We landed on Pulau Penang (Penang Island) and made an entrance, as the boys rested against a metal railing only to find that it wasn’t fixed and both they and the railing went clattering to the floor in the middle of the arrivals hall. I lifted everyone and everything back to an upright position and off we tottered to get in our Grab car which was to take us to George Town and our hotel.
Our lovely driver was chatty and friendly and spoke perfect English so I grilled him on Malaysian road etiquette, speed limits and motorway toll etc as I was to be picking our hire car up in a couple of days. The scooters simultaneously passing us on both the left and right as we manoeuvre into another lane were going to take some getting used to.
We stayed in George Town, the multicultural capital of Penang, at the Penaga Hotel which is a heritage boutique property with a colonial era facade. It has some lovely original features and replica antique Chinese furniture. I’m not sure that I’d stay here again but I’ll leave those details for their review.
Since 2008 the old town area of George Town has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site thanks to the unique history, culture and architecture within it. There’s a mix of British colonial buildings and Chinese shophouses with a number of Mosques, Hindu and Buddhist Temples and also some Churches. There’s a road known locally as Harmony Street as along it you’ll find Masjid Kapitan Keling Mosque, St.George’s Church, Sri Mahamariamman Temple and The Goddess of Mercy Temple where they all coexist alongside one another.
It’s a melting pot of people and cultures and it’s a feast for the senses.
We arrived and went for a wander through the old town. I started off feeling uptight about the traffic, dirty streets, smells near the open drains etc but within 15 minutes I found myself letting the boys go to leap over drains, dodge scooters, spot rats hopping from one drain hole to another, all whilst looking down every side street, back alley and behind every pillar for some hidden street art. To look up at some intricate detail over the window of a 200 year old property. Our mouths watering as we passed street vendors cooking an array of delicious and exotic dishes, none of which we recognised. Turn a corner to find the air filled with the smell of burning incense sticks. Cross the road into an area known as Little India and you feel like you’ve been transported to another country. We loved it.
There’s quite a few trishaws in George Town and about 70% of these are ridden by homeless men. The local government is running a scheme to give these guys a way to earn some money as well as somewhere to sleep at night. They can just park up and pull their roof over for shelter. They’re great guides with a lot of local knowledge.
I’d booked a few things through Klook whilst in the UK which were a guided tour of the heritage zone, a trip up Penang Hill on a funicular railway along with entrance to The Habitat at the top and a tour of the Tropical Spice Garden on the north side of the island.
The heritage tour was really interesting and definitely worthwhile. In with the cost of the tour was entrance to the Pinang Peranakan Mansion, now a museum serving as an example of what a typical wealthy Peranakan (a term used for the first Chinese settlers in Malaysia) home would have been like. I loved it there and I was reminded of my mum throughout as she would have loved it too.
Peranakan Mansion private Temple
Entrance also to the Khoo Kongsi Clan House, an ornate example of a clan house belonging to one of 5 societies set up by Chinese settlers to give their groups and families somewhere to worship their ancestors and meet. It also provided solidarity against the British when the island was governed by them.
The clan houses are still in use to this day although their roles have changed slightly.
The trip up Penang Hill on the funicular railway was brief and well run and the boys enjoyed it. Whilst up there we went to The Habitat. This is an area of rainforest with walkways and an elevated viewing platform. We sat watching a group of Langur monkeys which are beautiful, calm creatures.
Our final tour was at The Tropical Spice Garden and was lead by a lovely Chinese lady whose name was Beatrice (Bea). She was so engaging with the boys and the experience was very interactive for them. There’s also slides dotted around the garden so the boys kept nipping off and whizzing down one then running back up the paths to catch up with us.
Our favourite area of the garden was a tea station with cups and an urn containing lemongrass, pandan and stevia tea where you help yourself and then sit near the stream and enjoy the sights and sounds around you. Once we’d finished our tea we went to stand in the stream which served as a natural fish foot spa. The tiny fish swarmed to your feet to give them a good clean!
After spending a couple of extra hours exploring the garden further we went to the restaurant next door and enjoyed a Thai style lunch with a beautiful view out across the bay.
We also came across a great cafe and bakery side by side on Chulia Street that I would recommend to anyone who plans to visit Penang.
The Mugshot Cafe and The Rainforest Bakery staff are awesome (waving and calling to the boys as we passed a couple of times later in our stay), the bagels and Chelsea Buns are delicious and the place is very cool too.
We shared a table with a Dutch chap there and got chatting as he enjoyed 2 such Chelsea Buns. He didn’t know the date, doesn’t have a phone or anything to plan or book accommodation on, carries with him just a small half filled rucksack and was heading north towards Vietnam. His only plan was to get back to Holland for mid March to enjoy the spring time and beautiful light that season brings.
His outlook and stories were fascinating and he’s travelled all over the world. I’d say he was around 65 years old.
So all in all we had a ball in Penang.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing though as various ailments and infections caught up with us here. Alfie had both a chest and very painful ear infection and after an initial visit to a pharmacy the following day I took him to see a doctor.
I paid the princely sum of £26 for the consultation and 4 lots of meds and antibiotics. It’s taken time to settle but as of almost 1 week later he is no longer needing pain relief and his chest and cough is sounding much improved.
Ali developed a heat or sweat rash pretty much all over his body and so I gave him an antihistamine to help with the itching. That’s now fully disappeared as he has adjusted to the environment.
And I had the obligatory mouth ulcer the size of a small country and my skin erupted across my face and neck. No doubt my body’s reaction to the change of diet, suncream, environment and probably relief of stress. I brought salt with us and after a couple of days of rinsing with a saltwater solution my ulcer has at least cleared up.
So, after picking up our hire car we now move back to the mainland and head East to the Cameron Highlands and the jungle….
Milo and her boys 
Thanks for the link Milly… How beautiful and stimulating for all your senses…. Be in the moment, be joyful and notice everything…. What a magical time you and the boys are having…
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