Wild Rose Travel

Georgetown, Penang

October 2022

Situated in the North West of Malaysia is Georgetown, the capital of Penang state. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008, be sure to add it to your Malaysian itinerary.

From the Cameron Highlands, the journey to Georgetown is a 2-3 hour bus, followed by a short 30-minute ferry. Make sure you time this right – we managed to catch the last one of the day!

Accommodation

We walked from the ferry jetty to our hotel, which took around 20-minutes. Staying in Little India, we opted for a private double room shared bathroom set up in Cocoa Mews Homestay – which can be found here. This cost £23pp for 4 nights, working out at £5.75 per night, and was definitely worth it. There was only two bathroom’s (three showers) which wasn’t a lot shared between quite a few rooms but it worked okay. There was also a full kitchen dining area, and utility room with an iron, dryer etc., and free water cooler which proved useful.

Click here for the hostel we stayed in – Cocoa Mews Homestay

Street Art Tour

Georgetown and the Penang district in general is most famous for its street art, with lots of tourists coming to the area to see it. We located a few of the famous pieces on maps.me and planned a walking route ourselves to cover them. This worked well, as you then don’t have to see the one’s you’re not as interested in on a group tour, and can walk at your own pace.

We found that some of the pieces had worn away quite a lot, and there wasn’t much left to see. However the most famous pieces were still in tact and it was an enjoyable activity walking around spotting them all.

Kek Lok Si Temple

We took the local bus from the centre of Georgetown (number 203 or 204 takes you to the base) to Kek Lok Si temple, which took around 40-minutes. They operate frequently so we just waited at the bus stop and hopped on the first that came.

Kek Lok Si is a buddhist temple, built between 1890 and 1930 and standing as the current largest temple in Malaysia. It is situated on top of a hill, with various sights at different gradients up the hill. You can either walk it, or get on various transport links throughout the different stages including a golf buggy and inclined elevator. If you don’t opt for the transport, the visit is entirely free. Once at the top, you can see for miles over Penang. It is definitely worth a visit whilst in Georgetown.

Chew Jetty

The jetty is within walking distance from the main centre of Georgetown – and is a nice addition to the street art walking tour (there are a couple of pieces of art at the end of the main jetty itself). There are also a few jetties in the same area you can walk up, all providing good sunset spots over the water too.

All along the jetty you can find shops and stalls selling clothes, souvenirs and various foods – including lots of ice cream! It is a nice way to break up the in-city walking, and get a bit of fresh ocean air.

Little India

As previously mentioned, our hotel was situated within Little India and we were therefore kind of forced to explore and walk through it every day. I am glad we did, as I don’t think it’s an area we would have otherwise visited.

Full of market stalls and shops, this area really does feel like India. You can pick up local spices and foods, and have a huge selection of Indian restaurants to choose from for dinner too – some popular spots I’d recommend include “Penang famous Samosa” which is a little food stall (perfect for a snacky lunch!), and “Kannaa’s Bamboo Masala Biriyani Penang.” The latter includes tables indoors.

Cafe Hopping

Another thing Georgetown is known for is its artsy cafes and cosy spots to chill. One of my favourite’s was a cafe called ‘The post card shop’ – yes they sold postcards too! The interior was quirky and the coffee was good. The best part was it backed on to the famous swing street art – and a little lane full of stalls and further cafes. You could buy souvenirs, jewellery, clothes and various antiques here. We accidentally stumbled upon this lane whilst looking for the cafe toilet!

Night Market

One of the most simple, yet best meals in Malaysia was the Wantan Mee, purchased from a famous little stall during the night market set up on weekends. This particular market is located opposite the Love Lane junction. The older couple on the corner seemed to be the most popular and serve the better food out of all options – and it was definitely worth a small queue. It isn’t the biggest night market, with only a few vendors to choose from but it is still a cheap and easy meal out that’s worth a try.

If you don’t take away, expect to eat your meal in traditional Malaysian style – seated on small plastic tables and chairs in the street, often sharing with other tourists/locals.

Unique Penang Gallery

When walking and exploring from our accommodation into the centre on our first night, we stumbled across an art gallery/shop called “Unique Penang” in Love Lane. Inside were an array of souvenirs, jewellery and postcards. After looking further, they had a system in place where you could purchase a postcard and postage costs (RM6 total – approx. £1) and then choose a date in the future for the card to be sent to you. So after choosing your selected print, you write a note to yourself (or somebody else) on the back of the postcard, and pop it into a slot on the 365 wall calendar. Each slot resembles a different day of the year, and the postcards get shipped by the shop owner on that date – I absolutely love this idea! Even if you don’t want to post a card to your future self, it is definitely worth a look inside.

Next stop – Langkawi