In Penang for a weekend

Every time friends from the United States visit us here, we plan a trip together. This year, we traveled out of Manila; last year’s trip was within the islands.

As I had been dreaming of going to Penang for the two years already, I immediately suggested it.

Located on the northwest coast of Malaysia, Penang is known for its colonial architecture, incredible food culture like char kway teow and laksa with deep influence from Malay, Chinese and Indian cuisine.

And the best of all, Georgetown, its capital, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

After a month of planning, exchanging notes with everyone and the travel agent, we found ourselves on a plane to Kuala Lumpur. There is no direct flight from Manila to Penang so we were obliged to stay in the capital.

Lessons learned

In the morning, my doctor friend and I went to see the Batu Caves, a 400-year-old limestone hill in Selangor, 14 kilometers away from Kuala Lumpur. It is also a Hindu Temple dedicated to Lord Murugan. It is famous for its 272 vibrant, rainbow-colored steps with a 42.7-meter golden statue of Lord Murugan lording it over the entrance to the steps.

From there, we met our group in Petronas Towers. I have not gone to Kuala Lumpur in ages and Petronas was the popular destination during that time. Opened in 1999, it was the world’s tallest tower from 1999 to 2004. Back then, the area where Petronas was built was an open area. There were no buildings yet except the Petronas! Now, it is full of tall buildings with beautiful scaffoldings that make the city looking vibrant and modern.

Later that day, off we went to the Petronas Towers. We had lunch at one of the outlets in the food court of a mall below the towers. Malaysian food is distinctly Asian in flavors. Like our cuisine, they use a lot of coconut cream, soy sauce and fish sauce. Their cuisine is also on the spicy side so always ask the server to tame the spice if you prefer.

After lunch, we headed to the ticket counter of the tower. To our surprise, it had been sold out! Not just for the day but for the next two weeks! Lesson learned from this trip is to book your entrance tickets to popular tourist attractions way ahead in advance. As soon as you finalize your trip, work on the details, including tickets to book for attractions.

We ended up visiting and touring the TRX mall, one of the newest and most beautiful malls of Kuala Lumpur, the whole afternoon.

Our evenings were spent in Bukit Bintang Road, where all the big Chinese-Malaysian restaurants and a lot of food stalls are located. It is also a fun and a great evening food destination.

Our morning trip to Penang was tiring. What we thought was a four-hour trip became seven hours because of traffic. Coming in during the Lunar festival is not a good idea. We spent the whole night resting for our DIY tour of Penang the next day.

Off to Penang

We started with a visit to Penang Hill. It can be reached via the one section Penang Hill Railway. A 2-kilometer ride, one of the steepest funicular railways this part of the world will reward you with a spectacular view of Georgetown and Penang Island.

There are so many activities on top of the hill. A panoramic David Brown’s colonial restaurant is operating on top, a treetop walk, canopy walk, nature and wildlife watching and a tour of its flora and fauna can be arranged. You can also visit the Penang Hill Gallery @edgecliif where you can learn the history and conservation efforts of the hill.

Them we went to the Kek Lok Si Temple, Malaysia’s largest Buddhist temple with the towering Kuan Yin statue at 99 feet. It is the center of Chinese culture and Buddha teachings of Georgetown.

From there we headed to Armenian Street, a trade hub for the 19th century Armenian traders, located in the heart of Georgetown. The street is teeming with energy made famous for its rich cultural history, colorful restored shop houses turned into coffee shops and souvenir stores and iconic street art like the “little children on the bicycle,” “the cat at the window” and more. It is best to come early in the morning as it gets crowded in the afternoon.

The heat was a little searing now so some of our companions opted to go back to the hotel and half of the group stayed to discover more of the area.

Tucked in a little alley is the “The Parentage Society of Khoo Clan” complex, also known as the “Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi,” the largest Hokkien clan house in Malaysia. This temple is the largest of its kind in Malaysia. The complex has retained much of its historic setting like the association building, a traditional theater and the 19th century row houses for its clan members. These are now run as a Soori Penang Hotel, a 15-suite luxury boutique hotel with high-end amenities designed and operated by Architect Soo K. Chan of the SCDA Architects.

On the right bend lies the sprawling complex with the association building situated at the central property. Across it is the traditional theater which is still being used today for special occasions.

The buildings are elaborately and intricately ornamented with Chinese symbols and characters that dominated the presence of Chinese art in Penang, Malaysia.

That same evening, we went to a restaurant that serves Nyonya cooking. Mum’s Nyonya Cuisine is situated in a two-story apartment dwelling, where the ground floor serves as the main dining area with kitchen and the second floor their storage. We were served seabass in pineapple soup, a pork stewed in soy sauce almost like our “adobo” but subtle on the soya taste, chicken in Nyonya Curry style cooking, morning glory vegetable with sambal sauce and fried eggplants with garlic toppings. The food was exceptionally good!

Mansions galore

The next day, we visited the “Pinang Peranakan Mansion,” a quintessential architectural example of style that blends Chinese, Malay and European. All gold, the mansion is full of artefacts, textile and objects of art as collected by the present owner, Baba Peter Soon.

Off we went to see another mansion, this time the “Blue Mansion,” made famous by the mahjong session scene in Crazy Rich Asians movie. This time, the tickets were again sold out for the day. The next open date was another week, so better luck next time.

With the help of a riding app, the DIY tour is worth pursuing rather than buying a tour and be boxed like all the other tourists. You will have flexibility when it comes to the timing and touring the place of interests. As we anticipated another long traffic back to Kuala Lumpur, we started our day early to catch our flight back to Manila.

Looking back, Penang is an old jewel waiting to be rediscovered repeatedly. The food is exceptionally good and the people even friendlier.

Till the next trip.