My Penang tour, 2007

See Penang through my eyes

Penang! Oh glorious Penang! The beautiful tropical island of exceptional food, yummy girls, friendly people, pristine beaches and the eternally hot and humid climate. Penang will greet you with a warm kiss in the morning and pour a hot shower over you in the evening. But don't worry, you will be dry... and wet again in no time. This will be the last post of my 2007 Penang adventures. I definitely need to return one day and go on a foodventure. During that time I have tried a lot of awesome food, but I forgot to take photos. Well, I wasn't a blogger yet and taking pics of food was not something I would regularly do. But after being with a passionate Taiwanese blogger such as this cutie, I'm totally into food and blogging and food blogging. In the past, I usually went on long walks and took photos of the things I saw along the way. That's what I did in March 2007, when I decided to walk around Penang, from Gurney to Komtar. Let me show you my best photos:

The muddy waters along Gurney drive. On the other side is Peninsular Malaysia.

Penang is a mix of old houses and new high rise condos.

A colonial house. There are many on the island.

Penang is not really pedestrian friendly, the roads are much better for cars.

The water looked so good that day.

The Eastern & Oriental Hotel. Charlie Chaplin and Sun Yat-sen stayed here.

Not sure, what this building is, but it looks a bit like Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris.

This is the Penang Museum and Art Gallery (homepage).

Penang is sometimes spelled as Pinang.

This is Penang Town Hall, a beautiful building.

Another part of the Town hall. Read more about it on this blog.

Old streets in central George Town, which is the biggest city in Penang, the state.

New and old together side by side.

A big roundabout. And in the middle is...

The Jubilee Clock Tower, one of Penang's famous buildings.

The clock tower as seen from afar.

A food stall and locals enjoying their lunch break.

Malaysian construction site safety measures are not so strict.

Penang Customs Department Building or Wisma Kastam is a beautiful building.

I like the clock tower.

Bangunan U.A.B nearby. Not sure, what this is, but looks good.

And then I came to Little India.

The area is really nicely done. I wish I had someone with me to eat something yummy.

A nice Chinese temple close to the Indian Mahamariamman temple.

The Kapitan Keling Mosque, Komtar and another mosque at Acheen Street.

The majestic Kapitan mosque is really breathtaking.

Another smaller Chinese temple in the area. Penang is full of them.

This is only a small part of Penang. The state, the island, the city have so much more to offer. I wish I had a better camera last time, but on the other hand I'm happy I could at least take some decent photos for my own personal memory. I really had a great time in Penag, because I had just graduated and this trip was like a reward for me. Penang is full of precious memory for me and I cherish them. I know I will revisit one day, but as a different and older person. I had my 27th birthday in Penang, how cool is that? Anyway, it was tons of fun. Penang is amazing, visit, if you have the chance.

[My MALAYSIA page][My PENANG page][All photos by MKL, 2007]

Gurney Drive, Penang, Malaysia

Penang's place to be

Ah... Penang. When I hear this name, I get sentimental. Penang is the famous Pearl of the Orient, but it's also a city where I connect many fond memories. It's my own personal pearl. The name derives from the famous betel nut [檳榔 or bīn láng].

I've been to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong... but no place in Asia has the same charm as Penang. This city is different. On the one hand it's totally Malaysian: dense traffic, noise and extremely hot. But it's also a bit different, not only because it's located on an island, but because of its people. It's one of the few Malaysian cities, that has more Chinese than Malays (only Ipoh is more Chinese dominated). But you'll find all kinds of people there. It has a rich history and it's famous all over Malaysia, no, all over Asia for being a food paradise. You have a lot of tourists in Penang that come from everywhwere: Westerners, Japanese, Thais, Singaporeans and many more. I have a special personal bond with Penang, because my 3 months, that I spent there in 2007 were the best time of my life. I really miss those days. And most of the time I was in Gurney Drive. It's a vibrant part of Penang stretched along the northern coast, where you have a lot of hawkers, shopping malls, hotels, condos and a very long promenade along the shore. Let me show you some photos of Gurney.

Gurney is the part of Penang, where many rich people live.

There's a long promenade with benches stretched along the coast.

Gurney Plaza is the biggest shopping mall in the area. I have loved to go shopping here.

The front part of Gurney Plaza mall, where cars are allowed to pass. Usually guys would pick up girls after work here. Malays and Indian usually on scooters, Chinese usually in cars.

Here's a little plaza with cafés and restaurants. I loved to hang out here. It was always a good mix of locals and tourists, because of the hotel and the condo in the area.

Right is Gurney Plaza, on the left is a condo. This was in 2007.

The Sunrise Tower in Gurney. I used to live here. It was an amazing time.

Close to the Sunrise Tower.

A local night market was in the area. I always ate local delicacies here. It was divided in two parts, the biggest and the crowded one was with Chinese food, the smaller was with Malay and Indian food. That's because Muslims are not allowed to eat non-Muslim (non halal) food.

Cars parked along the main road in Gurney.

Gurney Drive was definitely one of my favorite parts of Penang. Of course the locals will say it's very touristy and that the food there is not the best, but the night market was usually bursting with people, especially on Friday and Saturday evenings. It was the place where I used to live, where I used to go every day and I started to like it. And sometimes I miss it. Back in 2007 the Gurney Plaza shopping mall wasn't extended yet, it was much smaller, but still good enough for a daily visit to the food court or to buy some small things. Living in Gourney is very convenient. If you ever choose to settle in Penang, I think that's the place to be.

Check also: My post about Gurney Plaza Shopping Mall>>

[My MALAYSIA page][My PENANG page][All photos by MKL, 2007]

Throwing condoms out of window in Penang

Because some people just love to be disgusting

During my stay in Penang, me and my now ex-girlfriend stayed in an big apartment in the Sunrise Tower, which is a condo in Gurney drive. We had one small room and a shared bathroom with some students (2 girls), who also had a room nearby. There were 2 guys living near our room on the other side. We shared a wall, but we did not share a bathroom with them. And then there was another couple, a guy from China with a local Chinese girlfriend. They were near the main entrance and therefore far from us.

It was basically a big apartment with 4 bedrooms and a big living room in the centre, a kitchen and even with a balcony that had a nice view. Everyone had the keys to the main door and to his own room. We didn't mingle a lot, everyone was mostly in their rooms. Sometimes me and my ex would cook something in the kitchen or hang clothes in the balcony and she would have small talk with some of the people who passed by, but that was all. The most shy were the two guys who lived together. I mean, 2 guys in one small room? Suspicious to me in the beginning. Anyway, I never thought that they were gay or something. I had other things on my mind.

So one day, when we were hanging clothes, I saw that there were condoms thrown out of the window (1st photo) where that couple stayed with the guy from China and a local girl. I was thinking how gross! Why can't you just throw the used condoms in the trash and take the trash out? How can you just open your window after sex and throw them out? Disgusting. What if it fell down on someone's balcony below? Yuk yuk yuk! Well, I've been in Malaysia and I've seen pretty gross things when it comes to garbage. Many people have no bad conscience for littering, it seems like it's no big deal to them. I saw people throwing garbage out of the car on highways. It's sad and I hope Malaysians will become aware that pollution and littering is bad for the environment and especially for the people (talking about health issues).

Well, my encounter with thrown condoms wasn't over. On the photo on the left are condoms thrown out of the window in that room with the two guys. I have no proof that they were gay, but I have a strong suspicion. Not only there's like so many condoms appearing as they were used recently, there's even a small tube of lube! And that makes the case pretty strong. Not that I care, whether they're gay or not (nothing wrong with that), but please if you have sex, don't throw condoms out of your window! It's gross. I was lucky to find out about this in my last days.

The thing is, in Malaysia, most of the windows are covered with window grills, so you can't stick your head out and have a look. I spotted those condoms, because I stretched out my arm and snapped some random photos with my camera just out of curiousity. Little did I expect that horrifying photo! Anyway, I hope people would put a bit more effort in throwing things in the trash and then bringing them out to the garbage bin. That's how me and my girlfriend did it and it didn't kill us.

[My MALAYSIA page][My PENANG page][All photos by MKL, 2007]

Tropical rain in Penang

We had so much rain lately here in Slovenia. Luckily there wasn't any floods where I live, but it was pretty bad in Austria and Czech republic, whole towns were flooded. But the rain here makes me depressed. It just doesn't stop, it can go for days or weeks without a break. I remember few years ago, one October, we literally had 14days of rain. Crazy! Well, now it was like 4-5days, still bad, but not as bad as autumn rains. This rain made me browse my old photos and I stumbled accross my Penang pics from 2007. One folder says 'rain torrent'. Then I remembered: It was the heaviest rain I ever saw! It was May and one of those periods in northern Malaysia, when it rained a lot. It poured like crazy, but it stopped pretty fast. That's what I love about tropical rain. It's finished fast and it's not so cold when it rains. And few hours after the rain, everything is dry already. I like rain, but only the tropical one. I hate the rain here in the northern hemisphere. Here's the pics from Penang in May 2007. It was taken from Sunrise Tower near Gurney plaza, from the 6th floor, where I lived. Amazing view and a very nice part of Penang. 5 min from the fabulous shopping mall and cafés and condos. Full of tourists and locals, very vibrant... Especially because of a big foodstall area near by, every night was crowded. I have very fond memories from that time. So, here's the pics:

It starts off slowly...

...getting stronger...

...and stronger.

Soon the whole road is flooded.

Look at the bikers, they're like on water scooters!

Soon there's a lake...

Cars having a hard time...

They're almost sinking.

That rain started fast and finished fast. And the lake was gone fast, too. In the evening, everything was dry already. If this were in central Europe, it would take days. That's why I love the climate in Malaysia.

[Photos by MKL, 2007]