Penang, Malaysia (3D2N)

My hubby's family and my family are the opposite in terms of travelling. My family love travelling while his is not so into travelling. They have not been travelling as family except during graduations. 

My parents taught us to treat our parents in-law as we treat our own parents. Example, if i travel with my family, i should travel with his family too. Hence i would ask my parents in-law if they wanted to have family vacation. And we had 2 vacations so far (first was to Bangkok with my youngest brother in-law before he departed to US for study and second was to Penang).

My hubby and i went to Penang in 2014 for my hubby's birthday (supposed to be surprise but ended up not a surprise, will cover it in another blog post. Penang was chosen by my parents in-law because they wanted food trip.

Flight
There are a lot of direct flights from Singapore to Penang and we have decided to choose Tiger due to its better timing. The journey took about 1 hour and 25 minutes.

Hotel - Le Dream Boutique HotelThere are a lot of hotels in Penang and it is better to know your main purpose to go Penang before deciding on the hotel. The locations are as GeorgeTown, Gurney Drive, Batu Feringghi and etc).
You may wish to refer to http://www.penang.ws/where-to-stay.htm for guidance.

For us, we are not beach people and we choose to be close with food, so we chose to stay in Georgetown area. I chose Le Dream Boutique Hotel because of its good review from TripAdvisor and it was relatively new hotel.
Location :
- It is walking distance from Komtar and Prangin Mall, so it is excellent for a budget traveler who will take a bus from Penang International Airport.
- It is walking distance to all the local and famous food (i.e. Lembuh Kimberly, Carnavon street etc).

Room :
- The room is spacious but do not expect any nice view as it is within the town.
- The room is clean with complete necessities (i.e. toothbrush, hair dryer, tea and coffee and mineral waters).
- Free wi-fi is quite strong for simple surfing (i.e searching for famous food in surrounding and its map).
- The air-con is very strong, hence it is a good escape from the scorching hot weather outside.

Bathroom/toilet:
- There are 2 types of shower head, the rain shower head and the body spray. It is good to give options for different people with different preferences.
- The bathroom and toilet is clean.

 Service :
- The reception staffs are very fast and attentive in the check-in and check-out process.
- The breakfast is good and have adequate variety. The staffs are good and fast in clearing tables.
- There is a personal touch as one of the staff would address the guest by name and would asked for our feedback on our stay and food.

Facilities:
- There are 2 jacuzzi on the rooftop, i did not try them
- There are complimentary free flow drinks from 5.30pm to 7.30pm
- There are complimentary snacks, ice cream and coffee from 2pm to 12am.

 Overall, i enjoyed my stay in this hotel and would definitely come back to this Hotel if i ever visit Penang again.

Transport

We relied on our foot to move from one place to another, however we also hired a driver for 1 full day to visit those far places (ie temples) and to drive us from hotel to Airport on our last day.
I got this driver contact from TripAdvisor forum and hired him for my trip in 2014. His name is Morgan and he replied promptly in umogan@gmail.com or Whatsapp in +60 17 4031294.

Review: He always reached our hotel earlier than agreed time, he is friendly and always replied promptly via WA or email. He would also give suggestions on the places to go or places to eat.

Food
1) Joo Hooi Cafe (Jalan Penang)
We ordered Char Kway Teow, Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendol, Fried Oyster and Penang Asam Laksa. Please note that this is not cafe like a normal cafe setting with air-con. It is like a normal shop house with fan and with plain table settings.

Location :475 Jalan Penang (Opening hours 11.30-5pm).

 Review:
- Char Kway Teow : It is good, we love it.
- Chendol : It is very refreshing to eat something cold in the hot weather and it is not too sweet which suit our taste. Since you are eating inside the Cafe, you do not have to queue outside, just placed your order from inside.
- Fried Oyster: It is not bad but a bit oily.
- Asam Laksa: I love the laksa because there is a mix of sour and sweet and not so thick soup.

2) Tiger Char Kway Teow (Kafe Ping Hooi)
We stumbled this place when we were walking around near our hotel and decided to give it a try.

Location: 179, Carnavon Street, 10300, Georgetown, Penang. (Opening hours: 8am to 2:30pm daily)

Review: The prawns are plump and juicy, the char kway teow is less oily and a bit of spicy with duck eggs. I would say that the char kway teow is better compared to the one at Joo Hooi Cafe.

Nearby this stall, there was a long queue from a stall named Pitt Street Koay Teow T'hng which is located at 183 Carnavon street. We wanted to give it a try but has no seats available and the take away is in the normal plastic bag instead of tupperware kind. So we decided to give it a miss.

3) Poh Lay Duck Meat Koay Teow T'hng

We stumbled this place when we were walking around near our hotel and decided to give it a try due to its long queue.

Location: Junction of Lorong Ngah Aboo and Lebuh Kimberley, 10100, Georgetown, Penang. (Opening Hours: 7:30 am to 11:30am. Closed on Mondays).

Review: The soup is super hot which we prefer for a soup dish, the food is light and yet very good. The meatball is very good and can tell that it has more meat than flour, hence very satisfying.

4) Penang Coconut Jelly

Location: 201, Jalan Dato Kramat, 10150 Penang

Review: It use real coconut and its refreshing dessert and suitable for Penang weather.

5) Ah Leng Char Koay Teow

Location: Kafe Khoon Hiang, 358 Jalan Dato Keramat, 10150 Penang, Malaysia. (Opening Hours: 8am – 2pm. Closed on Thursday.

Review: This place was brought by my driver in 2014 trip and we think that it is better than the Lorong Slamet's Char Koay Teow (overrated, please refer to my other blog in 2014 for more details).

6) Black Kettle Cafe

We were tired of walking and wanted a place to rest our feet and with air-con. We stumbled this cafe when we were walking and decided to give it a try.

Location: 105, Beach Street, Georgetown10200 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
(Opening Hours : Daily - 8.30am – 12am)

Review: the ambience is good to chill out and not noisy. The croissant is not crispy enough despite i have requested for it to be heated up.

7) Hon Kei Food Corner

This is the most favourite place for my hubby and my father in-law. We ate twice for dinner at this place. This place is famous for its soup dishes from fish to porridge. You may also choose if you want to eat porridge or vermicelli or thick/thin noodles and the parts of the pork (i.e minced pork or intestine, liver and etc)

Location: 45, Lorong Kampung Malabar,George Town, 10200 George Town, Malaysia

(Opening Hours: Open daily except Thursday from 9am – 3pm and 5pm – 12am)

 

8) T&t Prawn Mee Shop
We tried to go to Siam Road Char Kway Teow twice and noted that it was not open on the day we went. Hence we asked the driver for a recommendation for a food, and he suggested this place.

Location: 127, Lorong Selamat, 10400, Penang. (Opening Hours: Monday to Saturday, 8am to 10pm; Sunday, 7:30am to 6pm. Closed on every Wednesday).

Review: The prawn mee is not bad, we prefer the claypot type because the soup is more hot and more satisfying.

Places to Visit

1) Kek Lok Si Temple

2) Reclining Buddha Temple (Wat Chayamangkalaram)

3) Standing Buddha Temple (Dharmikarama Burmese Temple)

Please refer to my reviews on each of the places above in my previous blog in 2014.

Thank you for reading my blog and hopefully it helps in your planning trip.

For our Penang Trip video to show more details please go to my hubby's youtube found in Penang - Trip