Penang - The Pearl of the Orient

Penang has been my family's favourite holiday destination for the past few years and it never fail to give us good impression every time. Each trip is an new adventure, new things to see. It's a never ending fun and always have new things to try. What more, it's the food there that always attract my family as we are 'makan-kaki' (Gourmet lovers). The taste of Penang always leaves a memory that worth to be remember. Going to Penang with friends is a whole different experience, as we backpack to explore this beautiful Island that is filled with history, culture and fun. Therefore, I decided to write about Penang as my travelogue's first destination.

Trishaw @ Lebuh Chulia

Why Penang?

Batu Ferringi Beach

Penang is well-known for it's soft sandy beaches with crystal blue sea along the coastal area of the Island like Batu Feringgi and Teluk Bahang. Hot sun all around the year is ideal for beach activities especially Sun Bathing. Penang is rich with exotic flora and fauna, supported by well maintained ecosystem and environment which is untarnished by the development of urbanization. The beauty of the Mother Nature well conserved is found in the mountains of Penang that overlooks the island.

Cheah Clan House (kongsi)

Custom Department Building

Georgetown, the capital city of Penang, proudly declared as one of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Despite being well-developed, Heritages and Old Building are well preserved and can be found around the city. Majestic and Elegant colonial architecture of buildings can be seen in the city center that was long leave behind by the British Empire as the administrative center of it’s Colony in the Land of Malaya. Besides, Penang is inhabits by different races which fills this little Island with different colours and cultures of different races such as Malay, Chinese, Indian, Peranakan, and other more. Therefore, Penang has a lot of festivals going on all year long that makes it a unique attraction for tourists to experience the multicultural traditions of this colourful island.                        

'Or Qian' (Fried Eggs with Cockles )

Penang is long known as Malaysia's food heaven,where gastronomic and mouth-watering delicacy can be found almost every corner in Penang. You will be spoiled with choices by the wide variety of cuisine from different ethnic and culture are available here in Penang.

 and what more, food here is cheap :D
Get ready all gourmet lover to go 'Gourmet Frenzy'!

Getting There

Penang is easily accessible by all means of transport from Kuala Lumpur.

KUALA LUMPUR > PENANG

Click Here to enlarge

Going Around

It is recommended to have your own Car or rent a car because alot of places are not accessible by public transport.

Rapid Penang is Penang's only local bus service that well accessible in the town area, but have limited reach towards outskirts of Georgetown. The transportation network is all centred at KOMTAR (the city centre),as all bus service are departed from KOMTAR.
web site : http://www.rapidpg.com.my/

There is also free shuttle bus service named Rapid Penang CAT (Central Area Transit) from Komtar that goes to the George Town Unesco World Heritage Site.

Taxi is available around the town especially tourist hotspots. Some of the driver will refuse taking you as passenger if your destination is too far.
*always ask the taxi driver to use meter when boarding the cab, because most of taxi driver will mark-up the fare towards tourist.

For bike lovers, Bicycle is available for rent in most hotel/hostel and around Georgetown. It is ideal to cycle around the town to explore Georgetown and hunt for Heritages. 

Trishaw is another mode of transport for travelling around. nicely decorated 'Beca' (trishaw in malay) ferries tourists through narrow lanes, offering them a closer view of the neighbourhood in an unhurried manner and they also share their stories and experience along the journey.

Penangites 

Penang People are called Penangites aka 'Penang lang' in Hokkien dialect and they are proud to be born and breed here in Penang. Consist of mixture of races such as Malay, Chinese, Indian and Peranakan

They are well known for being friendly and helpful toward tourist and often would offer assistant to show/ guide them around the area.

Penang people have a great taste for food and always on the hunt for good food. Therefore food here are so delicious. We can say Eating is one of their favorite thing to do, you can always ask them for their recommendation to find the finest food around town.

What most Penangites like to talk about is Politics as Penang is an Opposition stronghold (Democratic Action Party) that is constantly on the debate with the local Central Government  (Barisan National). Talking about politics have been their favorite pass time and entertainment, even the youths are conscious about the news about Malaysian politics.

Famous Penangites

Tunku Abdul Rahman, -1st Prime Minister of Malaysia

Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Malaysia's fifth Prime Minister

P. Ramlee (1929–1973), Malaysia's legendary actor/singer/director.
Ah Niu (阿牛)  -  artist, popular across Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and China.
Alleycats, popular Malaysian band formed in the 1960s

Jimmy Choo -the famous shoe designer.

Lillian Too, Feng Shui consultant and best-selling author of feng shui books.
Nicol David, women's squash world champion, ranked world No. 1.

Language

Common Languages can be found in Penang: 

 English, Mandarin, Malay, Hokkien and Tamil. 

Penang Hokkien are widely spoken by Chinese population even police officers which most of them are from different races take up Hokkien Language Course to able them communicate to communicate with the locals.

Although Malay is the official language of the state, most penangites are able to communicate using English. But for most, they will have a slang when speaking English which is called Manglish (Malaysian English). It might be hard to catch for most foreign tourist but it is Malaysia's unique slang to be proud of because it localizing English by adding vocabulary from local languages such as Malay, Mandarin, Tamil, Hokkien, and Cantonese which represent the different colours of Malaysia.

Most signboards are written in Malay and Chinese, but more and more are written in English

Penang Hill