Gorge on delicious Malaysian street food, savour the history, rinse the palate with culture and infuse with world renown graffiti.
Penang Island.
Pulau Pinang or Penang Island is located 20 minutes away (in good traffic) from mainland, and roughly 1 hr from Butterworth (mainland Penang). A 5 hour drive from Kuala Lumpur and less than an hour by flight.
The Penang Bridge (Jambatan-Bridge, Pulau-Island, Pinang-Betel nut) has gorgeous symmetry across the foggy island sky.
The weather on Penang island follows it’s own micro-climate; this means very foggy mornings/evenings (depending on haze-level), abrupt rains followed by strikingly hot days, all in 24 hours.
Small town city life and island living blended into what’s gained the moniker: Pearl of the Orient.
Travel tip: Located close to Langkawi and operates ferries to Indonesia and Thailand!
History:
Sir Francis Light, a royal navy shipman for the British, became Superintendent of Penang in 1802 after attracting interest and loyalty of Chinese settlers. Francis named the town “Georgetown” after King George-III, and renamed Penang Island “Prince of Wales Island”. Penang prospered with it’s location along the Straits of Malacca, serving as pit stops for merchants coming from the Bay of Bengal heading to Malacca, Singapore and onward to China.
Penang was a soup of culture and tradition! Easily earning the nickname “pearl of the orient”.
So colourful a legacy, the island has retained the best of each culture. This is evident in the remaining architecture.
I will be sharing highlights of Penang in the next few days.
We begin with.....
Must-Visit: ChinaHouse.
It is the longest shop house-cafe I’ve been to, and took a whole 5 minutes to peruse. Not to mention the happy colours, amazing food and creative atmosphere that makes you want to stay for hours.
This spot has the best cakes in town an offers a new recipe daily. They also sell 7000 slices of cake a month! ChinaHouse hosts 1 bakery, 2 art galleries, 3 shops, 3 restaurants and live music every night.
They describe themselves best:
ChinaHouse is a traditional compound of 3 heritage buildings, linked by an open air courtyard and converted into 14 spaces comprising shops, cafes, restaurant, galleries, live music and bakery.
Start at the entrance of 155 Beach St. Georgetown. Wander through Kopi C Espresso Cafe & Bar. Off to the left, you see into BTB & Restraurant, & Bon Ton the Shop II at 153 Beach Street. Further along, you walk through the Reading Room, a space divided into magazines, books and cds for browsing & buying. In addition to computers and internet access, there is also a childrens book section and kids area with crayons and paints. ~ChinaHouse.
Join me as I walk through….
Beach Street Bakery.
The Reading Room.
Bon Ton.
The Courtyard.
Art work everywhere…
This one, I really liked:
Customers take what they please and leave money in a little basket on the table. Need change? Head to the counter. :)
The Canteen.
China House is definitely a must see when in Penang!
Even if it's to grab a quick cup of coffee before carrying on with a tight schedule.
It is well worth it!
Visit the website for more information and contact details: http://www.chinahouse.com.my.
Follow me @BelleKaur.
Travel Diaries: Malaysia.
The Perhentian Islands
- Perhentian Kecil:
The Journey.
Part II.
Part III.
Golden Bay: Part V.
Part IV.
really nice @bellekaur . Penang has a lot of wonderful stuff . And the food .... ohhhh the fooood !
the fooooood.., is worth the trip on it's own! lol! 😍
You should be in the Ministry of Malaysian Tourism @bellekaur :) Great descriptions of the places you've visited. And the photos are just incredible. Great stuff.
😂😂 I should! Maybe this'll get their attention! 😜
Thank you!
So colourful! Now I need travel tips for when I visit next. I didn't even know about ChinaHouse!
You need to walk around Georgetown! There's so much to do and see. Venture away from your beaches lol!
I guess I should definately go there sometime! I really love all the artwork :D
you should! the artwork changes whenever i visit! I think they get local talent to showcase their talent from time to time (if I'm not wrong). the whole town is filled with art. I'll share more! 😊
That is wonderful! I'll put it on my list of places to visit :D (keeps getting longer and longer)
😄 You wont regret it, I promise!
Mine too - It's a whole wide world! Let me know when you get to Malaysia! 💃🏻
It'll probably take a couple of years before I can afford it ;( My kids want to go to Thailand and the USA (or actually Chuck E. Cheese) first, haha :D
hahaha! don't you worry, Malaysia's not going anywhere 😉 Thailand's gorgeous as well! Though the USA has some spectacular sights. Those are hard choices! 😆 Looking forward to you Steeming about it 💃
I will definately do that!
This is pretty nice! Next time when I get to visit Penang I might really try to get there to see this!
Thanks for promoting @bellekaur
upvoted
absolutely! I'll be making more posts about things-to-do and see in Penang, that most locals miss because we're there for the food not tourism. lol. thank you!
Very nicely written... I follow
thank you!
Thank you for your good post. I am very pleased to read good posts in feeds.
thank you!
My home town Penang.. I love Penang so much..are u from Penang also @bellekaur
hello! no, saya orang Klang! 😄
Oo org Klang.. Saya duduk Shah Alam sekarang tp asal penang..
Wow great post!!! Thank you for sharing it in Travelmap :) - I would love go there when I get to Malaysia on my world travel! Looks great ;) Following + Upvoted!
definitely add it to your list! Malaysia's full of surprises! thanks so much! 😄
It is already on my list! Will be there next year around April/May :) - Do you live there?
yes I do! close to KL, actually! get in touch if you have any questions. happy to help! Malaysia's beautiful, you're in for a great time.
Nice! Well let me know if I get close to your zone. Maybe we can meet up somewhere :)
definitely! How great would that be? yay Steemit! looking forward to it. 😄😄
Great!! Me too :)
wow the art is amazing in these places
yeah there's some really talented people out there! the whole of Georgetown is full art - it's encouraged and has become a tourist attraction. Ernest Zacharevic has quite a few works here too!