Hey Hive!
If you missed the last few posts, I started sharing about our short getaway to Penang Island, Malaysia, back in July 2022! It was our first trip post-covid and we decided to go on a short 3 day getaway there! It had been at least a decade since either of us have visited Penang so this was a semi-new experience for both of us.
We're still on our journey through Penang's largest indoor theme park, which includes several sources of entertainment such as an aquarium and the Jurassic Research Center that has dinosaur animatronics! There are quite a few other installations as well, like a submarine ride, a mirror maze, a zombie escape room and a science center!
But the whole reason we came here was to enjoy the scenic view from the skyscraper here called The Top! Last week, we started exploring the observatory here, and got to see the whole of Penang from the 65th floor! For those thrill-seekers there was also an attraction here called The Gravityz where you walk along the outside of the observatory on those red panels with nothing to support you except the overhead cables.
But just standing on the glass floor inside the observatory was scary enough as it is so we didn't dare attempt the walk. There was even a reclining chair out there if you had the guts to actually lie down outside 60 stories up!
Just looking at this picture is making my hands sweaty.
Anyway, I kinda left the post on a slight cliffhanger since we still had more of The Top to explore so here we go!
27 July 2022. Wednesday.
We took the lift up from the 65th floor to the highest point which was floor 68 and arrived to the restaurant that was up here called Top View! It was closed at the time but we wondered if they ever opened since tourism must have dropped by a lot since covid.
They did have some other floors we could go to like the 67th and 60th floors but the guide says that there's a club there which we figured was closed too.
According to the website the Tower Club is more for professionals to drink and socialise and even have business meetings. But they also have some wellness facilities like steam rooms, karaoke rooms and pool tables too!
Source: thetop.com.my
It was kinda eerie to be in a closed restaurant and I wonder how the club was doing since it seemed catered around corporate events.
The dining room of the restaurant was fairly large too, and it even led to an outdoor deck! Tbh it was kind of a relief since it was getting quite warm in the restaurant itself since there wasn't air-conditioning.
Once we made our way out onto the deck it was a lot cooler which was surprising, but the wind was very strong.
There were lots of lounge chairs out here and also a cabana that was closed but I figured they probably served tropical drinks for people to drink and relax after having their meal in the restaurant.
Some of the lounge chairs weren't very clean but we did find some other chairs that looked okay and had a clear view of the city below. Thankfully the glass barriers are quite high so there's no danger of falling off.
There was also the Luckiest Chair in the World up here apparently, made of golden horseshoes!
I guess it's the horseshoes that make it lucky? But apparently there was once a guy who sat on the chair and managed to win the lottery and got over 100,000MYR so we figured we'd give it a try just to increase our luck.
Not too far from the luckiest chair was this huge golden fountain which I guess it supposed to be a wishing pot. There was a bell in the middle and I guess you're supposed to make a wish then toss a coin and try to hit the bell for good luck.
It took a few tries especially with the strong wind blowing but eventually we did ring the bell once each. Thankfully we had some change to spare.
We walked around while taking more pictures thanking the gods that it wasn't raining today since we wouldn't be able to come out here if it was.
After a little bit we made our way to the Rainbow Skywalk! This was the main attraction of The Top imo since it boasts that it's also the World's First Tower Curved Skywalk.
There were a few other people ahead of us but also plenty of rules and disclaimers for those who wanted to walk here so we made sure to check the safety board before going over there.
I think the glass was just like the one inside the observatory but it was still scary to walk on it. We proceeded slowly and steadily to the middle to get some shots.
I did get a few shots of the view from here but I was really scared of holding my phone out in case it slipped out of my hands.
We made sure to get lots of shots since you could only get one-time to go onto the skywalk, and made sure to get the most out of our ticket.
Apologies for my messy hair, it really was very windy up there.
We took some selfies and the staff even offered to get a shot of us too and I think this one was the best one!
Thankfully the staff was very friendly and offered to take photos for us. We made sure we got all the shots we needed before leaving the platform. I think there might have been a family waiting behind us so we made sure to be quick about it.
It was definitely a unique experience stepping out here as compared to the observatory but the barriers were so high I had to tip-toe to see over it so you know it's safe. There were some kids go went after us and the parents had to make sure they didn't run on the glass floor.
After we were done at the Skywalk we chilled for a bit since it was kinda nerve-wracking being on the glass. I was also kinda curious about the how the lounge chairs felt and it was okay.
We pretty much walked around the whole floor already and that was pretty much it for the observatory, so we took the lift all the way back down to the 5th floor!
We ended up in a different area yet again but there was a photo gallery here for people to order hard copy photos from and I guess the wax figures we saw last time led to this Celebrity Avenue.
But we made our way to the other side trying to find our way out of this place. We only bought the 3-attraction pass and since we already finished all the attractions it was time to leave.
I think we ended up above the floor with all the other attractions so we could see the Japanese restaurant from above and the takoyaki mascot looked pretty cute with the Tokyo skyline in the background.
After that we still had some time to kill so we made our way to the mall just beside the KOMTAR building which was where we went in the first place while trying to find the theme park.
We bought a drink from Sean's "favourite" bubble tea chain - Chatime! It's not actually his favourite but he likes to make fun of the name since we coined it as short for char kway teow time. Not that it was bad, it was an average drink.
After that we booked a car and started making our way back to the hotel.
This was the mall right across from our hotel which we frequented every day we were here. It was actually a fairly big mall.
After we packed up and collected our stuff from the hotel (we checked out before we headed out and left our bags at the concierge), it was time to head to the airport! Our flight was in the late evening and we weren't sure how long the checks were going to take. After the near misses we had we wanted to make sure we got there way ahead of time.
We were actually more than 2 hours earlier than our flight but I guess other people had the same idea as us since there was already a queue to check in.
We traveled light so we didn't even have any baggage to check in so it was smooth at least.
After that we started making our way to the gate and passed by this cool-looking souvenir shop along the way!
We were thinking there would be some food stalls after we got through the customs but the only shops once you got through were souvenir shops and this one lone noodle shop that everyone was crowding at.
It had been a while and we were getting hungry so we just tried the noodles since there was literally nothing else.
Sean bought this soupy noodles which I think had some dumplings.
And we also ordered these dry noodles with beef and vegetables that was pretty okay.
Tbh I don't really remember the taste of the noodles that much, I think it definitely wasn't fantastic but it was still acceptable food so we ate it while waiting for our flight.
After some time it was finally ready for boarding!
I managed to get a blurry shot of the city before we left and it looked pretty cool with all the lights on.
Soon enough, we found ourselves safe and sound back in Changi Airport! Being in the Penang airport only made me appreciate Changi so much more, since there's plenty of amenities and never-ending food options here.
I think it was close to 10pm when we arrived in Singapore and after all that we were so exhausted and booked a car to go back home to rest.
But that's it for this trip! These posts actually took a lot longer than I expected for a 3-day trip but we did do a lot for 3 days. I hope you enjoyed this trip and look forward to the next one!
Thanks
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Check out my previous post in this series!
TacoCat’s Travels #213 (Penang): Savouring the Skyline from The Top! 🏙
Amazing. Greeting from Colombia
thanks so much for reading!
Penang looks like a a fun place to go. Looks like they are a mix of city life, history and nature too.
yes the temple we visited was definitely the highlight!
these photos are truly spectacular… I would be afraid to go to such a tall building and therefore for now I will limit myself to visiting it through your photos
aw thanks so much! it's definitely not for people who have a fear of heights 😅
Congratulations, your post has been added to Pinmapple! 🎉🥳🍍
Did you know you have your own profile map?
And every post has their own map too!
Want to have your post on the map too?
I wouldn't go in there😅
it was a unique experience for sure. thanks for reading!
wow... Very amazing, you are very brave to climb to the top of a very tall building, indeed the photos are very cool, I am very interested to see your trip this time, hope you have fun there
thanks so much! I did get very nervous standing on the glass. 😅
Your level lowered and you are now a Red Fish!
Check out our last posts:
Congratulations @taco.cat!
You raised your level and are now a Minnow!
Check out our last posts:
Congratulations @taco.cat! Your post made the TravelFeed team happy so we have sent you our big smile. Keep up the good job. 😃
Thanks for using TravelFeed!
@for91days (TravelFeed team)
PS: Have you joined our Discord yet? This is where over 1000 members of the TravelFeed come together to chat. Join us!