Blogs from Penang, Malaysia, Asia
Penang, an ethnic melting pot with a British colonial backdrop!
Published: May 4th 2012Asia » Malaysia » Penang » George Town
April 30th 2012
Aoife and I arrived in Penang island, connected to mainland Malaysia by bridge, on the evening of January 12th by ferry from Langkawi. Upon arrival, the taxi drivers swarmed the area putting pressure on people arriving. We planned to get a free shuttle bus as it was our understanding that the guesthouse was less than ten minutes away. The taxi drivers told us that the shuttle was not running at this time of year which turned out to be untrue. Then another taxi driver hounded us asking where we were going. He was adamant that our guesthouse was 20 minutes away and we agreed a fixed price. Turned out it was just over 5 minutes around the corner. I questioned his earlier lie and he just got angry with us. "Keep your f##king money" he said ... read more
April 20th 2012
If you are still reading this blog after all these months then, god bless you for the loyalty! So, where are we now I hear you cry? We have had a jolly good time in Georgetown, surely the home of the most fantastic food in the world (ok, a big claim!) Loving the mix of Malay, Indian and Chinese influences - did a spot of hands on cooking - making the fabulous Redang and a Pineapple Curry (it tastes better than it sounds!). Had the insiders tour from a local (thanks Tristian). Visited Penang Hill, just when it was foggy so saw bugger all - great timing! Done some more temples and the locals are so fantastic. Little old lady (trying not to be stereotypical but she was old, and little) took a liking to us ... read more
April 5th 2012
Ok, so today we headed up the peak of Penang Hill by way of Funicular railway. This was very similar to the peak ride we had in Hong Kong but I’m sure this one was steeper in parts. Either way it was a great ride and the view from up top was fantastic. I am quite surprised at how quickly these things move. There are slower patches but when they move, they move – or maybe it’s just because I’m a scaredy cat and it feels like it’s moving faster than it actually is. We didn’t have the clearest day but that didn’t matter. It was still great to be up there. Once up there we had a fabulous surprise. We saw our neighbours from over the back. We knew we were on Penang at the ... read more
April 4th 2012
Having visited many places in Thailand over the years and having watched most of these succumb to mass tourism, this time we were merely passing through. Free fifteen day visas are granted to most European nationals at land-crossings, thirty days if you fly in, or sixty (for a price) if gained at an embassy pre-arrival. With the ever increasing openness between ASEAN countries and the ready availability of inter-country buses (these may be minibuses or coaches) there is nothing to be gained these days (save the kudos and the small joys of roughing it with the locals) from complex multi-bus journeys that actually work out to be more expensive as well as massively more time consuming. So, it’s simply a case of source the cheapest bus and ride from one country to the next. The only ... read more
April 4th 2012
Today we were going to make our way into Georgetown to have a look around and see a few sights, so after brekkie we all piled in the car and made our way there. It took about 35mins as the traffic was a bit busy. We found a park near Fort Cornwallis where early Englishman, Francis Light and his crew landed in 1786 and built the original fort. We looked around for a while and took a few pictures and read about the history of the fort and what the fort stood for as its one of the only star designed forts around til this day. We walked up to the main corner were the gunpowder and the explosives were kept. The bunker the walls were about 300-400mm. There were a number of cannons that were ... read more
April 3rd 2012
Today we were up and out as we had a very busy day to pack in. Firstly we drove approximately 15 mins to the Penang Butterfly Farm. We had a guided tour around the gardens and saw all types of Butterfly’s and Insects. We got some really good info about them as the guide was very good. We walked around for a while and the girls got to touch a millipede and had a photo with a scorpion. Then we headed into the insects and reptile enclosure for a look at spiders and lizards and Scorpions which was cool and in Air-conditioned. We could not get over how hot and sticky the gardens were. Frankie was feeling it a lot poor lil man. We guessed that it must have to be hot though for them. We ... read more
April 2nd 2012
Our first day on Penang was spent sleeping in till about 10. We spent the day lazing by and in the pool. As you can probably tell by now we haven’t stayed in any hotels on this trip. We planned our trip on staying in apartments – so much easier with the children and a lot more room than the average hotel room. The pool is just awesome here and the girls have been having a blast on the slide....doesn’t take a lot to keep them happy. The weather here is very balmy. Just the way I like it. A lot more comfortable than Hong Kong as it was their slightly cooler time of the year. Stu will tell you that he preferred the weather in Hong Kong though. After we got our rental car we ... read more
April 1st 2012
On my way from New Zealand to England I got the chance to have a five day sojourn in the conveniantly eqidistant Malaysia. Originally I had to contemplate myself sitting in a beach restaurant holding a pina colada or a mojito, the waves nearby gently lapping on the shore, the sun setting on the distant horizon and the opposite chair of my romantic table for two... EMPTY! Thank god my girlfriend Maria Chiara spared me that fate and decided to throw any concerns of expense or jetlag out the window, and she joined me! The is both of our first trips to Malaysia and it took in two islands on the west coast: Penang and Langkawi. They both lived up to their sterling reputations: Penang for being an ex-colonial melting pot of culture and Langkawi for ... read more
April 1st 2012
This Morning was our last day in Hong Kong and were needing to be ready to catch the train in the afternoon at 4.30ish for our flight to Penang. We headed out to find the Bruce Lee Club across at Kowloon. We jumped on the MTR and made our way there. Unfortunately it had been closed down for about a year which was a shame as Stu was looking forward to seeing it. It is a known fact that Bruce Lee is not recognised by the people of Hong Kong like he is in Hollywood. They did not like him teaching the art of Kung fu to outsiders so there is still outrage in Hong Kong. The people want a museum in his memory but it’s still on the back burner as one of the locals ... read more
April 1st 2012
1st April ’12 Ko Samui to Penang, Malaysia The epic 15 hour, 1 car, 1 ferry, 3 buses, customs out of Thailand and immigration into Malaysia started early! 6.30am and we were up and ready to head to the port. We had to use a taxi from the hotel as none of the travel agencies would come out this far to pick us up. When we reached the port we got a lovely surprise, there sitting on a bench was Fon our young Thai bar girl friend! When she spotted me she leapt up with a cry and came running across to us, I jumped up to meet her and she wouldn’t stop hugging me. It was really sweet, she kept saying I am so happy I didn’t think I would see you again, this is ... read more
