Penang island, specifically the city George Town, we chose as a destination for our New Year celebration. It is incredible how fast the time flies! It seems to us like recently as we drove around Russia with Transsiberian railway and suddenly we are writing article from Malaysia!
How to get from Kuala Lumpur to George Town (Penang)
The fastest way of transport is the plane which was unfortunately during Christmas holiday very expensive. So we chose cheaper way of transport – bus which is very common and cheap in Malaysia. There are several bus companies and we found and bought tickets via BusOnlineTicket. Then we pick up paper version of tickets at the bus station. We drove from Kuala Lumpur to George Town (Butterworth) with Kejora Express, one ticket cost about 7,5 USD and the journey was 6 hours long because of traffic jam. Fortunately the seats were comfortable so we were sleeping all the time.
Best places to visit in Penang
1) George Town
George Town is the biggest city on the island and the second largest city in whole Malaysia. The historic center of the city is also listed in UNESCO heritage. George Town is famous for its gastronomy, street food (Chinese, Malaysian, Thai and Indian cuisine) and unique architecture in Romanesque and Victorian styles, reflecting 171 years of British colonial presence on the island.
In addition to unique architecture, Street art is one of the most interesting spots in George Town. It can appear on every corner, but the best known are Boy on Motorbike, Brother and Sister on a Swing, Window Cat, Little Girl in Blue or I want bao. You can find these places either on Google maps or you can recognize them by the fact that there will be a crowd of tourists waiting for a photo 😀 Our favorite were Boy on Motorbike, Pizza Man or Cat 🙂
2) Penang National park
Penang National Park is ideal for those who want to escape from the city into the nature and enjoy jungle atmosphere. There are two popular trails in the park. One leads to Monkey Beach and the other leads to Pentai Keracut Beach.
We have read about Monkey Beach that we will see monkeys, but also a lot of tourists and garbage. So we decided to skip this place and instead of it we went to Pentai Keracut beach, where swimming wasn’t allowed because of the underwater streams and high number of jellyfish. The journey to the beach took about an hour and was not difficult. We thought we’d reward at least a little in the heat and wet our feet in the sea. When we came out of the water, we found out that we are dirty from the water. While flying with the drone, we saw that they perhaps run off some waste into the water! This beach is called Turtle beach because there is located a Turtle rescue station.
3) Batu Feringghi beach
The most famous and popular beach on the island. There are plenty of hotel resorts around it, so be prepared for a large number of tourists. But it is really the most beautiful and largest beach we have seen around Penang.
4) Penang Floating mosque
Also known as the Tanjung Bungah, the Penang Mosque is unique because it stands on stilts and is in the water during high tide. We found in advance on the Internet what time is the best tide and we should arrive there (increased from 5 pm to the evening).
5) Kek Lok Si temple
Kek Lok Si temple is the most famous and largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia. We did not visited it, as it is located about 8 km from the center of George Town and in addition we already felt that we saw too many temples during 2 months of traveling (after Mongolia, China, Thailand).
6) Street food
Penang Island is known for mix of various Asian cuisines – from Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese to Malaysian, Indian or Arabic. For recommendations on the best places, see Penang – guide to local and traditional cuisine + best places to eat.
How to get around Penang
The easiest way to travel around the island is by taxi (Grab app) or motorbike. Of course, we chose the cheapest and most fun option – a motorbike. Tom also loves riding in traffic chaos and winding forest roads.
Renting an automatic 125cc motorbike cost us 35 MYR/day (about 8,5 USD) complete with everything. Gasoline is very cheap in Malaysia, so you don’t have to worry about this item. We were looking for the best rental based on Google reviews, but unfortunately the best rated rental companies have already rented all their bikes. In the end, we accidentally found a hotel and a rental calles Stardust. The workers there were absolutely perfect and did not solve anything. When returning, they didn’t even check for scratches and immediately returned us our deposit (100 MYR): D.
Our impressions of Penang
Our impressions of Penang and George Town are really ambivalent. Beautiful and well-kept architecture was alternated by destroyed and unkempt buildings, in the river leadingthrough city were garbage and septic tanks, most beaches and water were unfortunately dirty … On the other hand, we mett here very nice people and enjoyed a varied meal. But these positive aspects did not outweigh negative impressions anyway …
