SE Asia VI - Penang

Penang is an island on the West Coast of the Malay peninsula. It is famous for being an outpost of the East India Company. It isn't a relic of the past, it is a living and breathing city. There are jungle clad hills to escape to, an assortment of temples, and beaches. If you can only spend time in one place in Malaysia I would recommend Penang, because it has a little bit of everything.

Penang is centred around Georgetown, the colonial capital of Penang It is similar to Melaka, in having historic buildings lining narrow traffic filled streets, however, Georgetown is a bit bigger than the old town of Melaka and the architecture is a bit more varied. Georgetown does have a certain air of decay to it. The colonial buildings are falling apart and it seems that building new houses is more important than refurbishing the pre-existing ones. There is a building boom on the island in condominiums, apartment complexes. The three cultures of Malaysia; Malay, Chinese and Indian, are well represented in Georgetown. Little India is the most colourful and dynamic part of Georgetown.

I mentioned in a previous post the tensions existing within multicultural Malaysia, especially with the Indians. The Malaysian Government has recently banned a leading Indian political organisation from holding protests. While the tension exists it is not apparent to the tourist and no one ever mentioned it to me directly. From a tourists point of view the three cultures are thriving in Georgetown. A great aspect of maintaining the identity of each culture is the variety of food on offer. There are a number of excellent food courts in Georgetown. World Food Market north of Komtar is very good and cheap, and few westerners seem to be aware of its existence. Indian food in Penang is particularly good, especially the banana leaf meals ( you eat off of a banana leaf).


The establishments I generally eat at fall somewhere between the street stall and the restaurant, hopefully combing the cheapness of the stall with the hygiene of the restaurant. The staff at these establishments are not always the easiest to pick out. The guy sitting down eating his dinner is the waiter, the guy picking his feet is the chef, and the guy standing outside who looked like he was going to mug you is the owner. It isn't surprising to find by the end of your meal that everyone eating in the restaurant is somehow involved in the operation. I would often find at these establishments that I would try and order something. The waiter would look at me quizzically and reply that what I wanted was not a good thing to order and in actual fact I wanted something completely different. The waiters expertise was generally spot on.


The seemingly undiscovered gem of Penang is Taman Negara Pulau Pinang (National Park of Penang). It is just a case of jumping on the 101 bus from Komtar which will take you to the northern beaches. The majority of people stop at Batu Ferringhi which is pleasant but heavily developed, the next beach along is Teluk Bahang. There is a small fishing village and the people are very friendly, it is also the gateway to the national park. After an hour and a half walk (and wade) through the jungle you arrive at Monkey Beach. It is a beautiful spot, with few people and plenty of wildlife. When you walk through the jungle you come across Monkeys and even Goannas. A family of dogs live on the beach, and are very cute. They are extremely happy to sit around you without feeding or patting them, and they are photogenic. Although watch out for Dad, he wandered off with one of my sandals.

There are plenty of things to see in Penang. There is the world's third largest reclining Buddha. A Burmese Buddhist temple sits opposite the Thai temple (with the reclining Buddha) and is prettier. There is also Kek Lok Si another Buddhist temple this time perched on top of a hill. It is a beautiful spot overlooking the town of Air Itam. There are the expected tourist stalls on the way in but what I found disappointing were the stalls inside the temple complex. I can understand the sale of roof tiles with your name written on them to finance refurbishment, but stalls selling the usual tourist tat spoil it. Penang Hill is another very popular trip into the centre of the island. There are great views from the top, somewhat spoilt by the pollution haze. I choose to walk up with a hiker from the Cameron Highlands, Z. We went up the Jeep track, which is a road, but it is amazingly steep. It was a 6km walk up an incline that reminded me of Baldwin Street in New Zealand, the world's steepest street. I met plenty of friendly Malaysians on the way up, especially a couple of groups of school children who delighted in saying Hello to me. The problem with Penang Hill is that the funicular train that takes you down (and up) is very busy, the queue is about an hour at both ends and then you are packed in like commuters on the tube.

I stayed at Hutton Lodge in Georgetown. It is a recently opened guesthouse and not in the guidebooks yet. I only found out about it because of where I stayed in KL, Pondok Lodge, has the same owners. It is a renovated old building and has a historic feel to it even though it has been thoroughly refurbished. The staff are very friendly. I became Mr Steve for the week. Whenever I returned from a day out and about they would always ask me where I had been and what I had seen. One of the guys seemed particularly pleased to shake hands with me at any opportunity.


Penang was my last stop in Malaysia. I will certainly be back. Whilst there are tensions between the three peoples of Malaysia I found them all to be friendly and welcoming. The three cultures give the country great variety. The British seem to be very popular in Malaysia. There are a plethora of English football shirts (Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal). I was in a night market in KL after England lost to Croatia. I was walking passed a street stall with a TV showing a match report in Bahassa. The locals were shocked and genuinely disappointed that England had lost. (I don't know if the same sense of affection exists towards the Scottish and Welsh national teams.) I rarely got hassled in the country. The only regular annoyance were the taxi drivers and that was very mild. When walking passed restaurants and cafes you will get asked to come in but it isn't aggressive and there is generally a but of humour involved. For instance, I was walking through Tanah Rata when a waiter at an Indian restaurant tried to get me to come in, when I told him I had already eaten he replied "But you still look hungry sir". In short Malaysiua is an easy country to get to, straightforward to get around, there is lots to see, it is cheap, and the people are friendly.