On the 19th of August we left Pangkor Island by ferry and headed north to Penang Island. The ferry ride was long and rough, loads of people were sea sick but we were smart and took a motion sickness tablet each and kept our heads down. Pangkor was beautiful, small and relaxing - Penang has quite a big city (Georgetown) on the much bigger island and it also hosts much more tourist orientated activities and venues. The Chinese, Indian and Malay cultures have mixed well in Penang making it 'the pearl of the orient' mostly because of it is famous for food tourism.
We stayed on Love Lane - in two nice hostels
Old Penang guest house was clean but has noisy floor boards
<----The Red Garden was a massive outdoor food court in Penang's Old Town district, it has lots of great food from all over the world, lots of weird stuff too, plus live music.!!! We spent a few nights in The Red Garden eating tasty delights and soaking up the atmosphere with a tiger beer.
FYI - Mantis Prawns are hard work for not much. Frog porridge is ordinary. The Indian curries are amazing. Entertainment starts at 930pm - and is definitely worth sticking around for, especially if there is a drunk local about.
Penang has a little India which is full of small shops and India restaurants that are really nice. The most famous and best (according to locals) is Kapitan - we had dinner there on our last night in Penang. It was really yummy and we got to eat with our hands which is always fun. Little India connects to China Town and makes up the middle part of the Old Town, there is a great mix of cultures on Penang, from Hindu temples to Chinese shops and temples - it is a really nice place to just meander around and nibble all day.
The only thing the island is missing is nice beaches. We heard there were nice beaches on the other side of the national park and we did intend on visiting and trekking through to have a swim but that day it rain all day and locals said it would be too muddy and we shouldn't bother. So we spent that day walking along the coast from the hostel toward Bati Ferrengi - we walked for miles and became a bit disappointed in how ugly and messy the coastline looks.
<-------------------- seen better days
One of the days we visited Penang Hill. It is the main tourist attraction. You catch a cable car up to the top of a big hill and visit the lookout, there is also a Hindu Temple and Mosque up there. Afterwards we headed to a Buddhist temple which was close by. this time we had to walk through a market and up a load of stairs, past the most tortoises we have every seen, through a Chinese temple up a strange outdoor lift and on to a platform where a huge 40 metre tall statue of a Buddhist woman towers over the park looking out over the city. It was really hot but well worth the walk.
Ed - our Scottish mate - felt the heat in Penang
This is the 40m tall Buddhist woman- much more impressive in real life than in this photo.
Another temple - this time back in the city, down from the mountain. Below the reclining Buddha is about 40m long and 5m tall. All around this statue are the ashes of Buddhist people and statues of Buddhist which are worshipped for specific reasons, like for long life or health or financial success.
Hindu Temple
Penang Spice Garden was another attraction for us. We took a tour of the garden with one of the informative staff and enjoyed it a lot. Afer we relaxed in the trees up on a platform at their restaurant. Then we moved on to the Butterfly Farm. Ann turned into a little girl as soon as we went inside with the Butterflies.
Monkey tail plant
Bat Orchid
Sniffing the Ginger tea
Cat wiskers
Sizzling Bean Curd and Tempura ? Some sort of plant -
