24th – 27th September

The next morning I got up early to get my bus. Tried to do a few exercises first (trying the upside down cockroach squirming on the floor 🤢), then got a lift with the accommodation owner. The bus to Penang was loooong, but I did use the journey to catch up with my blog! 😄

Penang Island is right off the north west of Malaysia. Famed for it’s street art at hawker markets (outdoor food markets) I was excited to check it out, it made me think of Bristol! 😍 The main area is Georgetown so I found a place to stay close to all the action. I had also messaged Zsanett who I met in KL as I knew she was planning to go to Penang at some point and it turns out she was already there and staying in the same hostel! And later turned out the same dorm room too!!

TIP: I chose to stay in a hostel called House of Journey, which had great reviews and looked to have a social atmosphere, without being the crazy party hostel (if you want that stay at Tipsy Tiger). I loved House of Journey and would highly recommend this for a stay in Georgetown!

This was my first time trying out a large mixed dorm, so far I’d stuck to small all female dorms but there wasn’t that option here. Within minutes of arriving I met Arthur, a nice guy from Australia who had also arrived in the last hour. He invited me out for dinner with him and a German guy he’d met, Simon. I found Zsanett and she took us to an Indian that she’d eaten at a couple of times and recommended. It was sooooooooo good!

We then met up with a couple of Americans from our dorm and we went to a little corner shop that sold cheap beer, outside the shop were loads of tables & chairs where you could just drink you’re beer & chat to friends, it was great! We went on to tipsy tiger (the party hostel), but I was pretty tired so didn’t stay out too late.

Scoot scooting baby!

Arthur & Simon were planning to hire scooters the next day to drive round & see the island, they invited me to come along too – as long as I didn’t have to drive I was game! (Again Tom will testify I’m not great behind 2 wheels & an engine 😂).

We saw the sights – went up to Penang Hill and took the cable car up to get the views (although it was a little cloudy) and the crazy tourist attractions on top. They had everything from getting your photo taken with snakes, to the ‘Earthquake & Tsunami experience’ – which sounds pretty messed up to me! We then went on to see the ……. temple. After that we did a large loop of the island, heading north, stopping at a small beach before heading back to Georgetown.

I met two new people, Billy from the UK and Agnes from Norway, and went to dinner with them at the Red Garden night market. It was great, but slightly more expensive and a cheesey band started playing. Food was good though, as always! We then went back to the corner shop to have some beers outside, finding some more from our hostel on the way, and met the others there. There was about 25 of us all from House of Journey! Similar minds. So many different nationalities; British, Dutch, German, Norwegian, Hungarian, American, Canadian, Australian, Puerto Rican, to name a few! I lasted a bit longer tonight, but the bar we ended up in was an awfulC expensive place with drunken dancing and terrible music! 🙄

Street Art

The next day was a later start! Some of us went to check out the street art dotted around Georgetown, it was really cool! Although the day itself wasn’t, it was sunny, frigging boiling and the constant sweating continued.

Sweaty Hiking

As it was my last full day I wanted to go to the National Park. It was a 1.5 – 2 hour bus journey, or 45 mins on the bikes so we jumped back on the scooters. We were supposed to do the park in the morning and as we were so late getting there we couldn’t do the full walk, which took you to a beach and back. The others were tired too, but I was craving exercise so after 45 mins I was hiking solo through the rain forest like vegetation, ended up doing a couple of hours, it was great and I was, you guessed it, dripping in sweat!

I found the others hanging out in hammocks on the beach on the way into the NP. We grabbed a snack then headed back to freshen up for dinner. We ended up eating quite late at the cheap eats outdoor vendor stalls round the corner from the hostel, the food was amazing! And they hadn’t decent veggie options! All tried, we turned in pretty early.

I Found A Gym!!!

At one of the drinking sessions a girl from Liverpool had told me she’d asked at reception and they’d pointed out a gym to her. What a great idea!! On my last morning in Penang I decided to get dripping wet with sweat once again and hit the gym for an hour. It was sooooooo good to get some decent exercise, I actually managed a 7.5 km run! Pretty good I thought after having minimal exercise for a month! I then packed my bag and got ready to get my bus back to KL, which is where I am writing this blog entry right now!