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Asia » Malaysia » Penang » George Town January 21st 2024

Georgetown has a colourful vibrant feel about it. Narrow streets lined with restaurants and food sellers. There's a mixed array of traffic meadering along along the roads and streets no matter how narrow. Buses, huge posh cars, old broken down cars, bikes galore and cyclos all share the road and pedestrians chance their luck to cross in-between! In contrast close to the port and several grand looking Colonial buildings, built by the Brits many years before Malaysia got independence in 1957. There are several Indian and Chinese temples scattered amongst the old heritage buildings that house the Nasi Kanda restaurants. If you follow your ears in the evening you come across cute bars with live music and chairs and tables spilling out onto the street. A great place to meet up with fellow travellers. Penang is ... read more
Queen Victoria clock tower
Colonial buildings
Komtar Tower

Asia » Malaysia » Penang » George Town January 19th 2024

The Komtar tower in Georgetown is famous for it's glass walkway 68 stories up. There's also a very narrow walkway that you can walk on around the outside of the building on, 65 stories up. A harness in needed for this for obvious reasons. Our first task here in Penang was to get to know our way around the narrow busy streets and the public bus routes. Within half a day we'd mastered this- well almost ! The tourist map we'd been given by our hotel was a great help. There's a free bus that runs around the city where you can hop off and hop on again. It loops around in all directions so a bit difficult to know where you're actually going to end up but we got there in the end. Having mastered ... read more
Glass floor in the observatory, 65 floors up in the Komptor Tower, Penang
Getting braver now
Cruise liner docked.

Asia » Malaysia » Penang January 19th 2024

For a day away from the hustle and bustle of Georgetown, Taman Negara, Penang is a good choice. Getting there involved a local bus ride that took one and a half hours due to the many stops followed by very twisty uphill roads. Not good in a bus with barely any suspension. Once off the bus, and having got the feeling back in our numb legs due to the bumpy ride, we set off to the national park entrance. As we entered the park we were greeted by a family of monkeys, we were a bit wary at first but they stuck to their side of the path as we passed by. The first path took us to some beautiful white sand beaches, over the sea we could see the towering buildings of Georgetown. We'd heard ... read more
One of the many beaches in the park
Monkeys
Monkeys greet you on first entering the park

Asia » Malaysia » Penang » Batu Ferringhi January 5th 2024

A good article on the "The Travel" lists several places I have visited. And I would agree that they can be visited cheaply, or at least less expensive than typical Paris, London, Rome, Rio, Tokyo, Sydney, Munich visits. Morocco Interesting place to visit, but not sure how safe it is these days. Food and lodging are quite reasonable, but the pressure to buy from street vendors and store merchants is hardly worth a day on the Medina. Perhaps once you head out to the country or to Marrakech, the retail blitz would lighten to a reasonable level. Hint: forget the snake charmers and camel rides! The Travel says: Morocco is just a rock’s throw from Europe and cheap to travel. Morocco can be quite averagely priced if going on organized tours, but expenses drop significantly when ... read more
Camps Bay, South Africa
Love Creta

Asia » Malaysia » Penang » George Town February 11th 2023

We leave Muscat and we have six days at sea.The ship is still on Covid high alert, wearing face masks, not serving ourselves from the buffet. My cold is not getting better and I have a hacking cough. This means people try to avoid me and I can empty a lift in no time! I take another Covid test, it’s negative and Ian suggests I see the ship’s doctor. I call the medical centre and I’m told a nurse will call me back in a few minutes. Within 5 minutes she calls me back and goes through my symptoms. She then says she will come up to the cabin and check me over. Ian has gone to the library and knows nothing;of this. There is a knock at the door about 5 minutes later and I ... read more

Asia » Malaysia » Penang » George Town February 11th 2023

Hot and humid. Today we are in Penang .Malaysia. Penang’s colourful capital city, George Town, is named after King George III. The East India Company established the city in 1786 and it became the first British settlement in Southeast Asia soon after. It became part of the Straits Settlements, along with Singapore and Malacca, in 1868. The city is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 1957 it became the first city in the Federation of Malaya. Queen Elizabeth granted the royal charter in January of that year. It’s also Malaysia’s second-largest conurbation, with a population of almost 2.5 million people. Jimmy Choos was born in Penang in 1948. The 74-year old is best known for his iconic handmade women’s shoes. Choo was born into a family of shoemakers and his father taught him the art ... read more

Asia » Malaysia » Penang » Batu Ferringhi January 1st 2023

From Foodtrippers, along with my comments: url=https://www.2foodtrippers.com/best-foodie-cities-in-the-world/#Our_Picks_for_the_Best_Foodie_Cities_in_the_WorldOur Picks for the Best Foodie Cities in the World1.Bangkok (I agree, but Penang is my favorite)2. Naples (it has been too long)... read more
Great foie gras in Belgrade
Best dim sum in Hong Kong

Asia » Malaysia » Penang » George Town December 25th 2022

A short flight to Penang, an island in Malaysia, on Air Asia from the other main airport in Bangkok. Hotel transfer through rush hour to the Areca Hotel in George Town, capital of the island. The hotel is comprised of 12 renovated pre war shop houses of which there are 6 styles in Penang built from 1790’s up to to 1970’s. We had a Heritage Loft room with lovely internal coloured glass, beautiful wooden floors, comfortable beds and Chinese furniture plus a handy room inside the main room which we stored our luggage in and made tea 😉 Very well placed for exploring the town which is a World Heritage Site with more than 5000 buildings and a real fusion of Indian,Thai, Malaysian and Chinese cultures with some British Colonial influence still evident. It is also ... read more
Leaving Bangkok behind 👋
And welcome to Penang 🐘
Heritage loft room

Asia » Malaysia » Penang » Batu Ferringhi October 24th 2022

When I am on the road, fellow travelers often ask what my best trips or experiences might be. Here is an old list. I will make an updated list as well. Here is my top ten or more, in no particular order, but with a few added comments: Visiting Barry the V in Cape Town and going on four safaris*Super Bowl 47 in Nawlins with Dirty PatA top secret visit to the CIA in VirginiaPeak bloom day for cherry blossoms in the Tidal Basin, Washington, DCAttending the great motorcycle rally at Sturgis, SDA wedding at the Pink Palace in Honolulu of a dear friendVisit the formerly drug infested Medellin, ColombiaAttend the Rose Parade and festivities as guests of Donate LifeNCAA Final Four in Dallas with Springsteen concertTake the Trans-Siberian Railway from Vladivostok to MoscowSip champagne in ... read more
Beautiful Saint Emilion
Chihuly Glass Museum
Santorini sunset

Asia » Malaysia » Penang September 15th 2022

We had wanted to catch a 3 hour ferry from Langkawi to Penang but unfortunately due to the pandemic and less business the ferry company closed so we took our shortest flight ever (30 mins) to Penang. Our Langkawi taxi driver was very chatty and before we knew it we were at the airport, boarded and landed on time in Penang. We knew Penang was a much bigger, built up island and on the way to our hotel we could really see it. We were staying in the heart of UNESCO world heritage listed Georgetown and opposite Chew Jetty. After check in we took a stroll around Georgetown and took photos of the old Chinese shop houses and small alleyways, and of course the street art! We ended up back at the coastline near Fort Cornwallis, ... read more
Lantern walkway
Street art
Chew jetty




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