Singapore Adventure: The other George Town

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.

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.

Ana, the explorer

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!