Another work trip, this time to Penang in Malaysia, my 1st time there! Malaysia in South Asia is a country which is culturally diverse (a mixture of cultures and races all supposedly living happily together - ask me about this offline). It is made up of mainly Malays, Chinese, Indians and some Japanese I believe. The good thing is one can get each type of cuisine in the same restaurant! Malay food is mainly deep fried I discovered (seems different from one of my favourite restaurants in London called the Satay House – fab Malay food near the Edgware road). Anyway, beautiful tropical Penang State (Negeri Pulau Pinang) is made up of the Mainland (Seberang Perai or Province Wellesley with Butterworth has the main town) and Island (Pulau Pinang) – the Penang bridge connects both parts and it’s apparently the longest bridge in Asia; the residents of Penang state are known as Penangite. We stayed on the Island at the hotel Equatorial on Jalan Bukit Jambul in Bayan Lepas. This is a very nice hotel with a good gym/spa, great customer service and golf course (if one plays golf!) It is also a good location for conferences, hmmmm L Although we were extremely busy with work we did manage to do a few things there.
Georgetown (Tanjung) the state capital is a must visit; it's named after King George III - Malaysia was colonised by the British hence the beautifully preserved colonial architecture that can still be found in Georgetown, and, everyone speaks English (and they still drive on the right!). Also here are most of the hotels, restaurants and bars. We tried the Opera restaurant which is a Thai restaurant I believe – very good food, and the Soho Free House (feels like an English Pub).
The Slippery Senoritas or SS for short – a somewhat dodgy joint! More or less a meat market! Then there was 'Momos' with a drag queen comedian! she/he was somewhate crude but very entertaining
.The magnificent or should I say grand E &O hotel! (Eastern Oriental) It has several great bars and restaurants (too expensive to stay and definitely out of policy! Shame! L ) It was built in the 19th century and has been evolving ever since, the food is splendid and the service is great (we did a bit of karaoke at the bar – good laugh!). This hotel is very similar to the Raffles hotel in Singapore but not as big.
Batu Ferringhi is the beautiful tourist beach in Pulau Pinang; we spent a weekend there at the Shangri-la Rasa Sayang – an amazing 5 star hotel on the beach with fantastic customer service once again! The Chi Spa here is highly recommended, I did the milk and honey wrap and a 3hr manicure & pedicure – out of this world! There are many beach activities available on the beach such as jet skiing, horse riding, sailing, parachuting (which I did, see photo attached - don’t laugh!)
Shopping is good in Penang, everything is cheap! I only visited one mall and that was the Queensbay mall – the acclaimed longest and largest mall in Penang! It has everything you need on several floors! It has all the popular shops and restaurants including TJI Friday (I didn’t go there honest! I know I know, cheesy right?)
I liked Penang a lot (even though there are many tourists here & it’s very similar to Thailand). Highlights of the trip where the Spa treatments (they seem to be available everywhere) and the amazing customer service (they are ever so friendly), can’t wait to go back!
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