Penang half term trip

February 2015 

Penang half term trip

Again, with the blink of an eye, the last six weeks have vanished.  With a new student intake in January, it was full on, even more social interactions in the bid to quickly learn names and assess the current levels and starting points.  So half term is most wanted.

We left early Saturday 14th February to tackle the madness and crowds of vehicles also heading north to Penang for CNY.  Although, we didn't see any unusual traffic until we crossed onto the island.  We used the shorter, older bridge for no reason other than our stat nav app took us that Waze.  The journey from Sepang to Penang took just over five hours driving (about 70RM of fuel and 40RM on toll roads) and cost approx 20 pound.

We have two nights booked at The Museum Hotel in George Town, then a drive up the coast to The Hard Rock Hotel at Batu Ferringhi for a further three nights.

Saturday 14th February.

Our quaint hotel, the Museum Hotel, is tucked into a little cul-de-sac off the busy Jalan Transfer. We booked a family room with a large double and two full size single beds.  The bathroom has two showers, toilets, and sinks.   They have a gym and reading room, and if you fancy sitting in the blazing sun, a roof terrace.

Breakfast, with this water feature view, was simple but tasty; the staff are very accommodating and friendly.

Dippy egg breakfast

Ornate reception area

Functioning room telephone

Eggs Benedict - half eaten before I could take a picture!

We popped out for a brief walk around town and soon discovered that the heat, and maze of streets made it tiring to negotiate.  So we found a nearby watering hole, The Ship, and stopped for a plate of fries (the kids) and a cold beer.

Being Valentine's day - something I hadn't considered when booking a get-away - we were unable to eat in our two first choices of restaurant.  The Maple Palace was fully booked by romantic couples and That Little Wine Bar had foie gras on the set menu - one of those food items I will never eat. The latter will need to be visited at another time, as it comes highly recommended.

We ended up, at Foong Wei Heong Restaurant, Jalan Sri Bahari, with a delicious Chinese meal of pork ribs in honey, crispy pork strips (not dissimilar to crispy streaky bacon rashers), Peking duck with a dark, sweet, chilli orange sauce, and ostrich with ginger and spring onions.  WOW! We were so glad we ended up here!

After escorting the kids back to our family room, we then popped out for a couple of drinks.  The nearest bar, on Jalan Argyll, is Purebar.  Although for an hour we were the only patrons, when the live music started at 10pm the place started to come alive.  They had a good enough selection of wines, whiskeys and beers to keep us happy.

Happy Hour bought us three decent pints, before 9pm, for 50RM.  We followed this up with a complimentary glass of Aussie red each - pimped by the house - in exchange for our photograph on Facebook.  







Sunday 15th February

Our friendly hotel staff arranged a trishaw tour of the town architecture and Street Art.

The background behind these (and many more) Street Arts can be researched here: 

   

                   

The Heritage Quarter has so much to offer.  Buildings are either falling down into the dirt, being renovated or preserved, or simply they built them around nature.

 

A visit to Penang wouldn't be complete without a visit to a temple.  Tokong Kuan Im, the oldest Chinese Temple, is in the middle of George Town. 

We also visited the Clan Jetties - it was the Chew Jetty to be precise.  A century or more ago, each Chinese immigrant clan (family) had their own settlement or small township built on a pier structure over the sea.  Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, its history is interesting, it is beautifully maintained and so these are well worth a visit.

  

 

 

Our trishaw driver recommended a local 24/7 Indian cafe, Kapitans, in Little India. The meal was amazing.  We ordered soft drinks, rice all round, a couple of naans, aloo curry and a selection from the boneless meat ala carte menu.

We waited 40+ minutes but it was worth the wait.  The meal was the best meal we have had in over six months.  Amazing.  We enjoyed four boneless chicken breast curries - butter chicken, chilli chicken, tikka masala and a jalfrazi.  This beats meals we have had in KL's famous Little India Brickfields, some swanky restaurants round KL and a few more in the UK.  It was plate licked clean for 80RM (£16).

After a walk around Little India and a purchase of a sari for first born, we headed to a guesthouse / cafe for a cup of tea.  Ren I Tang or Tang Bistro is the oldest (124 years) Chinese Medical Hall in Penang.  With good food and a wide selection of drinks available, it invites you to sit and browse the book shelves or magazines while you take shelter from the sun, or visit the museum and look at the displays of tools of the medical trade.

We walked back through the, getting busier and darker, Jalans of Penang when we were approached by a retired couple asking if we are Brits?   It seems they had taken the 101 bus from Batu Ferringhi to the Gurney Drive area and they had missed their stop.  The driver - obviously not one with customer service in his vocabulary - had dropped them off in the middle of a dark street in George Town having driven past the Mall and throbbing shops they had wanted some 15 mins earlier.  We took them back to the Museum Hotel where the friendly reception staff offered them a cool drink and ordered them a taxi.  Once again, well done Museum!

With the kids tucked up in our room, watching TV, we popped for a nightcap.   Along, the now buzzing, Jalan Penang we found Soho Free House. Lots of variety of beer on offer at this ex-pat style sports bar.  It becomes a nightlife hotspot at the weekends later than we were out.  We were impressed as it served the best pint of Guinness the old man has had since leaving home in August 2014. 

With a good deed, good meal and good pint of the black stuff, the day, all in all, was a good one!

Next day, we move onto the beach resort of Batu Ferringhi (or Foreigner's Rock).  Let's hope it lives up to the reputation it has.