882). Records reveal that Anson Road has been in existence since 1877.

Some historians speculate that the name Anson could also be attributed to Commodore George Anson who was the naval commander of the Far East Squadron in 1815.

There's a heavy concentration of wealthy residents in the Anson Road district. One notable feature is the old bungalows found along the stretch of Anson Road, like Ch'ng Teong Swee Mansion.

Some residents, especially the Hokkien community, tend to link Anson Road with an old temple situated somewhere in Tanjung Pagar. Thus, an old Hokkien reference to Anson Road is "lau tua pek kong hit tiau".

At seven every morning, activity at the Anson Road market picks up. The older folks are the early birds though hawkers come earlier and begin putting their stalls together as early as 6am.

Inside Matters

The building is unimpressive and it looks run-down. But customers are drawn perhaps to what is inside and hardly notice the dilapidated condition of the building itself. The interior is a bit dim but the stalls are clean.

An elderly Chinese man, wearing a white singlet, was skilfully frying char kway kak on a large frying pan with a roaring fire beneath it. Near him were some clothing stalls promoting jeans of various designs and women's clothes, many of which have apparently gone out of fashion.

For obvious reasons, this is not the place to shop for trendy clothes. The stall on the roadside opposite the market has better choices but prices fluctuate, depending on the customer's bargaining skills.

Seated on a plastic stool, an old man in his late 70s was reading a Chinese newspaper. He was fronting a biscuit shop with a row of biscuits neatly encased in plastic bags for public viewing. Behind him were rows of tins filled with homemade biscuits. You don't see many of these big biscuit tins around anymore, but stall owners in Penang and other small towns still retain this age-old business practice of displaying their biscuits.

Everything a household needs are on this bicycle.

American Bihun?

One of the more popular choices of breakfast fare at the Anson Road market is American Bihun, sold at a stall inside the market that seemed to be doing a roaring business. Those who have tasted the bihun, which comes without any garnishing except for chili sauce, say that the secret of American Bihun is in the way the noodles are fried. How the name came about, no one knows for sure.

Sometimes, fried bihun is best consumed fresh from the frying pan, tossed with chilli sauce spiked with garlic, of course.

All About Chicken

In March last year, the Anson Road market created headlines as the venue of a "chicken party" organised by Anson Road Market Traders Association and the Anson Road Market Tua Pek Kong Association.

In response to rampant rumours about bird flu affecting local chickens, the two associations gave away free chicken meals. The chicken were steamed, roasted, fried and plain and curry flavours.

Residents in the district responded heartily to the free chicken meals and all the giveaways were snapped up in half an hour. You can't say that Penangites don't know a good meal when they hear one.

At the height of the bird flu rumour, Anson Road market chicken sellers suffered a 50 per cent drop in business but they have since recovered.

Old Is Gold

A quick inspection of the goings-on inside the market uncovered a middle-aged man manning his wheeled stall that was stuffed with homemade brooms, plastic mugs, miniature brushes, funnels, mouse traps and feather dusters. It was a sight that thrilled my son who had never seen this kind of vendor before.

Indeed, vendors like him are becoming a rare sight, simply because cycling from one end of the town to the other with all the goods, gets tougher and harder with age.

Anyway, it is only in the smaller districts and villages that a man can earn an honest living plying his trade this way. Most modern homemakers just prefer to get what they need at the hypermarkets.

Today, the old market shares Anson Road with other notable buildings like Apex Towers, Tanjong Pagar Complex, M Hotel, Temasek Tower and Anson House.

This senior citizen mans the "front office" outside an Anson road shop.

How To Get There

Jalan Macalister and Jalan Burma are two main roads on Penang island. If you are travelling on either road, look out for Jalan Anson which cuts through both these two famous roads.

The Anson Road market has been around for decades. It is a small market even by Penang standards and is located at the corner of Anson Road.

The mobile hawker stalls scattered in its vicinity are clear indicators of this thriving market which is most active in the morning.

If you can find Malacca Street, then the Anson Road market will loom into sight.