Thread: 3 Days in Penang, what to do?

Rent a motorcycle and go to the backside of the island, it's quite beautiful. Also go to the top of the tram and get a view from there.

Other than that, enjoy great Middle-Eastern fare and some decent Chinese food.

Go to the "health clubs" and spend a few hours .

Great fried chicken restaurant at the top of Chulia Street next to the mosque. Reasonable prices and tasty chicken.

Originally Posted by dosty

the most boring experience since arriving in Thailand. There must be something good about it?

Bit harsh. My other half’s a Penangite. I just got back from a week there. It’s probably my favourite place on the planet, but I appreciate visa runners usually go alone so will see the place in a different light.

Rather than waffle on, here’s my list of what a single guy could do. Dosty, let me know what sounds good and I’ll be happy to expand.

Hiking – from KOMTAR get the Batu Ferringhi bus, but stay on until the end of the journey. (Batu Ferringhi's crap anyway). It’s then a pretty strenuous one-hour hike along a hilly jungle path to Kerancut Beach, which will be near deserted. Chill out, have some beers, read a book and catch some rays for a few hours before heading back. You can also hike up Penang Hill of course, but as already mentioned the cable car is worth a trip.

Culture - Penang Heritage Trail – Penang still has some top architecture – the likes of which are seen nowhere else in SE Asia - and there’s a sign-posted trail which passes through one end of Chulia Street.

War Museum (below) – Museums for me are one big yawnfest, but this one is good. It’s all outside for a start, and is an old British camp which was abandoned when the Japs came. Being in the jungle, it got a bit overgrown after that and has only relatively recently been “discovered” and tidied up. It’s in the south of the Island and you’ll need taxi or motorbike. A bit nearer is Fort Cornwallis which is also a good outdoor museum.







Penang Ferry – not a tourist attraction, but it’s a nice short journey. Don’t even bother setting foot in Butterworth.

Temples – Penang has these too, but they’re a bit different from Thailand as most Penangites are Taoists and go to Klan temples. But in Thailand, you’re falling over temples, and those in Penang are poor in comparison, even the very famous Kek Lok Si.

English bookshops – Penang has nothing to rival Bangkok, but MPH book shop in Gurney Plaza has a good selection. Chulia Street has the usual second hand stuff.

Food– now we’re talking. I go for hawker food in Gurney Drive or Jalan Burmah. I’ve eaten at these places alone too so don’t worry about being Billy No Mates, just enjoy lah. Exiledgooner raves on about Kashmir Indian restaurant in Jalan Penang which is OK. Hotel Buffets are amazing. For RM40 or so, you can stuff your face and won’t need to eat again till next week. Even the well posh E&O buffet is only RM45, but I’d not feel happy doing a buffet on my own.





Chulia Street - This chicken rice place (below) on Chulia Street is famous all over Malaysia, and it’s quite good. Then again, it’s only chicken rice for god’s sake. As the pic shows, it’s closed when the food runs out at about 5pm. Chulia Street also has quite a food market going at night nowadays, but apart from that and the chicken rice, I try and avoid the entire street altogether.



Booze– Soho Bar, Jalan Penang; 20 Leith Street which funnily enough is on Leith Street, but all hawker stalls do the usual Heineken and Tiger, etc, and I’d much prefer to sup there. We all know booze is pricey in Malaysia so stock up at the Gama or Giant Supermarket.

Dentists! I often go to the dentist when I’m in Penang. Everyone speaks English and I’m always well impressed. Why not get your teeth done while your visa’s being sorted?

Hotels – I’m assuming after all the travelling and all, folk don’t want to blow a lot on hotels. Jalan Penang has the Malaysia and Continental which are affordable. I used to stay at the RM46 Peking Hotel above the Soho Bar. This guy below knows the score. Even a Gurney Drive pavement is better than a Chulia flophouse.

Yeah, plenty to do in Penang. Love it. Gurney Drive, Penang Hill, Botanical Gardens nearby, Bloody good Indian food, rent a moped and go around the island, snake temple, etc. I think Hodd's covered it.

No worries Dosty, and I hope Penang’s better this time.

Too many on here say Penang’s shite when it turns out they just moped around Chulia for a day and a half. Penang, Bangkok, Rio, Sydney or focking Utopia itself is doomed to crapness with that frame of mind. Why people don’t treat visa runs to wherever as an opportunity for a mini holiday always has me stumped. Anyway, Dosty, go and see what Penang offers and if you still don’t like it, fair play to you. At least you can hold your head high and say "Penang’s shite, but I tried".

Hiking 1 - from Teluk Bahang to Pantai (beach) Kerac(h)ut

Opposite KOMTAR bus station, get bus 93 to Teluk Bahang (last stop, about RM2.50). The bus ride’s crap to be honest, nearly an hour on a usually non-aircon bus (below). Stock up on beers, etc, in Georgetown first.



Ten minutes after Batu Ferringhi, the journey ends in Teluk Bahang. Walk up the road towards the sea, bear left at the top and the path to Pantai Keracut begins. It’s an hour’s hike to the beach.

There’s only one trail and you honestly can’t get lost. It forks at one point and some twat vandalised the signs, but go right, elsewhere follow signs to Pantai Keracut. The usual common sense patronising stuff – it’s bloody hot and sweaty, you won’t meet one person on the way nor get a mobile signal so wear sensible shoes lah. I was on the beach once when a humungous tropical downpour started. It never stopped during the long hike back. ‘Nam was nothing compared to the horror on that day. See the pic below, the sky was already looking grim.



No one goes to Penang for its beaches, but this one is nice. Compared to Batu Ferringhi, the water is crystal clear, which is just as well cos there’s big jellyfish out there. This deserted beach is a great place to relax, drink your by-now lukewarm beers and just chill out. Leave the beach by 6pm latest or bring a bloody good torch for your hike back. Have a well-earned beer in a chinky restaurant in Teluk Bahang before getting the bus back.

Hiking 2 – more like strolling – Penang Heritage Trail

http://www.tourismpenang.gov.my/imag...ro%20(Eng).pdf

http://www.tourismpenang.gov.my/imag...ro%20(Eng).pdf

War Museum – I’ve nearly exhausted my repertoire of blurry pics, so here’s a link. It’s quite a way from Georgetown (the website mentions a bus, but you’ll need a taxi or motorbike) but very interesting. There’s also a few tunnels to explore which are safe but dark. I was too scared of all the animals who might be living down there so bring a torch.



http://www.virtualmalaysia.com/desti...%20museum.html

As I say, it’s quite a journey, and if you can’t be arsed, Fort Cornwallis is nearly as good and way nearer. Either way, you’ll soon be thinking By God we’re British, even if you’re not.

http://www.tourismpenang.gov.my/article.cfm?id=62

Drinking – Soho and Leith Street get busy at night. Getting served is an achievement, let alone sitting and chatting to anyone of interest. Exiledgooner lauds over Hong Kong Bar in Chulia Street, which is either devoid of life or full of hooligans when some foreign navy piles in to town. It’s also a bit on the small side, well actually it makes the Toby Jug in Silom look like Westminster Abbey. There are clubs in Penang which kick the butt of most in Bangkok and with wall-to-wall Chinese totty on the lookout for a hansum man. And clubs don’t shut till 6am, but on your own and unless you look like Jose Mourinho, don’t bother. Penang’s nightlife for the lone visa runner ain’t great.

Yep, sounds very much like a boiler room...cheating gullible folks out of their life savings...not nice.
But meanwhile, go to Penang with an open mind and an empty stomach and you're bound to enjoy yourself.
I once got horrendously sunburned on a northern beach in Penang...I ended up peeling the skin off in sheets.
Like Hodd says, the beaches aint the greatest. Swimming can also be dodgy at BF, with pollution and nasties like sea snakes, jellyfish, etc. but I have swam on boat trips that take you further away, and that was nice (apart from the sunburn).