Penang Food and Shopping Trip

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Just thought I could share some of my insights on my recent Penang Trip

Reached Changi Airport at around 10.00 on Sunday 29 Nov 2009 as our flight is departing at 11:25. We were taking Air Asia Flight AK5802. Quite excited as we, as a family have not travelled overseas for quite some time since Year 2002, so I was kind of excited to bring all of us on a trip planned by myself.

Our flight was delayed slightly due to a traffic at Changi Airport, but nonetheless, we were happily on our way to Penang Airport in no time. Reached Penang Airport at around 12:45, clearing of immigration and customs was relatively quick and soon we were out in the arrival hall. Booked a cab (called teksi over there) at a taxi counter just outside the arrival hall, and hopped onto a Mercedes-Benz limousine. The ticket cost RM67, the most expensive rate as we were practically travelling from the South to the North of the Island (to Batu Ferringhi).

The entire trip from Penang Airport to Bayview Beach Resort took approximately one hour. Other than a couple of traffic jams, the trip itself was quite smooth. The arterial roads in most part of Penang are mostly one to two lanes, whereas expressway roads leading from Penang Airport to Georgetown generally have four to six lanes.

Reached Bayview Beach Resort at around 14:30, and proceeded straight to the reception counter for Check In (Our Check In Time is supposed to be 14:00). The receptionist verified my reservation and asked me to wait for our room. I thought there were some procedures to be done before informing me of my room, so we waited around the lobby for about 20 mins.

However, as the time goes by, no one came to me to give me a room number. So I went back to the same receptionist and was told to wait for a moment. Despite waiting for another 15 mins, still he did not got back to me. Getting impatient, I went to check with another resort staff at the information counter. The kind lady there offered to check for me, and told me that our room was not ready yet as the previous tenant just checked out, and they need to clean up the room for us. She told us to come back in an hour or so. I was glad to hear that even though we checked in our room later at 16:00, as I just want to know what was happening instead of someone who just asked me to wait around without informing me what is going on.

While waiting for check in, we went to Enca Cafe just across the resort to have our late lunch there. We had some western food as there was not much other choices other than Indian cusines.

Checked in at around 16:15, and rested in the room till around 18:00. Had actually wanted to go straight to Fort Cornwallis after checking in, but we checked in late, there was really not enough time to visit that place. We changed plans then to visit Penang Road, hire a cab and was dropped near Komtar.

Wanted to go up the 65th floor of Komtar to have a bird's eye view of Penang, but could not find any lift lobby. Was quite disappointed, I thought it is Sunday, so they probably have closed off the lobby. It was till after that, a cab driver told me that the top floor of Komtar was closed for renovation...what a waste.

Instead, we went to walk around Pranglin Mall, just beside Komtar and shop around. Pranglin Mall was relatively big, and we only managed to cover 3 to 4 floors. Proceeded to walk around Penang Road, and the streets around to hunt for cheaper bargains but was greeted by dark streets and uneven roads with very few shops opened. It was after that, we realised shops in Penang generally do not open on Sunday.

Nonetheless, we chanced upon a Zi Cha shop just beside Tune Hotel, and decided to have our dinner there since we were hungry. Subsequently, we proceeded back to Komtar and had some dessert at the Famous Penang Road Teochew Chendol Shop. My brother wanted to go in Komtar to do some shopping but unfortunately most of the shops were closed as it was nearing 22:00. We decided to head around and so some walking along the streets. It was relatively dangerous to walk along the streets as there were no designated pavements for you to walk on, and many times, you have to walk just right beside cars/bikes zooming past you on the road. Even if there are pavements, the walkway are not usually not even.

Chanced upon Little India while we were walking around and it seems like they were having some sort of celebrations there. Subsequently, we also chanced upon Sunway Hotel and discovered the food paradise over there. It was near to 23:00 and yet so many people were having their supper along the road side stalls over there. A large varieties of food was sold there, including the famous dishes like Char Kway Teow, Penang Laksa etc. As we were full on Dinner and quite tired, we decided to give this place a miss and took a cab back to our resort to rest for the night.

The next morning, woke up at around 9 plus. My family woke up slightly earlier to prepare coffee and tea (yes, I am the most lazy one). Washed up and headed down to the La Veranda Coffee House for morning buffet. The buffet was not awesome and does not justify the cost of RM35 per person. Range of food was not a lot and food are quite normal.

Took a walk along the beach and took some photos after breakfast. The view from our resort room was good enough, but the view from the beach was even more awesome! The hills, the trees and the sea...how picturesque....

Also took a dip in the resort pool at around 12:00, when the sun was shining directly on the pool. Sun bathed a little, and enjoyed the meditation pool as well as the main swimming pool. Main swimming pool was also equipped with jacuzzi for you to rest and relax. There is also a small section of the pool with 4m depth for those who are more adventurous or who are good swimmers.

Went back to room and took a bath before heading out to Kek Lok Si Temple in a cab. We had actually planned to go to Penang Hill after visiting Kek Lok Si Temple, but the cab driver advised us not to, as the queue to go up the hill was long, and by the time we had tickets, it will be too late to go up the hill. So we abolished the plan and just visit Kek Lok Si Temple.

After visiting Kek Lok Si Temple, we tried to get a cab to go to Gurney Drive but was unable to get one along the streets outside Kek Lok Si Temple. After walking and searching for some time, we decided to just hop on a bus to go to Little India/Komtar. It was also a chance for me to experience how a bus ride there is. The bus ride was very smooth and the seats were very comfortable.

The bus trip took around 30 mins from Air Itam to Komtar, and we alighted at Komtar. Had some dessert at the same stall yesterday night and proceeded to Komtar to do some shopping (which we did not have a chance to do yesterday).

Hopped on a cab subsequently to go to Gurney Plaza. Did some window shopping at Gurney Plaza and walked to the nearby Gurney Hawker Centre for dinner. Food there was delicious and we had Char Kway Teow, Muay Chee, Cuttlefish, Satay, Coconut Juice as well as Sugar Cane juice over there. There were a lot of other food around, but we did not managed to try all as we were all too full after those food!

Walked around Gurney Drive after dinner, had a view of the sea during night time and went back to the resort in a cab. It was quite a terrifying ride back as the cab driver seems to be a very reckless driver., I even asked him to slow down on one occasion. Nonetheless, we managed to reach the resort unscattered...phew, and I concussed shortly after bath, as I was too tired..

Woke up at around 10:00 the next day, washed up and packed our stuffs to check out of the resort. Rest and chilled in the room until about 11:45, which we then checked out of our room. Bye bye room, it was really very comfortable staying there!

Booked a teksi to take us to Gurney Drive first, then to Penang Airport. The cab driver asked for RM80! As we had no time to bargain, we decide that it was best to just take his cab. Had Dim Sum Lunch at Jumbo Seafood Restaurant along Gurney Drive while the cab driver waited for us. Dim Sum was not exactly fantastic, but we managed to fill our stomach before our flight.

Proceeded on the Penang Airport after lunch, and managed to caught a glimpse of Georgetown, Penang Bridge and Queenscay Mall on our way to the Airport. Traffic was relatively smooth other than a few traffic jams along Georgetown.

Checked in Penang Airport at around 14:00, and bought some stuffs at Penang Airport. Boarded our plane successfully at 15:05 despite some confusing directions at Penang Airport. Bye bye Penang!

Reached Singapore at around 16:25, and took a cab home!

Overall the Penang trip was fun and enjoyable despite we did not managed to visit places like Fort Cornwallis and Penang Hill which I had intended to. However, we did managed to explored around the streets along Penang Road, and identified some good eating spots.

Lessons to be learnt:
It was not easy to get a cab in some places in Penang, and we really had a hard time to try to get a cab on two occasions (around Sunway Hotel, and around Kek Lok Si Temple). What makes it worst is that despite there are buses serving the area, they do not indicate clearly where the buses are stopping at, and there are no signboards on some of the designated bus stops to denote what services are stopping there. Also, there are no route maps to show where the buses are heading to too.

Research was not properly done, as I did not know we had to go to Penang Hill early to get the tram tickets. And also, I did not know that the breakfast buffet was only available till 10:30. We headed down to have the buffet at 10:00, and they cleared up all the food at exactly 10:30, thus we did not really get to fully enjoyed our buffet 😞

Roads along Penang Streets are quite dangerous as drivers generally do not give way to pedestrians, and there are some streets where pavements are no available. Not advisable to bring family out to walk along the streets.

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