After a nice, long twenty day stretch in Thailand, we packed our bags and headed to pretty Penang, Malaysia!
Day 110: Travel from Koh Samui, Thailand to Penang, Malaysia
I do not know if this will be as shocking to you as it was to us, but the airport in Koh Samui was OUTDOORS. As in the area where the ticket counters were was covered, but it was not fully enclosed. Additionally, to get to the terminals, you walk down a street, not a hallway.
My mom shared that the airport in Hawaii is like this so maybe this fact does not surprise you, but it sure surprised us, in the very best way. We thought the airport was beautiful.
Maybe our excitement about this reflects that we have been traveling for more than 100 days. We spend a lot of time in airports.
So on day 110, we flew from Koh Samui to Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur to Penang. Whew!
Rich and I had an amazing airport lounge in Bangkok, which was a treat. We thought we would get an airport lounge in Kuala Lumpur. We did not, which was disappointing. BUT we learned that we could visit airport lounges upon arrival into a country which meant that we were able to eat a free dinner in a lounge when we landed in Penang. This was a win for day 110 AND for many days moving forward– food is a major cost for us, and we will take all the free meals we can get.
Upon checking in to the AirBNB, this time in another high rise condo, we went almost immediately to bed…
Day 111: Football, Food, and Street Art
Because the University of Georgia took on the LSU Tigers in the biggest football game of the season so far at 3:30 PM in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and 3:30 AM in Penang, Malaysia. Previously undefeated UGA lost and looked terrible doing it.
Once the game ended at 7:30 AM, we went back to sleep.
Eating Malaysian Food in Penang
When we woke up a few hours later, we were hungry. Rich has a favorite Malaysian restaurant back in Philly, named Penang Restaurant because of course, and one of his favorite items on the menu is the roti canai. For the uninitiated (which I was before meeting Rich), roti canai is an Indian pancake that is doughy and melts in your mouth and comes with a delicious red sauce. I should be a food critic.
We got showered and ready, found the top rated restaurant for roti canai, hopped in our Grab, and found out the restaurant is closed. Apparently in Malaysia, you can only get roti canai for breakfast. In America, we always ate it for dinner!
No worries though. If there is one thing people in Malaysia appreciate, it is food. Our AirBNB was pretty sparse (only one roll of toilet paper was provided), but it came with a thick binder of recommended restaurants. When we arrived at the roti canai restaurant 30 minutes before closing time to discover that it had already closed, our driver made a recommendation of where we should eat and what we should order. Then he drove us the extra ten minutes there for no additional charge.
He nailed it! The food was delicious, and the restaurant was filled with travelers from all over the world.
Street Art in Penang
In 2008, UNESCO named George Town in Penang a world heritage site. In 1786, the East India Company had founded Penang as a trading center. Because Penang was a hub of economic activity, settlers from India and China as well as across Europe landed in Penang bringing their rich cultures with them. Today, a mosque stands on one block and a Hindu temple stands on the next, and the food is one big mashup of the best flavors from India, China, Thailand, and Malaysia. The neighborhood is incredibly diverse.
In 2012, the George Town Festival commissioned artist Ernest Zacharevic to create an open air gallery for visitors to the UNESCO heritage site. Zacharevic created eight murals which incorporate paintings with actual objects such as chairs, bicycles, and motorbikes. Since 2012, other artists have added their own murals to walls throughout the area.
After our big lunch, we headed out to find as many murals as we could. They really blend in to the surroundings, and typing in “children on bicycle” in GoogleMaps didn’t work too well for us. Locating all of the murals turned into a sort of hunt for buried treasure!
We did pretty well though and enjoyed walking around the neighborhood. The art is awesome, the tourists who were lined up to take pictures were patient with each other, and we had a fun time figuring out the shots we wanted to take.
Enjoy the gallery below!
Day 112: Visiting the Kek Lok Si and More Food in Penang
I’m sad to report that we still did not make it out of the house in time to enjoy roti canai for breakfast! Rich and I both got a bit of a cold upon arriving in Penang, and we needed some extra sleep.
Kek Lok Si
Kek Lok Si is the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia, and it sits high on a hill overlooking Penang. The threat of heavy rain loomed for the duration of our visit, but thankfully, it held off, and we were able to wander through the pretty gardens and temples.
The large, prominent pagoda at Kek Lok Si features Chinese, Burmese, and Thai architectural designs, which really captures the spirit of Penang quite nicely.
We took a funicular (!!!) to the top of the hill, where a giant bronze statue of Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy, stands overlooking the city. Near her statue are small statues representing each Chinese birth year so we took pictures with our respective animals: a horse for Rich (fine) and a rat for Amanda (terrible).
One small thing I really appreciated at Kek Lok Si that I had not seen at any others were the wishing trees. The temple sold “wishes” on small ribbons that included things like successful career and being together forever. I was struck by how universal all of our wishes are! Across the globe, people wish for joy and peace and health for themselves and the people they love.
Lunch Time!
Rich picked out a place for lunch back in George Town, but when we got in the Grab, our very talkative Chinese Grab driver insisted that we go somewhere “better” instead. So she took us to her favorite Malay restaurant and talked the whole 25 minutes on the ride there.
Things we learned from/opinions of the driver:
- Malaysia has had a very corrupt government for several generations but major changes have been made in the past two years that should lead to less state corruption and more regulation.
- Malays are very confused by American politics (“The loud rich man and the wife lady were the two very best people you have to interview for your prime minister?”)
- According to our driver, the Chinese do not like the Muslims in Malaysia (remember: Malaysia is a Muslim country) but they are fine with the Indians.
Let’s be kind, and say she was a character. I’ll also say she picked out a great restaurant for lunch, and we ate well!
Final Thoughts on Penang, Malaysia
We loved the street art in Penang, we got incredible, flavorful meals in Georgetown, and it was great to be in a large city with modern conveniences.
We were a bit run down during our time here so we didn’t get in quite as much as we had hoped (read: roti canai). That wasn’t Penang’s fault, and at the same time, it wasn’t really ours either– sometimes you just have to play the hand you’re dealt, and we can’t feel great every day of this marathon journey.
Penang was an incredibly easy city to navigate though, and the people were friendly and welcoming. If you are visiting Southeast Asia, we would definitely encourage you to keep Malaysia on your list.
On to Kuala Lumpur…