I've been living in Bangkok, Thailand since April 2012, and in order to save money I opted to take the slow train from Bangkok all the way down to Butterworth, Malaysia. One-way train tickets from Bangkok to Butterworth are about 1,050 THB (2,100 THB round-trip). The ride from Bangkok to Butterworth is a total of 22 hours, so it's quite a long train ride. Along the ride, the train passes through several notable Thai cities, including Hua Hin and Hat Yai. About 18 hours or so into the journey, everyone must deboard the train (and then later reboard) at the Thai-Malaysian border in order to pass through both countries' customs and immigration. Being an American, I didn't need a pre-acquired visa to enter Malaysia. My passport entry stamp granted me 90 days to stay in Malaysia, and I didn't need to pay a cent for it. On the other hand, I did have to acquire a Thailand re-entry permit for 1,000 THB before leaving Thailand. Expats living in Thailand on the proper visa must acquire a re-entry permit before ever leaving Thailand, or else their current Thai visa will be rendered invalid upon exiting Thailand. A waste of money and a pain in the ass to say the least.
Upon arrival in Butterworth, I immediately walked right over to the ferry that takes passengers over to Georgetown. Butterworth is on mainland Malaysia, while Georgetown is on Penang island (check out a map to understand what I mean). Even as a first-timer in Penang, I felt it was quite easy naviagting without resorting to using taxis. Google Maps on my mobile phone helped me tremendously. The 20-minute ferry ride from Butterworth to Georgetown is only 1.2 MYR, and the ferry ride going back from Georgetown to Butterworth is free. I found myself going back and forth on the ferry quite frequently, but not necessarily because I was interested in checking out Butterworth. Actually, the ferry ride is one of the best places to snap amazing photos. The sea surrounding Penang is quite blue and clean, and the landscape looks great from the ferry.
One thing that really surprised me about Penang was how busy it felt (in comparison to what I had imagined). Penang is not some quaint little island. Traffic jams are a dime a dozen, and the island has far more people than I had anticipated (around 1.5 million). Just like Bangkok, Penang's traffic flow has an equal amount of cars and motorcycles, which makes crossing the street a complete nightmare. On the plus side, the further you move away from Georgetown, Penang's most densely populated area, the less busy things become. Once out of Georgetown, tourists are few and far between and noise reduces significantly. Of all of my ten days in Penang, my fondest experience was when I went to the far western end of the island and just walked around snapping photos. The atmosphere was perfect, I didn't see any other tourists, I didn't have to constantly avoid traffic, and the quietness was blissful.
One of the first things you'll learn about Penang after a bit of research is that it's a proclaimed "food heaven." While I think that description is a bit over the top, Penang does indeed have quite a variety of delicious food. Penangese cuisine can be divided into three categories: Chinese, Malay, and Indian. I'm not fussy about food, so I was easily impressed by most of the dishes I tried. However, I would have to say the Chinese food was the least impressive. After asking several locals which dishes are a "must-try," they all gave near identical responses. Curry noodles and Hokkien noodles were the most recommended. I found both of these dishes to be a bit bland and mediocre. On the other hand, amazingly good Indian food can be found for dirt cheap everywhere in Penang. This is unlike Bangkok, where most Indian food is served in expensive "upscale" restaurants, and one must go deep into the depths of dingy Little India to find reasonably priced Indian cuisine.
Most of the Malay food in Penang was unsurprisingly Asian-Islamic style - no pork, lots of barbecue, and lots of curries. Unlike some of the Chinese dishes, I don't think there was a single Malay or Indian dish I tried that I didn't like. From a non-fussy food lover's point of view, I'd say Penang is about equivalent to Bangkok in how tasty most of the local cuisine is. Penang is also about on par with Bangkok when it comes to food prices. I rarely paid more than 10 MYR for any of my meals, and I almost always left the table full and satisfied.
Another plus Penang's got going for it is its food hawker centers. Anyone who's visited Singapore should be familiar with these. They're basically open-air food courts that serve a large variety of food for reasonable prices. They're all over Georgetown, and one doesn't need to walk far to spot one. Bangkok is WAY behind in this regard. Food vendors clutter Bangkok's already severely congested sidewalks, often bringing pedestrian foot traffic in major areas to a snail's pace. If there's one thing in Bangkok that makes me want to pull my damn hair out, it's the atrocious sidewalks. Bangkok, if you're listening, dear Lord please consider creating more open-air food hawker centers, because your sidewalks are some of the worst I've ever been witness too!
Now that I'm on the topic of sidewalks, how does Penang's sidewalks fare? I love walking and I despise taxis, so the "walk-ability" of a city is very important to me. Vendors aren't really a problem at all in Penang, however, many of the sidewalks are non-existent or in total disrepair. For the majority of my ten day trip, I had no choice but to walk on the side of the street, which made me very vulnerable to being clipped by motorcycles and car side mirrors. I had a lot of close encounters. Another strange thing about the sidewalks is the massive, uncovered trench that seems to pass through the majority of Georgetown. One could easy fall into this trench and twist their ankle, break their leg, and/or possibly die if they weren't paying close enough attention. I wouldn't recommend stumbling back to your hotel after a night of heavy drinking!
The weather in Penang was damn near identical to that of Bangkok - hot and rainy. Lots of hot, sweat-inducing sunshine followed by random bouts of intense rain. It rained at least five of the ten days I was there. A few of those days the rain seemed never-ending. When walking around the streets of Georgetown, there's very few places to hide in the shade, so I had to wear lots of sunscreen to protect myself from the intense sun. Rain was often accompanied by wind, meaning weak umbrellas will just fall apart on rainy days.
Penang feels like a safe place to be. I don't remember any moments where I felt like I was in physical danger, unlike Manila, Philippines and Phnom Penh, Cambodia. There weren't too many hustlers/touts chilling out around the tourists spots either, unlike in many other Asian cities, particularly Bangkok. The only time I really got bothered by touts was on northern Penang Road (an area with a few bars and nightclubs) and by taxi drivers at the Butterworth-Penang ferry dock. In regard to touts, Penang is very comparable to Vientiane, Laos. They're there, but they're not constantly harassing you like in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
When it comes to tourist attractions, Penang doesn't really have anything too particularly interesting. Penang is mostly the kind of place you go to relax and soak up the vibes. It's not really a place you go to to sight-see. Nonetheless, there are still a few notable things one could do. My favorites are:
1. The Penang Butterfly Farm in Penang's far west town of Teluk Bahang (only go if you enjoy photography, otherwise don't bother). 27 MYR for an adult ticket.
2. Penang Hill in Air Itam, Penang's north central area. This is the best place to see a scenic view of the Penang cityscape. 30 MYR for an adult ticket (assuming you want to use the train that takes you up to and down from the top).
3. Spend half a day walking (or riding a bicycle) around Georgetown. Check out the historical buildings and all of the murals painted on the sides of buildings. After that, check out the old Chinese fishing neighborhood in eastern Georgetown called the Weld Quay Clan Jetties. All of this could easily be done in only a few hours.
4. Spend half a day at Batu Ferringghi, Penang's mediocre beach area. Don't expect to be too impressed here. The beach is comparable to Hua Hin in Thailand.
5. Spend an evening or two walking around to all of the hawker centers, trying as many different dishes as possible. Make sure you eat a healthy dose of Chinese, Malay, and Indian cuisine.
Penang rates very high in terms of how photogenic it is. This is very important to me, because I consider myself a photography enthusiast. Penang is very colorful, there are many different ethnicities of people (about half of which are ethnic Chinese), the coastline is quite lovely, and the local food looks pleasing to the eyes. Like the Thais and unlike the northern Chinese, the Penangese seem fairly easy-going about having their photo taken. After a polite request for permission to take a photo, most people were more than happy to allow me to photograph whatever I wanted, whether it be of them or of their shop.
Cost wise, Penang is very comparable to Bangkok. The one thing that is definitely more expensive in Penang than in Bangkok is the price of snacks in 7-Eleven. Practically everything I buy from 7-Eleven - diet cola, fat-free yogurt, and nuts - were all about 20% more expensive in Penang. However, restaurants, shopping, and accommodation were all about the same price as Bangkok's. Penang has many small inns and guesthouses that are relatively clean and cheap. The average price I paid per night for a single room was around 50 MYR. I don't do shared rooms in hostels. As for public transportation, I took the bus when I needed to go long distances, and I never paid more than 4 MYR for a ride. I never once took a taxi, so I don't have a clue what their rate is.
One major plus for conversational Mandarin speakers like me, is many people in Penang, the ethnic Chinese in particular, can speak Mandarin. Most people can also speak passable English, but I'd say it's much better to communicate with most people in Mandarin than it is in English. Malay would be the most useful, Hokkien the second most useful, Mandarin the third most useful, and English the least useful. Don't let that scare you though - you'll get by mostly hassle free with only English and a bit of miming.
On a side note, most of the locals seemed blown away that I could speak Mandarin (I'm a young Caucasian guy). Many of them looked at me in complete disbelief. I can't count how many times I was told "you're the first foreigner I've ever met that can speak Mandarin." I found speaking Mandarin with them also made them ease up a bit. Practically every sign in Penang is written in traditional Chinese characters and in Malay, so if you can read Chinese or Malay, that's a plus. Many signs are also written in English.
And finally...the women. This is what all of you guys have been waiting for. Well, I have good and bad news. The good news is Penang would rank very high on my list of best places in Asia to find a potential wife. However, it would rank very low on my list as a "pump-n-dump" destination. I saw countless beautiful ethnic Chinese women, and the most physically attractive ones seem to flock to posh cafes. If you're a fan of the women in China or Taiwan, then you'd likely also be a fan of the ethnic Chinese women in Penang. Many of them look amazing and are more mild-mannered and classy than their mainland counterparts. The bad news is there are a notable amount of pudgy and overweight girls, just like in Thailand and Singapore. I also rarely found myself physically attracted to the Indian and ethnic Malay women. Sure, there were a few lookers here and there, but to my tastes they were few and far between. I also have little to no interest in Muslim women.
As I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm already in a serious relationship with a mainland Chinese woman, so I'm not on the prowl for any other girlfriends. If I were a single guy serious about marriage, then I'd definitely be looking around Penang. Those interested in ethnic Chinese women, but turned of by the idea of living in mainland China or Taiwan should consider Penang. I found being a Mandarin speaker gave me an "in" with some local women. I imagine if I weren't a Mandarin speaker, many women would have just looked right past me assuming I'm just another typical tourist. My interactions with the local women were mostly positive - obviously light-years beyond that of most of my interactions with American women.
After it's all said and done, I enjoyed my trip in Penang, but I likely won't return there for quite some time. Besides just being a nice place to chill out and soak up the vibes, it doesn't have much to offer tourists. Penang seems much better as a place to live than it does as a place to travel. Unlike Bangkok, Pattaya, and Phnom Penh, Penang isn't flooded with so many slimy, criminal-looking tourists, but it's just not a very entertaining place to travel to (for a guy like me). Would I travel all the way across the world just to see Penang? Certainly not. But since I live in Bangkok, it was worth seeing at least once. If you live in Asia, give Penang a try. If you live in Europe or North America, I wouldn't bother (unless you're also going to other destinations during the same trip). I'll probably return to Malaysia next year to see Kuala Lumpur. Penang summarized in three words: Taiwan meets Singapore.
If you enjoyed reading this thread, please also check out my previous trip report on Laos: Everdred's "10 Days in Laos" Trip Report. If anyone has questions, feel free to ask. Thanks for reading!
(Note: all of the above photos were taken by me using a Pentax K-01 digital camera.)
(As of October 31st, 2013:
1 USD = 31.1 THB
1 USD = 3.16 MYR
1 MYR = 9.86 THB)
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