Viv and I realised that we really haven't done all that much sight seeing in Penang so this was a chance for us to do just that. It has been great, a real eye opener for us as well, so where to start?
1. Circumnavigation
On a couple of occasions I tried to but a street map of the island of Penang. You can find small ones in various tourist brochures but never a proper map. I like maps and discovered to my dismay that no bookshops stocked them. The main tourist office said I should find a Lonely Planet guide and use the map in that as they had none too. So in our defence we hadn't really pushed the envelope in looking around much and decided that Debbie was our perfect chance.
The island is pretty big. Certainly large enough to hold nearly 800,000 inhabitants and it appears that most live in right hand side which includes Georgetown and the urban suburbs. The middle is largely mountainous and jungle and the left hand side is actually pretty sparsely populated. However there is the Tropical Fruit Farm there.
2. Fruit Farm
The fruit in Penang is marvellous, so different to where we had been before, and the Fruit Farm is all about that. Sadly it is not main season for most fruit (that is April to June) so no durian (gulp), mangoes, and lots of other fruits. However the all year round favourites were there as was a very knowledgeable guide who was able to walk us through the various orchards, avoid most of the mosquito swamps (it has been raining a lot here) and generally keep us alive as this island is a constant reminder that much of it is still primal jungle.
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| The view from the fruit farm down to the coast in the distance. It is built on the side of hills |
The fruit that was there was very delicious too. Very worth while visit.
3. The Bottom Left
This part is rather unpopulated and its villages are very poor looking and extremely rural. At the end of one road... and it was the end... it seemed as though everything just ended. Then all of a sudden, we came into a very wide and impressive highway going from somewhere to somewhere else... we had no map so could not be sure where we were. Except definitely bottom left.
4. Cocktails
As I have mentioned before we have known Debbie for quite some time. 1985 to be precise. One of Debbie's rather endearing traits is the 5 o'clock cocktail and I had forgotten this and I think so had Viv but on our first day of exploration around late afternoonish, Debbie's demeanour changed. Not for the worst of course but she did pointedly start a conversation about this tradition of hers and we finally noticed that it was well past this point. And when one considered things all in all, we felt that this was one tradition that was well worth keeping up in Penang.
We'd started Debbie's holiday with a rooftop cocktail overlooking the entire island and at home thereafter would continue with a themed cocktail du jour depending on what we all felt like. Limes and fresh mint are readily available so once I'd sourced some Bacardi... mojito's. That's how it went.
We had been recommended Red Garden in Georgetown as a good people watching spot and as we had never visited decided that would be the place on our first day of exploration... and found it to be a sort of Octoberfest location. Big bandstage in the centre. Hawker stands all around the periphery. Tables set out in the middle serving buckets of 6 beers at a time to thirsty frequenters and revellers. Just perfect for us in fact after a hard days circumnavigating (we didn't discover that we had barely 'done' half of the island later on when we looked at Google Maps!).
5. A Tale of Two Bridges
Once we discovered our oversight in completing the job on Day 1, we decided to complete things but including both bridges and some shopping in our itinerary (Debbie is a keen shopper). Hence our two bridges tour.
This was simply heading to the Design Village on the mainland for the retail therapy part and both bridges there and back. Still fun to see even though the Design Village is still pretty much someone's field of dreams... build it and they will come.
6. Massage Therapy in Georgetown
Everyone's favorite relaxer ... I should say pre-5.01 relaxer, just to cement the place of the cocktail in the daily calendar, is a massage which are great in Penang. Personally I love foot massages and Viv had found a recommended one in Georgetown proper so we could combine it with some heritage.
7. Georgetown's Heritage
Until we began, we didn't quite realize just how much of it there is. In some cities we had visited there were a few things slung around but in Georgetown it is vast and with such diversity too. British colonial is what we thought but that's only the tip of the iceberg. Add in Chinese shophouses, wonderful clan houses, Perankan mansions, the jetties and then the different parts of town: Little India, Chinatown, Armenian Street... Fully discovering and marveling in this town will take more than the few days that we had with Debbie so we gave her a break and just hit some high points.
8. Street Food
You cannot visit Penang without sampling street food. There are all manner of restaurants for sure but to experience it fully, you just have to hit the hawker stands.
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| Typical hawker stand |
We'd not visited the hill so thought we'd take Debbie. People will tell you that you shouldn't go if it's cloudy as you won't see anything which is true enough but it is always cloudy. It was sunny at sea level this day but the clouds were everywhere at the top... whatever. And rainy. With threats of thunderstorms. So we chose to visit the Heritage Centre which is basically an eco conscious enclave boasting some pretty neat things and most importantly had a shuttle to take us the couple of kilometers from the cable car railhead.
Backing up, the hill is one of those wonderful British colonial inventions. Take over a really hot and sticky country and you can chose to either suffer at low levels and probably contract typhus and die at age 23 (check the graveyards) or far better find the nearest high ground, hills are good but low mountains are the best, and build some residences in this 'hill station' from where you can enjoy life rather better and maybe even avoid typhus or some other fell disease. Hence the Penang Hill. It was residences, hotels and hospitals from the outset... and remember the entire island was unoccupied when the British acquired it in 1786, only a few fishermen had temporary shacks at water level, so this was entirely a British colonial construct.
The Heritage is built on top of a hotel and the really high walkway they've built was on top of an old tennis court. However it was really cloudy and the rumored thunderstorms came in so we had to abandon the really high spots. So we really only scratched the surface and will return.
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| A break in the clouds just before we had to run for it |
As a post script I mentioned our visit to a tennis friend who is also a bit of a nature enthusiast and he was scathing about the Heritage centre blaming its construction of footpaths with cheap materials for the 19 landslides that took place last year during the heavy rains that caused deaths and so much damage down below. Now I definitely don't know what to think!
So it was a frenetic time for Debbie with us and for us both a joy to have her visit as well as a wonderful opportunity to learn just a little more of this wonderful island.
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