If you hear about Georgetown, it is probably safe to assume
that you will think about the one in Washington DC – Georgetown University and
the number of embassies in that area of town are quite famous in the Western
world. However, there is another George Town
worth visiting – the main city of the Malaysian island of Penang
and the first British founded settlement in the region. Before the foundation
of Singapore, George Town was the most important administrative outpost
for Britain
in the region. Due to the somewhat superior location of Singapore right at the tip of the Malay
peninsula and a natural stop over for foreign trade, George Town did decline in importance. This,
however, brought its upsides as most of the old town was preserved and awarded
UNESCO world heritage status in 2008.
When looking into destinations that are worthwhile visiting
for just a weekend, George Town
had been on Ana and Simon’s list. The airport of Penang
is reachable within an 80 minutes flight and is served by major low-cost
airlines – getting there is convenient and inexpensive. So the two decided to
go there in July with another couple that they had met in Singapore: Edward and Charlotte.
Edward is studying with Simon and Charlotte is
working in Singapore
just as Ana. They are a very nice couple – but this should be part of their
blog ;-)
The four of them met at the Singapore
airport on Friday evening and arrived in no time in Penang.
They had booked a cute Bed & Breakfast in the old and very lovely city center
of George Town. It was located in an old Chinese shop house. They basically
shared the house which consisted of two suites and was mainly left in its
original state from the 1920s except for the modern amenities / necessities
like Air Conditioning. For dinner, they went to a hawker center which – similar
to Singapore
– carried a huge variety of Asian food offers at very affordable prices. They
also could enjoy some Chinese live music (very much enjoyed by the audience,
less by them) and a few Western songs (that they enjoyed but left the rest of
the people basically unaffected). They finished their first night out with a few
beers on the terrace in front of their home for the weekend and had gotten
quite a positive first impression of George
Town.
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| The entrance to our Chinese shop house |
On Saturday, the group of four went to the North Western
corner of Penang Island,
home of the oldest national park
of Malaysia. They had
decided to go for a little jungle hike to the Western Coast.
It was a very nice walk, about three kilometers, lots of ups and downs and amazing colors in the rain forest. They would even encounter a rather sizeable lizard on the way. They arrived at “Turtle Beach”
after about 75 minutes and were taken back to the initial starting point of
their expedition by boat. They enjoyed a late lunch of seafood before getting
back to George Town.
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| Ana, the explorer |
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| Turtle Beach |
In the evening, they went to have dinner at China House, a
restored Chinese storage hall that would occupy the length of a full block –
probably 200 meters
in length. They had read about it and were amazed by the combination of Western
and Asian food, as well as their great selection of cakes for desert. It was so
good that they decided to come back there the next day for a late lunch before
flying back to Singapore
and they were not disappointed the second time either. The place also had a
wide variety of games and in case you hadn’t read it in the news: Ana, Simon
and the British couple build the tallest Jenga-Tower in Southeast
Asia on Sunday ;-). On Saturday night, however, they were caught
in a big tropical thunderstorm and after waiting for thirty minutes for the
rain to stop, they finally decided just to run back to the hotel (getting completely soaked) where they
changed into the provided Chinese bathrobes and finished the evening with a
bottle of wine.
On Sunday, the four Western tourists explored most of
the actual city of George Town –
from colonial churches to an old British fort to Chinese settlements on poles
in the ocean. The highlight was definitely the trip up to Penang Hill, a small
peak that gave them a great panoramic view of the area, including the mainland
of Malaysia.
It was also a few degrees cooler than in steamy George Town and Simon enjoyed the fact that
he could get a cold German beer. Paulaner can be found almost anywhere in Southeast Asia!
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| The main Mosque in Penang |
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| Street art |
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| Chinese town house |
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| The four traveler on Penang Hill |
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| As promised, German beer with a view |
All in all, it was a very nice weekend trip and is
definitely to be repeated, also with Edward and Charlotte that turned out to be
great sports.
