After an awful experience in Kuala Lumpur I decided to keep on trekking and hopped on a flight to Penang. I am really glad I decided not to go home after KL because Penang was incredible!
Penang is a lovely hip island full of street art and food adventures. The tourist information center, or your airbnb place, will provide you with an essential food brochure and street art treasure map. The special thing about the food in Penang is that only local Penang Malaysians are allowed to sell food. Therefore you are always getting an authentic Penang cuisine experience. The art in Penang is incredible, many of them are meant to be interactive with the viewers. You will have a great time posing along with the famous Art and snapping pics. I spent three days wandering around Penang and I thought it was a perfect amount of time.
I must say that I think my amazing experience had a lot to do with the kindness and helpfulness of my airbnb hosts. I recommended them highly: Peter and Mei at Heritage house, Georgetown.
My itinerary:
-
Day 1: Georgetown: Kek Lok Si temple, Penang Hill, walk around Georgetown for food and Street Art hunts. Market on the corniche at night.
-
Day 2: Bus to Monkey Beach, Penang National Park, and Batu Feringghi market at night.
-
Day 3: Continued Graffiti hunt in Georgetown, New Lane street food at night.
Penang Hill and Kek Lok Si temple are in the same area. You can take the 204 Bus to get there. You can either hike up Penang Hill or take the funicular train.
- Kek Lok Si Temple
You can take the #203 bus from Georgetown to Kek Lok Si Temple. The bus drops you off right across the street from the most amazing Laksa place you will ever eat at! It will have a big red sign on it that says Laksa. Definitely grab some Laksa and some fresh sugar cane juice before you head to the Temple.
- Laksa
The Street Art
The street Art in Georgetown is just remarkable. Most of the pieces are interactive. You can spend at least two half days walking around taking photos with the art. Actually I recommend it. Most hotels or hostels that you stay at will provide you with a street art map so that you can find all of the works. Some of the art is not as easy to find as others. I made it my priority to find all of them.
Monkey Beach
Grab the 101 bus from Georgetown and head to Monkey Beach. It is a pretty fun trek through a forest to get to the beach. I didn’t see any monkey’s on this beach, however if you really enjoy outdoor hiking than I recommend this place. The beach was ok. I heard that there is a boat that will take you to the beach if you are not an active person and do not want to complete the hike.
On the way back from the beach stop halfway and check out Batu Feringghi market at night. Then catch the bus back to Georgetown.
A few more recommendations while you are in Georgetown:
-
Try Cendol!
This is an amazing Malay dessert. It consists of red beans, grass jelly, creamed corn, green rice flour worms, and coconut milk. Try it from Penang Road Famous
2. Grab a sweet grass jelly drink or sweet soy milk and drink it from a plastic bag. This is the way they enjoy their drinks. They even provide a wristband in case your hand gets tired of holding. Black grass jelly was my go to drink when I was there.
3. Try the egg pastry shop :Ming Xiang Tai
The egg pastries are really delicious and unique. A great on the go bite to eat while your hunting the street art.
No Comments