Penang, Malaysia - part 1 of 3

 

The trip starts with EVA AIR flight from Taipei to Kuala Lumpur, then connects to Penang on domestic flight. Plan to spend 4 days there, take train back to KL for another 3 days to cover the most of Malaysia. It could be too long to squeeze everything into one blog. Let's divide into multiple ones.

Day 1, morning flight from Taipei to Kuala Lumpur. On time departure and arrived early. So the plane slow down and circled south (over Malacca). After touchdown, it is a long taxiing followed by a bus transfer before we reached the terminal! Luckily we reserved plenty of time for the connection. There is afternoon thunderstorm, the connection flight was delayed for half hour. When we arrived Penang (after about an hour flight), it is dawn. The Grab showed up in no time, so we didn't wait long. The ride from the south of the island to the northeast end (Georgetown) is not too bad. Lots of traffic, but we get a chance to review all the high tech companies branched here, such as Osram, Intel, Infineon, and AMD. Hard to imagine the island called Penang actually means Island of betel nut in the past. (檳榔嶼).

After check-in, the dinner is at the noddle store right across the street called 7 Village Noddle House (七廊).

The fruit vendors are nearby.

山竹

Day 2 is to cover Georgetown as much as possible. 

This is what the neighborhood looks like, two stories buildings line up together. They do have huge highrise buildings. Maybe the zoning is more restricted, you feel more organized in general. 

typical neighborhood

Highrise and old buildings mixed

On the street, you can see a lot of 會館. This is the place to link oversea chinese from the same origin. 檳城晉江會館 (below) just celebrated her 105 anniversary last year.

晉江會館

Of course you would see mosque and temples everywhere.

城隍廟&觀音寺

Breakfast at the nearby bakery called 65c Ondo Bakery, a Japanese-style coffee and pastries shop.

We encountered this sign (below). If you read Chinese novel, you may be confused by the name.

Walk toward the Clan Jetties, we saw the street artist's artwork. You will see more of this later. The Jetties are people living on the waterfront with rised wooded structure. People with the same last name live on the same alley.

Clan Jetties of Penang are made up by Chinese people from 10 different last names.

Put the old and new together, you wonder when these scene would last.

There are lots of tea houses in this area, and as many dessert shops. On the Beach Street we encountered this store, tried some dessert and have a water break.

珈哩餃 蛋黃酥 武大郎

Then we passed the little india. We didn't enter, but would come back later.

One thing I want to mention is the 5-foot pathway (廊道). Noon time under the sun this is the place to be. Although narrow, at least you avoid the sun burn.

At the end of Beach Street is Queen Victoria Memorial Clock Tower. After that is Fort Cornwallis.

The review of the Fort is so-so, we didn't get in. I guess it it too hot, so we call the Grab back to the hotel and resume after the break.

For dinner, we picked this Michelin eatery called Laksalicious. The Laksa is not for me. Others are good.

Laksa, cempedak roll, yam with coconut milk sago

The prawn fritters show up late. We have it to-go.

Later on, we visited the Chinese temple 天后宮. It is not big, but the sculpture seems really good.

Before I call it a day, like to share a few more picures for the arework.

There is a QR-code next to each artwork. It is more for knowing about the artists and discussions among viewers than for tracking if you cover them all.

Continue to Day 3 in the next blog.