Malaysia: Penang. National Day 2019

This trip was a bit of a lucky break in that I still had some discount codes for previously cancelled flights that were about to expire, and a new direct flight to Penang from Kunming was still in its early days and so cheap. Combine the two and a very reasonable National Day Trip materialised.

Mam and Dad have spent years talking about Penang. Then some friends of mine went and just loved it too. Jealousy being a big problem of mine, I shuffled it to the top of my travel list and am very glad that I did.

I spent 3 days in Penang before going to Kuala Lumpur for the reminder of the week. So a fast introduction to the country but a very good first impression.

I stayed in Georgetown in a very nice little guesthouse with a very efficient landlady. She basically wrote daily itineraries for me to follow ensuring I got as much in as possible. I did maybe half of what she recommended but loved it.

Penang has a reputation for being a food lovers paradise so my first task was to find the food! I lost count of the number of prawns (which are my favourite) I managed to fit into my three days but it was well into double figures.

I felt most of the charm of Penang could be found when just walking about in the old town and getting lost. Luckily its not too big so you either hit water or a main road and can reorientate pretty easily.

As I always do, the first day is just wandering about and getting the lay of the land. Second day is when I actually go in search of something. This was my Penang Hill day with ultimate goal to get to the beach on the other side of the island. I managed the first only but for very good reasons.

Penang Hill is pretty much as it says on the tin; a hill that overlooks Penang. To get to the top is a 20 minute rollercoaster ride on the worlds steepest funicular railway, (I googled: Length: 907 meters (2,976 ft) Height: 319 meters (1,047 ft) Maximum Steepness: 50.5%), which on the way up was impressive, on the way down however was terrifying. 

At the top, as well as some stunning views, is a small collection of wacky museums designed purely to occupy a bit more time, some restaurants and a path to a new "wilderness walk". intrigued, I followed the signs and got to a ticket office, paid and walked out onto one of the few canopy treetop walkways in Asia. 

I suspect, as you had to pay extra, most people didn't bother because I nearly had the whole walkway to myself. Its a newly completed wildlife awareness and conservation charity run "habitat" that really is quite stunning. There are currently 5 pathways (I think) that all connect in a bit of a spiderweb design. Every now and again, there are swings or bridges with a huge structure at the top. I loved it! 
This was the reason I didn't make it to the beach, as I got completely sidetracked and spend over 2

hours in the quiet and chilled out treetops. 

My final evening in Penang, i spent wandering about looking for the famous street art. 

All in all, I was very taken with the small part (Georgetown) that I saw and have made it a permanent feature on the "to go bad to" list. 

Penang to KL is a very short and very cheap flight, or a 5 hour bus. I chose the flight!