Penang Island

Penang Island is an Island and city of Malaysia. There are a few ways to get there. You can fly there, take a ship there or just drive there. One would usually stop in Kuala Lumpur first then go to Penang Island, a road trip there might take you from 3-7 hours depending on how fast the drive is and how many stops you take. You can also take a ferry or a ship there, where you can hope on Star Cruise from Port Klang or Singapore and get to Penang.. (I'm not too sure though how long that will take) As for flying there from Kuala Lumpure, it only takes 45 minutes.. :) So if you really want to get there fast, flying is the way to go..

Once you're in Penang Island, there are plenty of cultural places to visit. Here are shorties about the places. There is the Kek Lok Si Temple, which is situated high up on the hill of Penang, and they are at the moment renovating and scultping as one would say a statue of the Goddess of Mercy. It's a place that you should not miss if you go the the island. To get there, you can drive all the way up there.. or walk up a stairway that has loads of little shops for you to browse through while you go up and down the temple.. (I'd prefer to walk all the way up.. the go down after that.. It's nice to see things and it also helps with exercise.. )

After the you view the Kek Lok Si Temple, you can actually go the Bukit Bendera which has a cable car all the way up the hill in Penang so you can view the whole island. It's not a bad place to go if you like to take pictures of sceneries and riding cable cars. I personally didn't go there, as I'm not one that fancies height that much, and also when I was there it was already evening and I was rushing to go to the Tanjung Bungah night market...

And that's a night market that you wouldn't want to miss. You could get cute things there, cute dresses and stuff there, for a real bargain.. Yes, you need to haggle so that they don't cut your throat. But it's a really long stretch on the road, where you're able to find pirated watches, pirated dvds, pirated bags, perfumes... (I'm not into those things) I bought more of the cute little lamps, the cute dresses, and the cute little bags that would make cute souveniers for people back at home.

Penang city, Georgetown area... is one of the most confusing places ever!! My husband and I got lost in the same area so many times. It's so frustrating as there are roads that are one way, and some roads that are two ways, you can only turn left or right at the end of the road you're in. But all in all, if you are there, and if you love old buildings.. You'll love this place, they have colonial shop lots there, and also they have really authentic chinese coffee shops and as we Malaysian call it "Kopitiam". It's a photographer's paradise in this island.

And yes, there's the little stalls on the street and shops there in the city as well that has things for bargain. And if you get to the Chowrasta market, go up the stairs in that building, it's dirty and old, but it is a heaven for people who love books. They even had shakespeare books that are printed in the 1800s.. WOW... So, yeah, if you're a book collector, you shouldn't miss that place, you might find your fortune there.. who knows.. :) You just have to be patient, and also bring a small battery operated fan with you cause it's really hot and stuffy there.. If you're not a book collector, but you just like reading books, they do have new books as well where they sell you pretty cheap.. There's also books for management and so on, but I'm not really into that. But this is just to let you know, they have loads of books there, and magazines as well.

The thing that you ABSOLUTELY cannot miss in Penang is their black coffee, as we call it here "Kopi O". The coffee there has a rich aroma, has a real rich taste. Just go to the little coffee shops you pass, and you can get good coffee no matter what. There is a cafe called Georgetown coffee, but their coffee is really not as good as the ones that you get in the old school coffee shops. So coffee lovers, if you love coffee, you must try the coffee in Penang.. Real delicious....... And yes, you are able to get the coffee grounds, but you have to slowly look for it, it'll be at a small little corner coffee shop names joo hooi. :)

The beaches in Penang is nothing to shout about, the sand is really rough. I don't know why, and the water is not really clear. So, it's just best to play around with the water sport they have or get a suntan there. But not really to play in the water in the beach...

But overall, Penang is a really good vacation if you want shopping value and the beach and culture all in one. :)