Hello - I hope you've had a wonderful couple of days. Although Penang was not one of my original destinations, I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to visit. Americans get an automatic 90 day visa without having to fill out any paperwork. Sweet! The people are wonderful...my taxi driver from the airport gave me a Malaysian history lesson. His exuded pride with regard to the diversity of his country's people. He was not only friendly, but spoke impeccable English and had an American Hip Hop station playing on the radio. I instantly felt at home! Turns out he also works as a tour guide. Most of what he told me, you can learn by visiting this site:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penang
Following the recommendations of several friends, I stayed in George Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. My itinerary was as follows:
Day One - My flight from Bangkok to Penang arrived shortly after 10 p.m. Tony at Armenian Suite Hotel was very helpful in getting me settled into my cozy room. More about Armenian Suite here:
http://armeniansuite.com/
Day Two - At Tony's suggestion, I walked to Armenian House Hotel restaurant (
http://www.agoda.com/armenian-house/hotel/penang-my.html) for breakfast. Still feeling quite at home, I enjoyed walking the clean and well laid out streets. Later that morning, I took the free hop on/hop off shuttle bus (
http://www.penang-traveltips.com/cat.htm) and got off at stop # 8 to pay for the more encompassing Hop On/Hop Off bus. There I met this young man, who was quite the salesman:
With that smile who wouldn't buy the 48 hour deal?
The Hop On/Hop Off bus is a double decker and has 2 routes - city and beach. Here is more information about this service:
http://www.myhoponhopoff.com/pg/index.php?pageid=2
I rode both routes, which took me the entire day. I only got off once for a quick lunch and bathroom break. I was so exhausted afterwards, that I stumbled into a coffee shop not far from my hotel. The owner of My Armenian (Alyssa) was so nice, that I again felt right at home (
http://www.myarmeniancafe.com/). I ordered something totally unhealthy (but delicious) and sat and talked with her for a while. Once back at the hotel, I collapsed on my comfortable bed in my air-conditioned room, and read and watched movies until I fell asleep.
In addition to tons of street art, these places are also located near my hotel:
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| Bicycle shop with 4 (or more) person bicycles |
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| Khoo Khongsi Temple |
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| Masjid Melayu Lebuh Acheh (Melayu Mosque on Acheh Avenue) |
Day 3 - I had a lovely breakfast at My Armenian (talked to Alyssa again), then took the Hop On/Hop Off bus to Fort Cornwallis. It was a very hot day - so when I wasn't on the air-conditioned bus, I did a lot of sweating!
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| Traffic circle near Fort Cornwallis |
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| From Fort Cornwallis |
From Fort Cornwallis, I walked to St. George's Church to wait for the Hop On/Hop Off bus. I found a nice tree to stand under and took some pictures. When the bus came, I took it to the Blue Mansion (
http://www.cheongfatttzemansion.com/) but found that it was closed. I ended up at a coffee shop (again - very nice people) on a fantastic street - Lebuh Muntri (Muntri Avenue)! It ended up being my favorite street in George Town. After my banana/mango smoothie, I spent some time walking the street, speaking with several Chinese tourists and generally enjoying myself. A couple of Chinese female tourists even invited me to eat durian (currently in season) with them! I've never particularly liked durian because of the smell. That smell is the reason why many establishments in Thailand (and I'm sure other countries) have signs posted saying NO DURIAN. Here's a YouTube video about durian:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og5e6wLIU18
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| St. George's Church |
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| I couldn't go inside the Blue Mansion, but I was able to snap a quick photo |
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| Lebuh Muntri |
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| Me posing in front of street art on Lebuh Muntri |
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| Eating durian on Lebuh Muntri with 2 Chinese tourists (I promised not to show their faces) |
I dragged myself away from serene Muntri Avenue and hopped on the bus. I went to two temples. A Thai temple and a Burmese temple.
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| Wat Chayamangkalaram - houses one of the largest Reclining Buddha statues in the world. |
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| I couldn't get the whole thing in one picture - love the toe polish! |
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| Dharmikarama Burmese Temple |
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| Dharmikarama Burmese Temple |
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| View from Dharmikarama Burmese Temple |
My last stop on the bus was Penang Hill, where you can
look out over the city. It was marvelous! For more about Penang Hill,
click here:
http://www.penanghill.gov.my/index.php/whats-at-penang-hill/tour
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| Me on Penang Hill |
I went to Little India but wasn't able to stay because it started to
rain. I made my way back to Armenian Street and had dinner at another
art cafe. Afterwards, I went and had a glass of wine at Edelweiss Cafe (
http://www.edelweisscafe.com/), which is conveniently situated across the street from my hotel.
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| Inside of Edelweiss Cafe |
Day 4 - I had another lovely breakfast at My Armenian. Alyssa and I talked some more, then we took pictures. Afterwards, I went to my last destination on the bus - Kek Lok Si Buddhist Temple.
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| Alyssa and Me at My Armenian |
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| Kek Lok Si - Largest Buddhist Temple in SE Asia |
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| View from Kek Lok Si |
After Kek Lok Si, I hopped on the bus and made my way to Little India to pick up lunch. On the way, I saw these places:
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| Kapitan Keling Mosque - largest historic mosque in George Town. |
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| Mahamariamman Hindu Temple |
Then - food stalls - wow! And...yum!
I walked around Armenian Street a bit to take photos of the
street art. There is so much street art in Penang, that I'm not able to share it all in this blog. Here are a few of my favorites:
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"Kids on Bicycle"
"Old Motorcycle" |
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| "Lion Dance" and me |
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| "Boy On Chair" |
Day 5 - I had an early flight to Bangkok, then took a bus to Hua Hin. What a fantastic trip!
I have a visitor coming next week, so probably won't post again until after July 4th. Happy 4th of July!
