Penang

[sabang]

We long suffering farangs are resigned to the indignity of renewing our annual Thai 'visitors visa', for it is nothing more than that. Of course part and parcel of this is the quaint Thai habit of making arbitrary, ridiculous and ultimately meaningless rule changes. Thus I found myself stateless, the day before my 5th "O" visa renewal, for the heinous crime of maintaining my primary bank account in Thailand in joint name with my wife- as indeed I have since day one in this Land of Stoopidarsed government. The latest arbitrary rule change had apparently slipped under my radar.

A quick Savannakhet trip was necessary to get a two month visitors visa sorted, and thus some breathing space to organise a trip to Penang, to coincide with the visit of my oldest acquaintance, being Mum. And re-organise my annual visa. What a circus.

Not that it's a real imposition to get me back to Penang- I have very fond memories of the place, going back to my first visit in 1982.




^ The Mingood hotel, whilst by no means the cheapest available, seemed an Ok deal for 100 ringitt per night- which at the prevailing rate is about 980 bht. It's pretty much how it looks- an aging, slightly threadbare hotel, certainly no four star job- but neither a fleapit. It was fine, as was the location on the edge of the Heritage zone of Georgetown. What really sold me on the place was the fact they have a visa agency located at reception, which got the nod of approval from a fair few web sources. So it proved- I dropped in my passport and application the morning after arrival, and picked up my annual non-Immigrant 0 visa with multiple re-entry visa the following afternoon. For a total fee of 600 ringitt- of which about 550 is the actual visa cost- I'm certainly not complaining. You don't even have to turn up at the Thai Consulate.
http://www.hotelmingood.com/

Thats the business over with, so lets have a walk around Georgetown.

[aging one]

I also stay at that hotel and recommend it highly. I just like a few days in Penang. Good food, good sightseeing, and easy.

[Butterfly]

not bad as a backup plan,

visa fee is actually 4,900 THB, isn't it ? I might try the 1yr extension thing this year to see how it goes,

[sabang]

Georgetown has a rich history, plus you can drink the tap water and the buildings do not fall down in a high wind. Obviously an ex-British colony. It's an interesting place to wander around and check out the streetlife, and some nice old architecture in varying states of repair from pristine to derelict.


Chulia St was a fine old brothel street in it's day, but it is now the main budget travellers area, with cheap hotels, bars, ladyboy streetwalkers, travel agencies and so on. Georgetown is far from gentrified really (all the rich people live elsewhere), in fact I was quite pleased to see it retains a seedy edge, but heres an example of a nicely renovated Villa building, converted to a nice Boutique hotel-




An old Chinese clan house- quite a few of these around.




A reggae bar, how original-




Another clan house-




One side alley specialising in nuts and bolts type stuff, another in dhobi, aka laundry.








Signs various.




Another tatty side alley.

[Bangyai]

I think if they had named it ' Mingegood ' they might get more customers but then that would have been false advertising I guess.

Nice thread Sabang. If I had the money I'd live in Penang full time. Very nice place.

[Chili Pepper]

Thanks Sabang, I have to do this trip myself next month and you've sold me on the visa service. The room rates on their website seem much higher than 100 ringett though?

I already did a Penang visa trip about 5 years back, last time I made a mistake to try Vientiane, a nice place for a few days break but the embassy procedure is a fooking joke up there.

[aging one]

Hit Yasmeen Restaurant right on the corner of Penang RD, and the street the Ming Good is on. Killer Tandoor, curries, rendang, an best of all Roti Canai, and long poured tea at about 15 or 20 baht a plate.

[sabang]

Ethnically Georgetown is quite a unique melting pot, you certainly can't miss the Chinese and Indian influence. Campbell St is very Chinese, which of course means there must be a wet market. In this case in a nice colonial style which certainly puts Thai wet markets in their rightful place, although the aroma is much the same-



As the aging one has pointed out, Penang is a great place to visit if you like your food. There are some nice dim sum restaurants along Campbell Street, including one right across the street from the market. I do enjoy dim sum, and we gorged ourselves there. For the farang, there are added benefits we lack and miss in Thailand, such as good cheap Indian and mid eastern food, lamb plentiful and not expensive, and it all washes down very well with the locally brewed Guinness- which, at roughly 9 Rt per small bottle is a lot cheaper than you will find in Thailand. You certainly won't miss pork for a few days.







A bit of art deco too-

[sabang]

I've never seen anything like this.



Sauntering around an alley off Chulia somewhere in broad daylight, this rat was not the least concerned by my presence. He proceeded into a small courtyard, of what seemed like a derelict house or maybe even a shooting gallery- Penang was once infamous for it's drug scene actually, and there are still some hard core druggies about- including some of the remaining rickshaw pullers, allegedly.



And he joined his friends. There was another, black cat just to the left of this photo. Truly weird, never seen that before-





Incidentally, would you buy a sign from this guy?



Didn't think so.


And a bit more Georgetown tattiness.

[sabang]

Nice thread Sabang. If I had the money I'd live in Penang full time.

Thanks Bangyai- I didn't think it was expensive, and I'm sure the less touristed parts of the Island would be cheaper still. That MM2H deal they've got going is superb- 150k ringgit deposited in an approved bank, interest paying, and you've got a guaranteed ten year multiple re-entry visa to come and go as you want. What are we doing in this lunatic asylum? Oh yeh, the wife of course.

The room rates on their website seem much higher than 100 ringett though?

Cheers. I rang them up, asked the price, and was quoted 100 with no bargaining. That includes a lousy breakfast of toast, and all the piss weak Nescafe' you can drink- but the roof terrace is nice. Yeh, the visa service is great Chilli.

Yasmeen Restaurant

Brilliant. Even closer, as you're walking there from the Minge is a place on the right called 'Sup Hameed'. Really liked that one too. Everyone must have Roti Chanai at least once in Penang, but I wager it will be more than once.
For that matter the nasi lemak place on the corner diagonally opposite the Minger is good too, and cheap. Just pile what you want on your plate from the various dishes on display (Malay & Indian), mine came to 5.50 R.

[larvidchr]

Nice thread Sab. Always liked my stays in Penang, most speak English, very laid back with great restaurants and nice watering holes, good food is cheap but lager beer about twice the price of Thailand in the better bars. Lots of good looking "birds" many mixed race if you are into bird watching that is. living costs are quite low certainly comparable with Thailand. And the locals seems generally more pleasant, genuinely smiling, and more easy going than Thais.

Ohh and as a curiosity compared to Pattaya, apart from the Airport I have hardly ever seen a policeman going about their business in penang, not even around the hotspots at night, yet they all wear helmets on their bikes without exception, and the streets seems quite safe even late night.

I like the place.

[sabang]

Upper Penang Rd is the end that culminates at the venerable old Eastern & Oriental Hotel, one of the grand old dames of the colonial hotel scene. It was built by the Armenian Sarkies brothers, who also built Raffles and the Strand in Rangoon. They still serve a High tea in the grand old tradition, and have a very nice bar called Farqhuars where you can have an expensive beer without resenting the price. If you haven't been there it's worth a visit, and it's still a lot cheaper than Raffles- which as everyone knows is an almighty rip-off these days.




Before you get there, you walk through the trendy nightlife precinct of Penang. We just wandered thru during the day, there are a few decent looking venues like this-



Right next to the E&O, this derelict building awaits sympathetic restoration-



And might end up looking like this one nearby-



Proceeding around from the E&O towards the pier is the Colonial section, with stolid old Brit architecture. Here you will find the Courts, the local government Assembly building, a church, stuff like that. And Swettenham Pier, plus Fort Cornwallis is nearby to protect it all from the restive natives and the nasty Dutch. Having done this all before I wasn't bothered, so we proceeded instead down the aptly named Love Lane back into the tatty parts. Love Lane wasn't so much a brothel street, as a place the colonials kept their dusky mistresses. A small collection of budget hotels along here these days, in fact I reckon this would be my el cheapo street of choice as it's pleasantly laid back and quiet compared to Chulia Street.

[Bangyai]

And a bit more Georgetown tattiness.

Last time I was in Penang a couple of years ago I also noticed that Georgetown was going to seed and that many buildings were falling into ruin. One evening, I asked the Chinese owner of an internet cafe why this was so ?

His explanation was that a lot of real estate in downtown Georgetown was in the hands of Indians and some Malays. All the colonial buildings were rented by Chinese people on peppercorn rents that had been frozen by the government since the British departed. Once these long term agreements expired the Malay government gave the landlords permision to increase the rents. This was in the mid 1990's and the Indian landlords felt they could create a boom town by redeveloping the whole area. They put the new rents high enough to encourage the Chinese tennants to move out, which they did in droves moving to new villages in the centre of the Island.

Then came the Asian crash and the boom never happened and the Chinese could not be persuaded to move back into town so the empty buildings are slowly crumbling.

On top of that, he said, came the Tsunami which didn't help the tourist industry plus a change of government that was more strictly muslim in outlook . All these facts combined to put the boot in on Georgetowns recovery, which IMO is great, since its one of the few places where the pace of life has slowed down rather than speeding up. At the time of my visit , brand new beach fron condos were being sold for half price but there were no takers.

[sabang]

I like Penang too larv, heck I could live there real easy. The booze is expensive, but really only about on a par with Bangkok prices these days- and Guinness is a good deal cheaper. Nothing wrong with the local Anchor beer either. Apparently there is a small but growing expat community in Langkawi too, which is a ferry ride from Penang. The booze is cheap there, because it is a duty free island.

Little India is clustered around Queen St in Georgetown- all of these places are easy walking distance, although you can always get lazy and bargain for a rickshaw. As luck would have it, it was Deepavali.



Quite a few stores around selling stuff, so we did a bit of shopping. Good place to buy Indian sandals and shirts.















You're certainly spoiled for choice in Georgetown if you're the religious type.











We'd eaten heartily and well in Georgetown, walked around a fair bit, and got my visa done hassle free. Three nights was about right, and now it's time to hit the beach amigo.

[sabang]

Last time I was in Penang a couple of years ago I also noticed that Georgetown was going to seed and that many buildings were falling into ruin

In fairness, it was also going to seed back in 1982. I was surprised really how little the old part of Georgetown had changed, considering that since then you've had the semiconductor manufacturing sector really take off in Penang, and of course the bridge linking it to the mainland was completed in 1985.

But now it's protected anyway- Unesco World Heritage status was granted in 2006. So you can't just knock down a building and put up a glass tower in the zone, fortunately. I do know some nasty developers tricks, one of which is to leave a 'heritage' building to rot- and thus get it condemned (with a little baksheesh), so that you can knock it down and redevelop. I suspect that will be happening here too- for example that derelict building I took next to the E&O is technically just out of the main Heritage zone. I suspect the owner wants to knock it down and put up an office building, and is playing the waiting game. And another fine old building lost.

The economic hub of Penang has spread towards the airport and towards Gurney Drive really. Gurney has really changed- lots of tall buildings there now.

[Bower]

Interesting thread, thank you.

[Stinky]

Lots of effort put into this thread Sab and it's very much appeciated, excellent photos and excellent thread mate

[Mid]

Penang , ham and bacon in Malaysia ......................

[dirtydog]

Got to admit I wouldn't mind spending a year or 2 in Penang, I would certainly put on a good few kilos, in Thailand i eat at max 2 to 3 times perday, Penang at least 4 times plus snacks, sweets, biscuits, just so much good food there.

[terry57]

Very nice thread, cheers.

I also like Penang and have been there many times.

Malaysia has many things over Thailand, a few things that spring to mind are locals that actually understand English properly, a reliable police force and banking system that is foreigner friendly, a brilliant retirement plan for foreigners that aren't surviving on the bones of there arse and some fine looking women but not as plentiful as Thailand.

Another good thing is that its not full of farang like Thailand is and this makes for a better relationship with the locals.

Yes, Malaysia is definitely on the cards for retirement.

[Bangyai]

Another good thing is that its not full of farang like Thailand is and this makes for a better relationship with the locals.

Yes, Malaysia is definitely on the cards for retirement.

Last visit, hired a Honda wave and went around the island. Batu Feringhi almost deserted . Beautiful road and beaches all the way.

Link to expat forum site to see what we're missing.

http://www.alloexpat.com/malaysia_ex...forum-f28.html

[NokTang]

Thanks for the information and photos.

I've got to do this in January, if you have time, please advise the following:

From the airport to the hotel, what sort of time and method and cost?

When you drop off your passport, do you need the forms, or do the have them? photos? copies(I assume they can make)

Thanks. Nok

[aging one]

One place I always visit is the waterfall Thitti Karawan its at the top of the mountain after you leave Batu Ferringi and are coming back around the island. Fruit and drink stalls at the top are the only indication of a waterfall. Its cool and refreshing and makes a nice break on the round island tour.

Our family of four had a Proton Savvy for the tour. Small and nice with an ipod adapter built in.

[sabang]

From the airport to the hotel, what sort of time and method and cost?

Most people get a taxi, it's a coupon system and I think (from leaky memory) the cost was around 40 ringitt, which is not too bad really. Not too great either- but don't bother haggling, it's fixed. It's around 40 minutes to your hotel in Georgetown, depending on traffic. To the main beach area at Batu Ferringhi, the cost is 65 or close.

But Penang has an excellent bus system, called Rapid Transit, and there is a bus that goes from directly in front of the airport terminal to the bus terminal in Georgetown. This cost is two ringgit something, dirt cheap. The terminus is under Komtar- the tall round building that dominates the Georgetown skyline (it's outside the heritage zone). From here, you can catch a cab to your hotel, or quite easily walk it if you're staying in Georgetown (and travelling light). If you're heading to Batu Ferringhi, you just change buses there.

Of course, it you're staying in a 'nice' place, you can get the hotel to do you a limo- it may well be part of the package. Or, if you stay in Victors place in Ferringhi (google), you can organise a transfer with them that is cheaper than the official taxi by a useful amount. Or, if you're the snide type, head up to Arrivals and hop on a taxi that has dropped people off- that'll save you the 'airport fee'. I've never tried this in Penang, and it being well organised Malaysia, maybe you can't do it. But in my experience, you generally can.

do you need the forms,

They have all of that- but of course you need your supporting documentation, such as fot's- probably thats all that is required actually, but do bring your bank statement or whatever is relevant just in case. What is dispensed with is the ridiculous, petty bullshit that they might lob on you in Thailand, such as a photo of your wife in her underwear or whatever.

In my case, I had gone ahead and opened a single name bank account, but it didn't have the requisite two or three (depending on which bullshit Thai immigration office you're stuck with) months of being deposited- because of course it had recently been transferred from our joint account. In Penang- no problem. In the Land of Stooopidarsed government- major hassle.


We're heading to Batu Ferringhi soon, and we're taking the bus there. But first a quick spiel about Penang, the 'pearl of the Orient'. Some people reading this will already know the place well, others not at all. So this is for the latter.

The old part of Georgetown gives you little clue that Penang is actually a perfectly modern, thriving place. Any place where Intel and the like has big factories does not move to the beat of the jungle drum. It has been on the tourist map forever- I'm talking back to ye olde Colonial days. The main beach resort of Batu Ferringhi has a Hard Rock Hotel & Cafe. Need I say more? OK, it's gotta Holiday Inn too.

It's not a huge Island- it would probably take 2 or three hours to circle it by car. The east coast free trade zone near the airport is where the factories and a lot of the commerce (and population) is. Quaint Georgetown is it's own fairly unique melting pot, and frankly not very Malay- they prefer to live out in their villages, or 'low rent' apartment buildings. The north coast has the developed beaches, in particular Ferringhi & Tanjong Bungah, and the latter in particular has a lot of upscale, modern condo complexes. Head down the west coast, and you're in a different land- Malay fishing villages, very quiet and pretty. Crowning it all is the mountainous, jungle interior- which is beautiful, still has much wildlife, and is relatively inaccesable.

So there are many Penangs. For most tourist visitors, it's probably Batu Ferringhi- quite a pretty beach, some nice resorts there, even a bit of a backpacking scene left. But for the 'beach purist'- as many westerners are, it is no world class beach resort. I'm personally not one to lie on a beach anyway.

Any first time visitor really should do the funicular railway up to Penang Hill- it's just as good as the Peak tram in HK imo, and it's beautiful up there. If done on a guided tour basis, it is typically combined with Kek lok Si Temple and the snake temple- both worth seeing too. Unfortunately as we speak, the tram is closed- major redevelopment happening, new trams coming, & typically for Malaysia they are gonna put up a flash casino resort. They just love turning nice old colonial Hill stations into bladdy casino's. So it will change, not for the better imo- but the jungle canopy will remain. It's due to re-open next year, I believe that mini buses take you up to Penang Hill currently.

Theres a fair few activities, most any taxi driver wants to be your tour guide and show you around- certainly at a reasonable price compared to the frozen north, though us Thai farangs aren't so easily impressed. It wasn't dubbed 'the Pearl of the Orient' for nothing. Well worth a look, and if you have the time and inclination well worth getting outside of the bog standard Ferringhi/ historic Georgetown tourist shuttle.

Oh, for the real beachy types, hire a boat to take you to Penang National Park- Monkey Beach and a few others are very nice indeed but watch out for the thieving monkeys. It's around the headland from Telok Bahang (next beach on from Ferringhi). For the fishermen- you'll catch fish no problems, the place is teeming with 'em. Loads of boats for hire from the beaches- they'll approach you. But if you can get Morgan- Tamil, old pal of mine, real nice bloke- I'd recommend him. He' was a fisherman, and knows the place like the back of his hand. Ask around on Batu Ferringhi beach, they all know him.

[sabang]

Yes, Malaysia is definitely on the cards for retirement.

I like day to day life in Thailand, and I have an affection for the people, but the system of governance stinks, as does the bureaucracy. Add to that the rise in the Baht, and objectively Thailand is not the shining retirement choice it once was.

With the excellent MM2H system they have introduced in Malaysia I admit that, viewed objectively, as a retirement destination Malaysia knocks spots off Thailand these days Terry.

How jealous I am- a five year visa, and guaranteed renewability for a further five years from a government you can trust. No re-entry visa's needed when you leave the country you just come and go as you want, no stupid report to your local fukked up immigration office every three months to show proof of existence, no stoopid arbitrary rule changes, no baksheesh. Plus your deposit in a decent (ie not Thai) Malaysian bank pays a commercial rate of interest- and you can bring your gear (including car) in duty free. You can even open a business there, and actually work in it. What Bliss.

Personally, if this place carries on going to hell in a handbasket I'm quite prepared to up sticks and move to Langkawi- duty free booze & cigs (), and for the wifes sake Thailand is just a short ferry ride. It's probably cheaper than Thailand there now too. Hey, no place is perfect- but Malaysia stacks up very well indeed, and is unsurprisingly attracting more retiree's and second homers.