On the 30th Sept I took the dive into the world of international travel again in a post COVID world.. to say I was excited was an understatement! Think 4 hours early to check in at the airport excited! In only 12 short hours I would be in Penang, Malaysia.
Hubby, our besties and I boarded our Air Asia ready to take off! Air Asia have an app that can highly recommend downloading – it keeps all your boarding passes in one handy location, gives you updates on where you baggage is at and sends messages if you have a gate change etc.. plus you earn points every flight you take to spend on the aircraft or for future travel.
The plane itself was clean, room for my knees (I am 5’7 and I could cross my legs). There is no seat back entertainment or USB chargers and the seats are leather not cloth so can be a bit hard under tooshi. Load up your devices with your fav shows & music and you will be sorted.
Flight left at 9pm SYD time and there were drinks, food and duty free items you could purchase until 11.30pm when the lights went out. All staff were friendly and attentive. My hot tip is to bring an eye mask to block out the lights if you want to snooze once you get on board.
After a smooth flight and landing into KL at 3.55am local time we had 3 hours to wait for our connecting flight. Our baggage was connected the whole way through to Penang but we did need to clear customs – a very easy and fast process.
Landing in Penang at 7.30am we were greeted with our bags and Starbucks for a coffee was a welcome sight!
We had arranged a private driver, Morgan, who met us as we exited the baggage claim area and we were off! 30 min drive to the hotel – Jen by Shangri-La Penang.
The hotel is located in the historical Georgetown area, a perfect location to walk to bars, restaurants, top attractions and has a large shopping mall right next door.
Our room was pleasant, clean and large enough for 2 people with bags, sitting area and table. Breakfast was incredible! Pastries, hot and cold options, made to order omelette station, noodle and dumpling station too.
Penang has so much to offer and over the next 3 days we did it all!First stop was The TOP - a "must see" attraction only 2min walk from the hotel - it is an interesting attraction with some kids arcade areas, restaurants and a restaurant at the top where the incredible viewing platform is. You can also find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!
We had our first of many amazing meals in Malaysia this afternoon with a special high tea. I will give you a sneak peak here but you will have to make time to read our Malaysia food journey blog for all the amazing restaurants we visited and to see the mouth-watering food we enjoyed.
This was at a restaurant called Mano for their Harry Potter themed high tea.
This afternoon was spent discovering the local bars and one that would be showing the sacred NRL grand final from back home! Found a great bar called Brew Bar - happy hour prices were fab and it was jam packed full of Aussie's watching the game. Hubby came out happy - his team won :)
Dinner was around the corner at Manchu, this moody, funky Japanese influenced restaurant that has live music come 8pm
After a great night sleep we were set for a full day of sightseeing! We drove an hour south to Lakeside Resort - a gorgeous resort area with a beautiful lake and you can also see the Orang utan's.
It was then off to Kampung Agong. Located in the countryside, known as an "Agro Themed Park" There are so many things to do here from horse rides, mini animal farm, exploring the rice paddy fields, bird watching (there are over 15 different types of birds to spot here) but what it has become well known for in recent times is it's mega hot instagrammable spots - we took allll the photos!
After a well deserved relax beside the pool this afternoon we headed to Love Lane - a street full of funky bars and restaurants to have another mouth watering dinner at The Loft,
After dinner we jumped in some tri-shaws and had a tour of all the street art that Penang is famous for - head over to our separate blog on all things street art! Here is a photo sneak peak
Day 3 and today we enjoyed a private tour with Morgan to see the city sights of Penang. We enjoyed a funicular ride to the top of Penang Hill and then explored the area via golf buggy! The views over Penang city were breath taking, we also saw the Penang version of love lock lane, said hi to some monkeys, paid our respects at Sri Aruloli Thirumurugan, the Penang Hill Hindu temple. Built in the 1800's it is one of Penang's oldest Hindu temples.
Heading back down the hill we then went to Kek Lok Si Temple. Built in 1891 it is the largest Buddist temple in Malaysia. We lit a candle and paid our respects as well as hanging well wishing prayers on the wishing tree. Then it was a drive to see the Clock Tower on the way to Chew Jetty. Chew Jetty is actually a village built on stilts built by pioneering Chinese immigrants. There are 8 jetties in total and each comprises of row houses built on stilts joined by wooden walkways over the water. To this day people still live in these houses.
Tonight's dinner was an out of this world degustation experience at Beso Rosado, here is a sneak peak!
Our last day today in Penang and we hit the beach at Batu Ferringhi. We got to go parasailing and it was awesome!! The view was incredible and we even saw dolphins!
The beach was lovely and there are so many water sports you can enjoy - banana boats, jetskis, boat trip to Monkey Island and more.
Before we knew it, it was time to head to the airport and get our flight to Kuala Lumpur!
Penang was not what I expected at all, I loved every moment and wished we had longer. We will be back for sure! Keep reading for Part 2 - Kuala Lumpur!
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