December 22, 2014 ---- Our trip to Malaysia was planned for when Nathan and I were to be in southern Thailand for Nathan's research project, and I thought it would be nice to visit our neighboring country for the first time on our Christmas break. We also decided to invite my mom to join in on the trip, and my plan was to spend one night in Penang, one night in Malacca and two nights in Kuala Lumpur consecutively.
We started our journey by taking a van from Hat Yai, Thailand, straight to George Town, Penang, Malaysia. There are many van companies running this route, but we picked KST Travel because it was highly recommended among Thai people. It's a door-to-door service if you stay in the downtown areas in both Hat Yai and George Town. But if you stay outside of the city center, you have to make your own transfer.
The ride generally takes about 4 hours, but on the day we went to Penang, it took us 6 hours to get there due to the flood in southern Thailand and a change of border crossing; we didn't cross at Dan Sadao but at a farther border gate. As a result, we didn't get to George Town till almost 4 p.m. and that totally ruined my plan to visit many tourist sites in the city before heading to Malacca the next day.
In George Town, we stayed at Inn Residence 18 located right in the middle of the old town. The room for three people was nice, clean and comfortable, but the young receptionists didn't seem to know much about their town and couldn't recommend or help with anything. At least we got a town map.
George Town is the capital of Penang state and was found by a British trader back in the late 18th century. The inner city of George Town is known for being a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There were a lot of preserved houses, shops, and government buildings around the city. Since we had so little time in this charming city, we decided to just stroll through the old town looking at some wall paintings and trying local food.
Penang Island has more to offer than George Town, but because we didn't have enough time to explore, we only saw a fraction of it. If I could redo my plan, I would spend 2 nights there instead of one and have 1-2 full days to soak in the history and beauty.
Strolling in George Town
