Malaysia Staycation : Things to do in Georgetown Penang, 2019 (English Version)
Have you ever heard of Penang Island before ?
When I was young, I heard about Penang from one of my friend. My friend's uncle went to Penang for healing treatment. So, for me Penang is just a place for healing treatment and full of hospital. Also my thought there is nothing that I could do in there except for medical treatment for sick people.
Lately I heard about Penang from any media (blog, television, and instagram) that place has a beautiful city especially heritage. Not only that, Penang also has a beautiful nature like beach and hill.
Without thinking much, in early january of 2019 me and my friend decided to took day off for a week and travelled to Penang Island, and directly find the cheapest ticket to go there. Also we want to try another place in other parts of Malaysia country.
So here we go....
Lately I heard about Penang from any media (blog, television, and instagram) that place has a beautiful city especially heritage. Not only that, Penang also has a beautiful nature like beach and hill.
Without thinking much, in early january of 2019 me and my friend decided to took day off for a week and travelled to Penang Island, and directly find the cheapest ticket to go there. Also we want to try another place in other parts of Malaysia country.
So here we go....
Where is the exactly of Penang Island
 |
| Left is Penang island and the right is Malaysia |
Penang is a Malaysian state which according to Wikipedia, Penang comes from the word Pohon Pinang. And because it is located outside or across the country of Malaysia and separated by the sea, called Pinang island or Pulau Pinang in Indonesia language.
****
ACOMMODATION
Surabaya - Penang ticket return by Air Asia
 |
| Counted for 2 people |
It started with hunting tickets just a week before leaving because you know it was so fun checking at ticket prices and suddenly my friend and I decided to buy it right away. Incidentally also at that time the ticket from Surabaya to penang and returning to Surabaya again is dropped (not too expensive). Without thinking, we immediately buy it. With additional discounts that are rather tolerable.
Of course Air Asia does not sell the following ticket with luggage. So we decided to buy baggage on the return flight which is 1 baggage of 20 kg that we shared for two.
Fyi, flights from Surabaya to Penang there are only 1 flight in a day. Thanks God they made a flight schedule from Surabaya to Penang in the morning and the other flight from Penang to Surabaya at night.
Tune Hotel, Georgetown, Penang
Of course Air Asia does not sell the following ticket with luggage. So we decided to buy baggage on the return flight which is 1 baggage of 20 kg that we shared for two.
Fyi, flights from Surabaya to Penang there are only 1 flight in a day. Thanks God they made a flight schedule from Surabaya to Penang in the morning and the other flight from Penang to Surabaya at night.
Tune Hotel, Georgetown, Penang
 |
| By traveloka |
 |
| Price in Rupiah for 3 nights |
 |
Tune Hotel, Georgetown
|
The hotel that we chose was based on the consideration of the itinerary that me and my travel partner made, around Georgetown. And Georgetown is downtown of Penang. So instead of having trouble getting up and down the bus and complicated with all of the numbers, we choose to walked when exploring Georgetown. Incidentally Tune hotel is very close to the location of the places that we visited without took any city bus.
 |
Excuse my messy room with full of my stuff
|
For the rate of a backpacker hotel the price was about Rp. 150,000 per night, in our opinion it was very good than having to spend the night in a hostel or shared room at the same price but counted per person.
Tune hotel complete with welcome drink, toiletries and towels, and a very clean toilet shower. But I was a bit shocked because the room comes without windows, and without TV.
Hehehehe.....
FYI, under the hotel building there are also seven eleven which are open 24 hours. And it's also close to halal food store that opens around the hotel.
Tune hotel complete with welcome drink, toiletries and towels, and a very clean toilet shower. But I was a bit shocked because the room comes without windows, and without TV.
Hehehehe.....
FYI, under the hotel building there are also seven eleven which are open 24 hours. And it's also close to halal food store that opens around the hotel.
****
THINGS TO DO IN GEORGETOWN
1. Walk around Georgetown
There are not too many activities that we can do in Penang besides walking through old buildings with Penang's distinctive architecture and then capturing them through cameras and trying to visit some old and modern museums.
We were planning this trip by ourself without a tour guide, so we chose and visited the places like we want and mostly ate, drank, took care of our legs and talked while walking (like gossip 😂)
We were planning this trip by ourself without a tour guide, so we chose and visited the places like we want and mostly ate, drank, took care of our legs and talked while walking (like gossip 😂)
Trust me, it was fun.
As I already knew, Penang, especially the city of Georgetown, is one of the heritage cities in Malaysia, which of course there a lot of old buildings and still well-cared and maintained by the country.
What did we do?
Walked, find the spots for taking photo and selfie, admire old buildings with typical architectural building in Penang, sometimes we sit in front of people's houses because it was so hot in penang.
😁😁
Penang Heritage City
Penang with Typical House Architecture
And some photos of facade houses with typical Penang architecture that became one of my favorites on this trip.
Penang Temple
In some places we find typical Chinese temple buildings. Probably because Penang consists of several tribes including Chinese, several times we find beautiful temples with distinctive and detailed ornaments, which unfortunately we also do not know the name of the temple. And unfortunately not everyone can enter. Even if we want to enter, we must pay it. Hehehe because we are travelers without budget or less money, we just took photos in front of the temple and felt happy after that.
Talked with some locals
When we walked on Sunday morning, we met the sketch on the spot community where they sketched directly in front of the objects they were drawing. It was honorable for me to met and talked to them.
And we accidentally find a small alley between the crush of houses that are usually abandoned. What I like most is they take care of each spot. Until a number of old ornaments are displayed on the wall, as well as some photos of who belongs to them.
2. Hunting Street Art
Penang as far as we know besides being famous for its historical city is also famous for funny street art. And we also look for it. But to find a street art location is not easy. At first we thought it was along one road. But we have to explore several roads. In fact, we accidentally met some street art who were not on our search list, when we walked past several streets.
And there some art streets that we found.
And there some art streets that we found.
#Street Art "kidstrishaw"
#Street Art "Little children on a bicycle"
#Street Art "Boy and girl buy soya"
Behind the photos of the two of us above was the result of the help of the gift seller who suddenly offered to photograph both of us. And he also did not force us to buy her merchandise. Because in our opinion she kindly helped us, why we don't help her to buy her merchandise eventhough just one or two pieces 😊😊
#Street Art "Brother and sister on a swing"
This Street Art can be found in one road after street art "boy and girl buy soya". So don't hurry up after taking a photo.
#Street Art "Boy on motorbike"
Along the street art motorbike, there are several street art that we can meet. Somehow when visiting this road felt that this place was very clean. Even the asphalt is still black. I felt like want to laydown on that and do the sunbathing hehehe
Okay its not funny....
#Street Art "Children playing basketball"
#street Art "Boy and girl wants Pau"
And there are alot of street art and unique installations that we found throughout exploring Georgetown. Of course we don't forget to take pictures with weird poses and not relatable with the street art 😂 especially mine....
 |
| Thats just a door not art street 😁 |
3. Walk through Chew Jetty, Beach in Georgetown
Penang is an island located in a separate area from Malaysia. No wonder Penang is surrounded by the sea. Including Georgetown, not too far from the beach.
At the first before we knew, we just followed the people who walked and entered a place, because we thought there must be something interesting. As it turned out, we found a road to the shoreline of the beach called Chew Jetty.
 |
| Gift shop on a deck |
Chew jetty is a dock or mini pier with houses built on wood (like deck), that used to be a living houses area for fishermen. But now it has become a tourism area because the houses that were originally homes became gift shops typical of Penang. And some of them are made into restaurants and galleries.
 |
 |
| Sketch on the spot community |
What we did was sit down on the edge of the pier which is built from wood. Then stop to the gift shop to look around, and enjoy the view at the end of the pier, looking at the Penang bridge that connects Malaysia to Penang Island.
And again we admire how clean this place is, even though it is not a modern place like downtown area, but they still maintain cleanliness.
And again we admire how clean this place is, even though it is not a modern place like downtown area, but they still maintain cleanliness.
4. Culinary
There are many lists of culinary references that we have made before leaving. But unfortunately every time we look for the location of a restaurant or shop on the list, we were already hungry. So the culinary below is the result of our random findings. And it turns out that on average everything is delicious (or maybe because of the hunger effect hehehe)
1. Chinatown Foodstreet
When we talked about culinary, in every country there must be something place or street called Chinatown Street, which is certainly a lot of sellers selling something like clothing, gifts, and various typical Chinese food culinary. And mostly people or tourist come to this place for eating.
In Penang there are also chinatown street, and increasingly night streets are transformed into food street which will be increasingly crowded with visitors mostly tourists who will have dinner. Including me and my friend who just arrived at night because of we were starving.
And this is what we get.......
It's not us if we didn't try super weird and strange food. And my partner holiday was recommending me fried oyster which I never known before.
And I was very quite shocked because the oyster served with super fishy raw oyster. My vacation partner was quite happy because that was what kind of food that she wanted and quite happy also see me when I was going to vomit when I smell and try to chewed the raw oyster.
Thankyou Lia for the recommendation. That was amazing experience 🤢🤢
The next day, when we were confused to find food for breakfast, we pass through Chinatown and there are still some food traders who stay 24 hours. In price of 1.50 RM we can have breakfast of rice noodle (chinese typical noodle). Even though it's not as good as Indonesian rice noodle, at least it was pretty good to fill our hungry stomach.
2. Dimsum Jetty foodcourt
According to several recommendations from culinary blogs, the dimsum jetty, which is located in the food court right in front of the Chew Jetty beach, must be tried.
The taste was not much different from most dimsum I have tried before. I think the jetty dimsum tasre feels a little better because they use pork mixed with shrimp.
The average price per plate contains 3 pieces of dimsum if Iam not wrong for 20 thousand in Rupiahs or 6 RM.
Ps : For those moslem people who have trouble eating pork, please skip this part.
3. Chinese snack
At first we just try to enter from store to store to see what they sell. This is the fourth biscuit shop that we entered. And somehow we were immediately interested to bught it. Plus the price is quite affordable. About 2 - 2.5 RM per pcs.
The cakes that they sell more like typical Chinese cakes (I don't know what the differences). With bbq chicken / meat filling and rhe taste was like pastry. The best and one of my favourite was milk pie which doesn't smell milk at all but the taste still good.
4. China House Cafe
On our second day in Georgetown, and three times we passed this building which at first we thought was a gallery. And suddenly one of my friend recommended one of the hits and famous cafe in Georgetown with a variety and delicious cake, named China house cafe.
At first we thought this was a bar because of we saw alot of tourists came. When we followed them up along several corridors, parks, and some Chinese ornaments that made us wonder, that the real cafe was behind. And how shocked we were because there were already many visitors who came and we were quite difficult to find an empty table.
After confusion about choosing the cake that we were going to eat, I finally chose chocolate cake marshmallow and my holiday partner chose lemon cake with iced latte which was quite relieving our thirst in the heat of Georgetown at the time.
5. Laksa Penang, Pasar air itam
They only sell one kind of menu, namely Laksa Penang with a super duper fishy smell. A bowl (standard bowl of meatballs in Indonesia) was 5 RM. Its cheap isnt it ?
At the first my friend and I feels like going to vomit because of the strong fishy smell. The water (like soup) was made from fish. Even when we dig the water with spoon, we see the meat of the fish being crushed. So it's really fishy. When we tried to taste it, it turned out to be very tasty and addicted to trying it again. Even the fishy smell that initially makes us dizzy actually feels good when eaten with noodles and pickles. So the taste was like a mixture of fishy, sweet, and sour into one.
Besides laksa, there are also many streefoods sell other snack like the one that I bought. I don't know exactly what the name was. It was like something fried and made from chicken. Dont ask me about the taste. It was good also :)
Finally, I was able to finish this long story from my last trip. Oh yeah, I did this trip in January 2019. So you can imagine how long do I need to write it, hehehehe because I really need a time to write it.
Thankyou guys,
Xoxo
There are many lists of culinary references that we have made before leaving. But unfortunately every time we look for the location of a restaurant or shop on the list, we were already hungry. So the culinary below is the result of our random findings. And it turns out that on average everything is delicious (or maybe because of the hunger effect hehehe)
1. Chinatown Foodstreet
When we talked about culinary, in every country there must be something place or street called Chinatown Street, which is certainly a lot of sellers selling something like clothing, gifts, and various typical Chinese food culinary. And mostly people or tourist come to this place for eating.
In Penang there are also chinatown street, and increasingly night streets are transformed into food street which will be increasingly crowded with visitors mostly tourists who will have dinner. Including me and my friend who just arrived at night because of we were starving.
And this is what we get.......
 |
| Curry puff 2RM |
 |
| He smiles at me hahaha |
It's not us if we didn't try super weird and strange food. And my partner holiday was recommending me fried oyster which I never known before.
And I was very quite shocked because the oyster served with super fishy raw oyster. My vacation partner was quite happy because that was what kind of food that she wanted and quite happy also see me when I was going to vomit when I smell and try to chewed the raw oyster.
Thankyou Lia for the recommendation. That was amazing experience 🤢🤢
 |
| Fried Oyster 10RM |
 |
| After 2 days finally I found chili 😭 |
2. Dimsum Jetty foodcourt
According to several recommendations from culinary blogs, the dimsum jetty, which is located in the food court right in front of the Chew Jetty beach, must be tried.
The taste was not much different from most dimsum I have tried before. I think the jetty dimsum tasre feels a little better because they use pork mixed with shrimp.
The average price per plate contains 3 pieces of dimsum if Iam not wrong for 20 thousand in Rupiahs or 6 RM.
Ps : For those moslem people who have trouble eating pork, please skip this part.
3. Chinese snack
At first we just try to enter from store to store to see what they sell. This is the fourth biscuit shop that we entered. And somehow we were immediately interested to bught it. Plus the price is quite affordable. About 2 - 2.5 RM per pcs.
The cakes that they sell more like typical Chinese cakes (I don't know what the differences). With bbq chicken / meat filling and rhe taste was like pastry. The best and one of my favourite was milk pie which doesn't smell milk at all but the taste still good.
For the location, I don't really remember the benchmark, even though almost in everyday I came to the shop. Obviously, it's still around Georgetown and it's easy to find it.
4. China House Cafe
On our second day in Georgetown, and three times we passed this building which at first we thought was a gallery. And suddenly one of my friend recommended one of the hits and famous cafe in Georgetown with a variety and delicious cake, named China house cafe.
At first we thought this was a bar because of we saw alot of tourists came. When we followed them up along several corridors, parks, and some Chinese ornaments that made us wonder, that the real cafe was behind. And how shocked we were because there were already many visitors who came and we were quite difficult to find an empty table.
After confusion about choosing the cake that we were going to eat, I finally chose chocolate cake marshmallow and my holiday partner chose lemon cake with iced latte which was quite relieving our thirst in the heat of Georgetown at the time.
 |
| Marshmallow cake, 11 RM |
 |
| Lemon cake, 10 RM |
 |
| Ices Latte, 15 RM |
5. Laksa Penang, Pasar air itam
From the recommendation of several other travel bloggers, if we are going to visit Kek Lok, the temple or Penang hill, it is mandatory to stop by and try Laksa Penang water.
The location is very easy to find, which is in the market corner of "Pasar Air Itam" before heading to Kek Lok Si Temple. The position of the place on the edge of the street, like the others typical of streetfood. And there will be a clear sign of the watermark market with many visitors waiting for their order.
The location is very easy to find, which is in the market corner of "Pasar Air Itam" before heading to Kek Lok Si Temple. The position of the place on the edge of the street, like the others typical of streetfood. And there will be a clear sign of the watermark market with many visitors waiting for their order.
They only sell one kind of menu, namely Laksa Penang with a super duper fishy smell. A bowl (standard bowl of meatballs in Indonesia) was 5 RM. Its cheap isnt it ?
At the first my friend and I feels like going to vomit because of the strong fishy smell. The water (like soup) was made from fish. Even when we dig the water with spoon, we see the meat of the fish being crushed. So it's really fishy. When we tried to taste it, it turned out to be very tasty and addicted to trying it again. Even the fishy smell that initially makes us dizzy actually feels good when eaten with noodles and pickles. So the taste was like a mixture of fishy, sweet, and sour into one.
Besides laksa, there are also many streefoods sell other snack like the one that I bought. I don't know exactly what the name was. It was like something fried and made from chicken. Dont ask me about the taste. It was good also :)
*****
Finally, I was able to finish this long story from my last trip. Oh yeah, I did this trip in January 2019. So you can imagine how long do I need to write it, hehehehe because I really need a time to write it.
And there are many more things about Penang that I will write on another time.
Happy reading and happy holidays.
Thankyou guys,
Xoxo
Comments
Post a Comment