It's a wanderful life, so it is

The Malaysian state of Penang consists of an island and the bit of the mainland next to it. We stayed in the state capital, George Town, in the north of the island and there was plenty for us to do in and around the city during our six days. 

We were impressed with how colourful Melaka was but George Town took it to a new level. This is due, in part, to all the street art in its UNESCO World Heritage Site area with its narrow, winding streets and its heavy Chinese influence. There is so much of it that we’ll need to do a separate post, even for the few photos we took.

When the British colonised the island, they introduced exorbitant land duties but the wily locals built boardwalks out into the harbour as a tax avoidance scheme. We visited Chew Jetty, which is the largest and most touristy of them. It has plenty of shops, around 75 houses and even a number of Chinese temples along its length and beautiful views of the sea and coastline once you get to the end. 

Gerry had planned an elegant evening promenade of the colonial district, architecturally very different from the compact core of the city. It started inauspiciously when we couldn’t find the rooftop bar at the Prestige Hotel despite wandering around the swimming pool for a bit.

We did manage to find the seaside esplanade, the Queen Victoria diamond jubilee memorial clock and both the “hall” buildings – town and city – before stopping off at the terrace of the Eastern & Oriental hotel for pina coladas, while checking out the cruise liner coming into the harbour. A lovely spot for sundowners before enjoying a curry in the Little India district. Gerry loves it when a plan comes together!

Some of the buildings are sublime. The charming George Town fire station even has its own street art along its side.

Although there was a bit of a heat haze at the top, it was well worth it for the stunning views and the various trails through the treetop canopy, around 130 feet above the rainforest floor. And it was worth paying the extra for the full Habitat experience and getting access to the highest public viewing point on the island. Tickets are reduced by one third if you are 60+ and, of course, Gerry didn’t qualify for this. The calculation is done by calendar year, however, and as he was born during 1965, he qualified as a senior citizen! This piece of good fortune didn’t seem to impress one of the monkeys we met, who Gerry believed was determined to jump onto his head. He can move pretty quickly when he wants to!! 😂

One thing that must be unique to downtown George Town is the TOP, a bizarre fusion of 18 different attractions including indoor theme parks, a dinosaur adventure, a carnival, a skywalk and a rooftop restaurant, all within its 68 floors. Given such a variety of options, it’s probably no surprise to anyone that knows us that we only went to the skybar.

People have asked how we cope without the things we like when we’re away from home. Well, it’s usually for only three months so it’s easy to manage without most things for that length of time. One exception is Heinz Salad Cream and we regularly pack two bottles for each trip because we have never seen it on our travels. Imagine our surprise and delight when we found it was available in George Town.

If you’re not an aficionado of BBC’s “Race across the world”, you may want to skip this bit. Otherwise, you may remember from season 4 that older couple Stephen and Viv detoured to George Town, very much to sourpuss Stephen’s annoyance. Viv was determined to see Jalan Kek Chuan, the 17th most beautiful street in the world (according to House Beautiful magazine). Stephen thought it was a waste of time and money but they went anyway and spent ages failing to find it. They gave up and decided they would google it later. We went one better (as admittedly it was around the corner from our apartment) and can confidently say they missed a treat.

We’re still firmly in condo mode so took full advantage of the gym and the infinity pool.  One day, we went for a swim in the afternoon and we watched the Methodist Girls School across the street for half an hour as it was closing. The orderly procession of pupils contrasted comically with the complete chaos of the parents’ scooters and cars blocking the road. Ah, people watching, ye cannae beat it! 😄

There is more on the island than just George Town, of course, and we had considered going out to one of the beaches but, once we researched it, we decided the hassle, cost and jellyfish just weren’t worth it!  Especially as we were going to be in Da Nang’s waters for a month. We’d also talked about going to Kek Lok Si temple on our last day but talked ourselves out of it, the way we sometimes do, rationalising that we were meeting up with Niall for a busy fortnight to come and we deserved a lazy day. So, instead, I got my hair cut next door to some cat and husky cafés and we ate KFC and watched disaster films.

After leaving Penang, we stayed a night at an airport hotel in Kuala Lumpur before catching our flight to Hanoi on the following day. We went business class because, for some reason, that was cheaper than economy. With free lounge access and special treatment, we certainly weren’t complaining and the days spent chilling were much appreciated before the whirlwind of activity we expected in Vietnam.