Welcome to Penang!
Penang is a city where I fly from Kuala Lumpur (KL). It takes about 50 minutes to fly there and about 8 hours to go by bus, also from KL. Tourists can travel from KL to Penang by train, but it will take more time and make travellers tired. My study program takes place in Penang city, A Pearl of Orient! Over the other side of famous Penang bridge is called mainland, but actually it is centered in this side. The hotel I stay is B-suite, which is 19 storey building. The room is about 50-60 square metres wide and the floor is totally wooded. Bathroom is ok with shampoo, bath foam... but no tooth paste and tooth brush available as in many other hotels. Indoor entertainment is a little bit boring as there are only 8 channels including local and 2 international ones (BBC News & AXN). There are milk tea, corn powder and coffeemate in the room with a pot which can be used for hot water. Internet is available in the room but we should bring a cable with us, or else we have to buy one @ 30RM (equivalent to 180,000 VND).
When I am there for my study, breakfast is served every morning and lunch will be free after morning session (but on break day, I have to take care of myself!). Breakfast is all the same all days, with fried rice, boiled eggs, sauted bean, cereal with milk, bread with jam. Fruit juice and fresh water are ready in 2 different pots. Lunch is a little bit big, with rice, sweet chicken, fried fish or fish cooked with tofu. Sometimes we have morning glory. Drinks are all the same. How interesting it is that dessert is always water melon, after breakfast or lunch. Dinner? Just 5 minutes walking behind the hotel, there is one Chinese Restaurant named "Red Chopstick", one Japanese restaurant and one Korean restaurant, called Daore. I often have dinner at Korean's, with "chao ga" = chicken portridge. Sometimes I dine at Queen's Bay Mall in a res named "Stick", where they serve simple seafood and some other dishes (which I suppose not to be good enough), and I can have beer here. It's a little bit challenging to find beer here. As a matter of fact, beer turns out to be more expensive than anywhere else. One big bottle of Tiger costs me around 15,000 VND in VN but 84,000 VND in Penang. To find beer, I have to take a taxi. It is helpful to build good relationship with a taxi driver, who can drive us here and there with a reasonable fare. One of my "friend", Mr Mundiani, a taxi driver, is a very kind man. If I ask the hotel to call me a taxi, the fare will be 5 RM more. Why? Usually do the hotel ask me where I want to go so that they know how much I will pay and the taxi driver has to charge me extra, which will be passed to the hotel. For instance, I take a taxi from B-suite hotel to Queen's Bay Mall, I have to pay 15 RM if the hotel call taxi for me, but only 10RM if I make a direct call to my taxi- driver friend. Queen's Bay mall is a good place to shop. I can find Bonia, Carlo Rino, Levi's, Giordiano, Bossini, Gap, Polo, Adidas, Nike.... and they often have promotion programs all year round. Another Shopping mall is called Gurney Plaza, which is bigger than Queen's Bay with various ranges of recognized brands. Again sales-off is the best way for their business. My taxi-driver friend charge me 30RM while my classmates pay 35RM (5RM will be passed to hotel!!!). Close to Gurney, there is a good seafod restaurant named "Orient Seafood". Wow, this is the best place, I can tell, I can find in Penang. Fresh good seafood, good service, good beer (Heineken), good view to the ocean, and to some extent, good price...are all what I enjoy in Orient Seafood.
Last time, I had a chance to go over the fabulous Penang Bridge. It took me about 1,5 hours to go to and back and my pocket was 70 RM short afterthen! It is a trully beautiful bridge.
Penang is about 1,000 square km and is the second biggest state in Malaysia. Once coming to Penang, you should visit George Town, a heritage city recognized by UNESCO. Housing in Penang is ok with most of people here. An apartment in a building block is valued from 120,000 RM to 190,000 RM. A terrace house (separate) is about 700,000 RM - 900,000 RM worth. Teachers and bank clerks are two jobs that most of people want, which can bring you 4,000 RM - 6,000 RM a month, while popular labors earn around 1,700 RM - 2,500 RM/month. Malaysian people go to public Malaysian schools do not pay anything. The government finances everything. But for other communities like Chinese, Indian..., it's quite different.
Traffice in Penang is not a big problem. I am very impressed to see a man driver in his priority lane waits for a lady driver to pass by even though she is not in the first lane. I ask him why, he says just because that's a lady. People's concept is simple but meaningful. I think many other peoples not only in Asia but also in the world should learn...
To Penang, explore new things, find useful information, and learn, learn, learn...
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