Blogs from George Town, Penang, Malaysia, Asia - page 50

So we planned along while ago that Penang would be where we'd spent Christmas Day - one of the few dates where we actually had an idea of what we were doing. Having been there once before, about 10 or so years ago I wasn't exactly sure what to expect and although I was sure it would have changed. And it had so much. There were huge hotels and shopping malls everywhere. It was quite a sight sailing into the ferry terminal at night as the coast was illuminated by the rows of tall buildings. We moved round the north coast slightly, over to Batu Ferringhi beach to spend our first 4 nights on the island there. Checked into a comfortable guesthouse and settled in for Christmas - Caroline decorated the room and even managed a ... read more

Well, sadly our dream of Christmas surfing has died. Drowned, to be specific. It seems that the region of Malaysia which holds our surfing hotspot has been visited by freak rainstorms over the past couple of days and the whole region is flooded. Hospital patients are being evacuated, drinking water is contaminated, looting of stores is occuring.... it's ugly. Luckily, one of the guys who runs our hostel on Pulau Pangkor alerted us to this fact before we set off on our journey to ground 0, so we were able to make alternate arrangements. We're in Georgetown right now, which is a city on an island north of Pulau Pangkor called Penang Island. From what we've seen of it, however, it's not the nicest island because of the pollution created by the presence of the big ... read more

Entering Penang's Georgetown is like stepping into a different world - a world away from the Malaysia we'd come to know, that is. It's like stepping back in time to a town with a very chaotic and cramped, Chinese heart - it is the only part of Malaysia where the Chinese ethnic group is in the majority. It's really bustling and congested but that gives it a certain charm. It also has a full-on party-fuelled atmosphere and weekends are noticeable. With a Chinese majority, alcohol is the fuel of choice and big bars and clubs are prominent - it's a long way from the Muslim way of life, experienced on the mainland. Georgetown also has a seedy underbelly with prostitution evident on the streets and lots of seedy looking skinheads looking to make the most of ... read more

After a long bus journey we found ourselves at George Town on the island of Penang. It was late. Feeling tired, hungry and struggling to find any cheap/decent accommodation. Our Penang experience didn’t start off in the best way. Eventually we found a room and had at chat with a travelling Filipino band who advised us of the local night spots which we decided to explore. There is precious little to do in the daytime (or night time). Perhaps the main attractions are the Museum and the reconstructed fort Cornwallis. The museum was full of the usual Asian pottery, but did have an interesting exhibition detailing how people from many different races and regions contributed to society, throughout George Town’s colonial history. There were no real surprises. For me George Town is not worth visiting and ... read more

So from Thailand we busted over the border with our sneaky bananas to Malaysia. Right away all our memories came flooding back and, despite a few changes, the place looked pretty much the same. We quickly found ourselves a bed and set out in search of the food Penang is so famous for. We didn't have to look far. In fact the only way to avoid the fantastic food of Penang was to stay in our room, and that wasn't something we were up for so there was a lot of eating fitted into our few precious hours in town. We started with the classic Hainese Chicken Rice, and our plate was deemed by Corb to be the best he'd tasted. Hard to beat such a strong first meal, we had some mighty fine curry mee, ... read more