Andaman daze

Soak up the culture on this island that blends ancient Malay, Asian colonial and Chinese immigrant influences in one fascinating destination. Penang is a favourite destination in Malaysia, combining tropical beaches with sophisticated hospitality and historic interest.

Soon you’ll be able to experience all this virtually before you come, this travel blog on Penang is the beta version of a full online travel guide that will include colour pics and hundreds of pages of tourist info on the island. Trust us we’re Asian travel specialists.

Penang has dozens of good excuses to attract you; be it great beaches, water sports, intriguing culture, multi-cultural cuisine, lush tropical hiking trails, botanical gardens, crumbling old architecture, colourful festivals and exotic temples. Experience it all here.

Shopping
Whether you need to pick up a few essentials or a seeking out that perfect engagement gift, we’ve got the inside story… more

Hospitality
Everything from cheap rooms in hostels to the best luxury hotels in town plus spas, restaurants and nightlife tips… more

What to see
All the top attractions listed in complete detail including city tours and highlights for those short on time… more

Malaysian Culture
This diverse and wondrous land is begging to be discovered by cultured visitors with time on their hands… more

Living here
Complete guide to everthing an expat is every going to need for long-term stays in Penang… more

What to do
Whether you want to browse for gifts, indulge in some pampering, play sport or see the sights… more

Peninsular Malaysia
Guide to areas of the countries which are an easy leap away from Penang for when the city gets too much… more

Getting here
All your transport needs taken care of in one simple section including plane, train or taxi… more

Before booking your flights and accommodation you should try to find discount vouchers online. There are several sites now offering this popular promotions tool for savings and bargains and one UK site we can recommend is discountvouchers.co.uk

The Penang music and dance scene is mainly based on the Kristang who are believed to have been a creole Eurasian ethnic group of people with Portuguese and Malaccan decent based in Malaysia and Singapore.

And in Penang, you will find the Kristang music and dance known as branyok which is mistaken for Malay joget which is believed to have developed from branyok.

The adoption of western musical entrustments and musical scales by native (tradional) Malay and Indian orchestras suggests that a strong Portuguese influence “jingkli Nona” is the most popular tune and is regarded as the unofficial “anthem” for the Portuguese Eurasians in Singapore.

Fado, the Portuguese music, is not part of the Kristang culture, since it originated in the 19th century, after most cultural links with Portugal were cut off.
The Kristang culture tends to have more joyful expression than the characteristic melancholic mood of fado.

Malaysia is a land of surprises, a multi-cultural nation with both bustling business districts and tranquil beaches. It is home to thriving gay population which is still emerging after years of remaining underground.

Whether you are looking for Penang-Beach, gay friendly accommodation, like a 5 star hotel, great nightlife or perhaps something a bit more homely, www.wotif.com/penang, is the site you should visit.

When you are traveling through Malaysia, why not pamper yourself and stay in one of Penang Spa Hotels which offer an excellent range of facilities, expert staff and heavenly treatments, just visit the above site. The following are some of the gay friendly you can visit in Penang, G. Hotel, Jerejak Resort & Spa, Sunway Hotel Georgetown, the Bayview Beach Hotel, the Gurney Resort Hotel & Residence and many more.

Another website that will give you all the information you need about fitness and saunas for men or any other related service and activities, is www.utopia-asia.com. It is celebrating 16 years of service to Asia’s gay and lesbian community.

Gay life in Malaysia in general, as in any other Asian countries, is blossoming despite the conservative religion-based discrimination and outdated colonial-era laws.

Former Deputy Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, was famously removed from office by trumped-up sodomy conviction that was reversed by the Malaysian High Court in 2004.

Malaysia, like many other countries, has a large number of different tribes and therefore there are also many dialects. In Penang people generally speak Malay or Bahasa as it is main official language of Malaysia. People in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei speak Malay as their first or second language, like English and other languages in the world.

Penang has many other different dialects, ranging from Batavian to Keletanese, each dialect has its own way of sounding and a native speaker of the language can usually tell a dialect from another.

Bahasa is the medium or instruction in schools and in universities, although English is taught as a second language and is widely spoken and generally understood.

Many other Asian languages and dialects are also spoken in Penang and in Malaysia in general including Mandarin and other Chinese dialects such as Hokkien, Hakka, and Cantonese. Also Tamil and other Indian dialects, Thai and Japanese.

Malay is an easy language to learn, as far as learning any language goes, it is deceptively simple in its structure, spelling is consistently phonetic and most sounds are pronounced in roughly in English.
For Example:

“If you can’t find it, bring another one”, in Malay is, “Ta jumpa, bawa lain” or literally “not find”, bring another one. That is the way Malay is spoken.

Penang and food, perhaps these two words don’t mean much to you but they certainly mean a lot to a real gourmet as Penang has been regarded as the food capital of Malaysia for ages. The amount of food is literally bombarding you while you are taking a walk along the most famous Lebuh Chulia (Chulia street, George town), where on each side of the street there is nothing but restaurants in the amount that your imagination would struggle to make up.

There are two great things that you will be astounded to know about Penang food, first is that the quality of food is flawless and the second nice thing is its variety, including cooking styles. Actually Penang is always referred to as a Mecca for food lovers when people talk about Malaysia.

Whether you are craving for something really exotic or just dreaming about making your belly as happy as it can possibly be Penang will do the job no matter what. Another great thing to know about dining in Penang is, whether it is a really fancy restaurant or just a little food stall on the side of the street it will cost you absolutely nothing to have a brilliant meal.

Since eating out in Penang is considered as the most favourite pastime you would certainly guess that most of the places are open 24 hours and they are. Local spices as well as imported are truly impossible to resist. A lot of tourists can end up eating even when they are not hungry, while just passing a little restaurant, simply a scent of local cuisine may drag you in for a while.

Came to Penang to have a quiet holiday and got bored of being it too quiet? Time to go to the most famous George Town and get entertained. The number of disco clubs and randomly hiding Chinese parlors with extremely cute Asian girls is incredibly high.

Whether you are craving for a cold pint of draft beer and willing to sit by the streets to watch people go by or dreaming of dancing being surrounded by beautiful Chinese girls, your best shot is George Town, it is literally the place to look for everything.

There are very few bars where you have to pay to enter and it usually happens only at weekends, in some of the places you may be asked to prove that you are over 18 years of age but that is only required if you would like to go to a nightclub (where may be some ladies of ‘unusual’ interest). Most of the places offer a very nice and friendly atmosphere with a great choice of drinks and food.

There are plenty of disco clubs where you can dance to the loudest beats of excellent music performed by local as well as foreign DJs. In case if you don’t enjoy loud music and would like to sip you drink in a quiet place or listen to live bands there are quite a few.

The most common and easiest thing to do to relax is to go to any bar, order a drink and the friendliness of local people will inevitably lead to a conversation, this is how most of travellers prefer to spend their evenings in George Town.

Penang truly has something mysteriously beautiful about the night time, as soon as it gets dark and the traffic slowly disappears you instantly begin feeling relaxed even in the middle of town sitting outside the bar with your shiny cocktail.

We all know how pleasant and relaxing we feel after a visit a spa. Penang offers a great variety of spas that specialise in all kinds of procedures aimed to make you feel on the top of the world.

Penang is an excellent place to get the kinds of massage that sometimes we just crave for. This fabulous island can satisfy even those who are looking for something really exotic. To a lot of use Javanese massage sounds exotic enough and the good thing is that you can have it at Penang. Sundanese, Balinese and Thai kinds of massage are also practiced around here and you can expect really decent quality.

If you didn’t know that just one single visit to Penang’s spas can calm your mind as well as make you feel extremely good and charged enough for the following trip, then it is truly time to try it.

Beauty hunters will be impressed with a wide range of rejuvenating procedures that can make your skin literally shine. Enriching your facial skin and lowering the stress levels does make a big difference and any woman who values her appearance should have a couple of visits to local spa.

Excellent relaxing music, brilliant scents and the atmosphere of total peace will definitely make you want to come back. If you have never experienced ultimate feeling of tranquility then you have basically no choice but to go and feel the beauty of the spas that by doing their best will ensure you will say: “Life is good” by the end of the session.

One of the convenient aspects of staying on the small but compact island of Penang is its location to other places offering diverse and interesting day trips and a gateway to further Asian destinations.

Butterworth is a small town on the mainland side of Penang state in Malaysia and is accessible by ferry from Penang. It is a more industrial destination than nearby Georgetown with little of the formers charm; however, it is a main hub for train and bus services which do not go directly to Penang Island.

For a mere 25 ringgits buses leave Butterworth to Kuala Lumpur almost hourly and the stop is located right next to the train station, just ask a representative for directions.
This is the best way to get to KL and the five hour journey is half the time of the less frequent trains. Much of the journey is very beautiful and most of the coaches have AC and show movies for the same reasonable price. Prices can be secured at local vendors at the bus stop but it is worth remembering that most coaches do not offer rest rooms although they do make regular stops on the journey. But do bring your own toilet paper if you need it.

Bangkok is another Butterworth travel destination and it takes about 13 hours by train.

Thai beach destinations also leave from Butterworth on The International Express.

Penang state destinations are also easily found from Butterworth.

Day trips around Penang Island itself can be easily found on the island at hotel and tour operator offices.

One of the convenient aspects of staying on the small but compact island of Penang is its location to other places offering diverse and interesting day trips and a gateway to further Asian destinations.

Butterworth is a small town on the mainland side of Penang state in Malaysia and is accessible by ferry from Penang. It is a more industrial destination than nearby Georgetown with little of the formers charm; however, it is a main hub for train and bus services which do not go directly to Penang Island.

For a mere 25 ringgits buses leave Butterworth to Kuala Lumpur almost hourly and the stop is located right next to the train station, just ask a representative for directions.
This is the best way to get to KL and the five hour journey is half the time of the less frequent trains. Much of the journey is very beautiful and most of the coaches have AC and show movies for the same reasonable price. Prices can be secured at local vendors at the bus stop but it is worth remembering that most coaches do not offer rest rooms although they do make regular stops on the journey. But do bring your own toilet paper if you need it.

Bangkok is another Butterworth travel destination and it takes about 13 hours by train.

Thai beach destinations also leave from Butterworth on The International Express.

Penang state destinations are also easily found from Butterworth.

Day trips around Penang Island itself can be easily found on the island at hotel and tour operator offices.

The locals in Penang speak the national language of Malaysia which is known as Malay.

The majority of people on the island are ethnic Chinese. They speak a version of Hokkien which is known as Penang Hokkien as the name suggests this contains a large number of Malay words and for this reason Minnan speakers from Fujian and Taiwan may have difficulties in communication with locals due to variation in words accents and mores.
Cantonese or Mandarin is also spoken by the ethnic Chinese population here to variying levels of fluency.

When speaking to each other the ethnic Indian population on the island use Tamil and the ethnic Malaysians speak in Malay but a great number of Tamil and Malay Penanganites can converse in Hokkien although cannot write in the language.

The visitor who can speak English to a reasonable level should have no problem being understood here certainly by businessmen and women. Hotel staff have either been taught English at school, picked it up from listening to conversation or watching films or have attended courses provided by their place of employment.

English is the world’s common language so there is every reason for local people to learn it as tourism and trade make up most of the local economy to a large extent. There is of course broken English which most of the under 50 population can speak and of course the international language of gesturing and pointing which although limited is universal and understood everywhere.

Penang is a popular Asian destination and whilst not the cheapest it does offer a good selection of accommodations to suit all budgets and tastes. One of the most popular places to stay is of course the beach and Batu Feringghi which has many beach resorts right on the sands which offer food and nightlife attractions .

Although good value for money more budget locations are located in Georgetown. Here on the famous streets of Chulia and Muntri there are many to choose from. Guest houses which will be familiar to the Asian traveler offer rooms and dormitories some with separate or, the more usual, shared bathrooms. Some will offer only cold water and it is worth trying as a cold water shower becomes more refreshing after you get used to it and as the cold water closes the pores keeps you drier in a hot climate.

There are also reasonable colonial style small hotels in Georgetown and more and more are guest houses and hotels are (at last) offering TV and wifi.

Elsewhere on the island is the functional but very pleasant YMCA in a very old neighborhood it is within convienient distance to the city centre.

For those with a taste for luxury why not stay at Copthorne Orchid Hotel at Tanjung Beach?

A lovely multi story modern hotel offering breathtaking views of the seas and mountains on all sides.

Whichever type of accommodation you choose they all offer friendly and safe lodgings in this interesting and compact destination.