Monday, December 15, 2014

Bloggers Meet-Up At Penang - The Sun, The Beach And The Heritage (Part 1 or 3)

For the past 4 days, I was in Penang, Malaysia attending my first ever cross-country bloggers meet-up, courtesy of mig.me Social Network and the local partners. As promised, I will share some of experiences there. So, this post (and the subsequent 2 parts) will have nothing to do with investing or personal finance, poorly sharing my joy and fun time there ;-)

To be frank, there are so many thing to share about Penang (Malaysia), particularly George Town, which is branded as one of the UNESCO World Heritage site. I totally enjoyed this fun-filled casual gathering and the best part is to get to know a number of new friends (from Singapore and Malaysia). This will be one of the most memorable experience in my life. Throughout this short trip, I only have 2 complaints, one is the weather, which is pretty hot and the other one is the slower network, both 3G and wifi.

I've broken down this sharing into three parters. In this very first part, I will be sharing our food trails, places, stuff that we did as well as the places that we've visited (and I will use photos to do most o the talking). In the next two parts, I will be covering more about the two accommodation (Syok Hostel and Hotel Penaga). 

The Food Trails:
Penang is famous for their food, especially the local delicacies like Penang Laksa, Hokkien Mee, Char Kway Teow and many more. According to the local guide and friends, recently, the coffee culture in George Town in booming and hence many theme-based cafe like Selfie Coffee (yes, it is the coffee with your own foam-based selfie on it). Anyway, here are some of the food trails we've covered while we were there:

1. The retro way of toast bread - at Toh Soon Cafe (it is located at a small back lane and usually very packed):

2. The must try Penang Laksa - near the base of Penang Hill:


3. Hawker Food Trailer - at New Lane (the best part of hawker food is that you can order variety of foods and share, which is what we did):

4. The artful cafe - China House (a very long cafe with many art pieces, they even have an art gallery at the second floor, the cake are a bit pricey but its yummy): 

Art Gallery at the second floor (1)
Art Gallery at the second floor (2)
Art Gallery at the second floor (3)
4. The cheap and sumptuous sea food lunch - at Restoran Sun Yoon Kee: 
The boss of Sun Yoon Kee Seafood restaurant (Mr Gan) is very jovial

The Visited Places:
Penang, as a state is not big but it houses quite a number of famous tourist attraction. Penang Hill, Clan Jetty and Kek Lok Shi temple, Snake temple and the recent murals/street arts, just to name a few. Of course, within the short period of time there, I managed to cover only a fraction of them.

1. The Clan Jetty: 

2. The Murals/Street Arts - I didn't cover all the painting and took only a few of them:

3. The Monkey Beach - Yes! There are monkeys on the beach :

4. Penang Time Tunnel - The history of Penang with a mini-scale 3D painting museum:
The ticket officer looks a bit like Tom Cruise! lol

5. The Penang Hill - The tram with about 45 degree slope is worth a try (RM30 for foreigners and RM8 for locals):

There are also many first time experience for me during the trip, some of the most memorable ones are :

1. First time travelling with the yet-to-know friends. The experience is cool and enriching as opportunity is what we need to turn unknown into known.

2. First time making a Jump photo Shoot (and I am the only guy).

3. First time doing a video interview (even though it is a casual one but it is still my first time). Can't wait to see myself in the clip lol

4. First time staying in an hostel (even though it is a better quality one).

Oh, by the way, March is the durian season there, so if you are a durian lover, it is a good time to visit Penang as my local friend there told me that Durian from penang is superb!
 
For those who are planning to go Penang and need some advice/information, feel free to let me know and I am more than happy to share with you what I know (while my memory is still fresh).

Cheers!

6 comments:

  1. Hi Richard,

    Looks like you had an amazing trip! So many firsts that you did! All your photos are making me jealous and now I feel like visiting Penang again!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. GMGH : Thanks for dropping by and comment. Yup! Overall, it is a memorable experience and I really enjoyed it. Not sure when was you last visited Penang, it changed quite a bit and definitely worth visiting again (especially now the exchange rate is to our advantage).

      Cheers!

      Delete
  2. Hi Richard,

    Penang certainly looks very interesting. Wish I have a chance to visit it next time.

    Thanks for the sharing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SRSI - you are most welcome! Ya, I think you should revisit this vibrant city once again..

      Delete
  3. Do you bring your wife along, Richard?

    ReplyDelete

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