PENANG

Flight: The next stop on our trip was to Penang. We flew with Silk Air and the flight duration from Singapore to Penang is approximately 1 hour 20 minutes. For this flight I was planning on sleeping the whole way through but halfway the flight attendant woke me up with a chicken pasty and water, I was not complaining (yes, I also asked for tea).

We were greeted with some freebies by the hotel, a box of Malaysian biscuits and a bottle of free water daily. We did get breakfast included with our room, which had a wide variety from Western to traditional cuisine available. The restaurant manager, was very friendly and made sure to speak to us every morning, he also recommended some local cuisines that we must-try.

Side Story - That One Rude Staff: One of the worse days on the holiday, weather-wise, was in Penang. It was absolutely pouring. The kind of rain which feels like its pushing you down into the ground, where its already left a steady stream of water to bathe your feet and footwear alike. Thankfully our hotel had those massive golf umbrellas. On the first night we arrived it was quite late and although it was raining, we wanted to go out and eat. That was when I first saw the umbrellas in the 'business centre' (a glass box-room with a computer and printer inside but there were umbrellas open to dry), no-one was around the area so I just assumed we could just take one and go (and return obviously), which was what we did. 

The next day however, I tried to do it again but was stopped by concierge, this staff member was older but he also had a different uniform on to the other staff nearby so I'm going to assume he is 'head concierge'. He was so rude! Okay, fine we didn't know that we had to go through him but the tone and the way he spoke to us was unnecessary; when I looked at his colleagues, they too looked uncomfortable. After gritting my teeth and writing down my room number I got an umbrella for me and J.C to which when he handed it over to me, he pointed it at me and then opened it. Yes, I got an umbrella to my face, and not just any umbrella, a massive golf one! I don't know if this is the 'proper' way to hand over an umbrella to a customer in Malaysia (I don't understand how) but I was astounded by the gesture. Next the other 3 girls tried to get 2 umbrellas even though they were sharing one room to which the guy said "no! Only one umbrella per room, we have xyz of customers in our hotel and it is not fair if you take 2" (for my readers knowledge, this was in late afternoon and I could see there were plenty of umbrellas still available). So the poor girls had to share an umbrella between the 3 of them, until one of the younger staff members ran after us and handed us another umbrella, apologising and hey! If my memory serves me correctly (as I don't remember scowling at him), he handed it over by the handle part of the umbrella, like a normal person.

Do: One of the attractions we visited was Penang Botanic Gardens. In contrast to my side story, this was on a very sunny and hot day so we decided to take the tram service, which stops at the main sites in the garden. Our driver was nice and also let us make extra stops for more pictures. The ticket cost 10 RM which is roughly £1.80 and the tour lasted around 30 minutes.

There wasn't a lot to see here, we were especially excited for the lily pond but when we got there, the only things we saw were turtles and although they were cute, they're not lily pads. The prettiest place for me, had to be the plant house (see below). Maybe if we had walked around leisurely it would have been a better experience. There were also monkeys roaming about in the garden so do be careful not to have food walking around, as they would love a bite too.

Another attraction we visited is the Chinese clanhouse Khoo Kongsi. Entrance fee was 10 RM. It is a small attraction so it would be nice to visit if you are around the area anyways. Penang is quite small so in this area there were a lot of other things to see nearby, such as the 3D Trick Art Museum and Penang's Street Art.

Onto the modern side of Penang is Gurney Plaza, a shopping mall which includes Sasa. Oh how I've missed Sasa (its like an Asian version of Boots, originally from Hong Kong but they now have stores worldwide). The shopping mall also has a food court with many restaurants and stalls. For our souvenir shopping we visited Batu Ferringhi Night Market, open from 7pm to late. There was an abundant amout of fake designer products on sale but they also have the typical tourist souvenirs available.

On one of our night's out in Penang we had decided to go bar-hopping in Upper Penang. One of the most popular bars in Upper Penang listed on Hotels.com was Soho Free House, advertised as a British Tavern and you know what? It did remind us of home except with much louder music. After one drink there, we had to move because we could hardly hear each other, not to mention we were probably the youngest group there. The next stop was suppose to be Slippery Senorita, we could see the sign glistening and calling out to us from the end of the road but before we could reach there, it started raining heavily. We decided to seek shelter at a bar called Olive Kitchen + Bar. It is very small and the plan was to get one drink until the rain stopped and we could move on but when we got to the counter we were handed a small card which had the magical words 'Ladies Night' written down, which meant free cocktails for ladies all night long. We were set and in our defence the rain went on for a long time anyways.

Side Story - Slapdash: We did feel bad for not having to pay at all but on the other hand that is the company's decision and we were on holiday. We ordered 4 rounds in total but on the 4th and last round, when it was my turn to go up and get the drinks along with S.H, we were met with a bewildered staff member behind the bar. The vibe was off for some reason, did we order too much? Were we taking the piss? When he was mixing the cocktails, every bottle he picked up he had to look at the label and when he was finished with one bottle it was like he was choosing what liqueur to pour next. That was when we realised why the vibe was off, he was not the bartender and he had no clue. Our 'cocktails' were so strong that we couldn't take more than a sip, the last game we played was "whose got the strongest drink". There may be some reading, who are thinking "whaaat, the stronger the better!" which may be true, if that was the cocktail you ordered and not just a mish-mash of random spirits.