We stayed at the Hotel Royal. The location was quite convenient. Penang Plaza was next door, with a Giant outlet. Komtar was about 15 minutes’ walk away.
I last visited Penang many many years ago. Not much has changed, except that many new buildings (malls, condos) have sprung up. The weather was very hot in the day, but every evening, it rained without fail. There was a heavy thunderstorm with gusty winds the evening before we returned to Singapore.
We did not visit many places – a Peranakan House museum (some of the scenes in The Little Nyonya were shot in this house), the Khoo Clan museum, Fort Cornwallis, and the Weld Quay area. The other times were spent gallivanting and savouring Penang food, starting with Gurney Drive on the first night. The most savoury dishes were found in the coffee shops and roadside stalls. I especially like the asam laksa and rojak. The quality of the asam laksa varied greatly. I love those with the thick soup base.
Compared to Singapore, the food can be quite cheap, depending on where you eat. However, the portions were quite small. There was this bread shop behind our hotel that sold healthy bread (wholemeal, wheatgerm etc), and the buns were very cheap. You can get wholemeal and 9-grain buns for about 50 Singapore cents each. Some bread shops in Singapore sell their ordinary buns for more than S$1 each. The last night’s dinner was a 5-dish meal in a Chinese restaurant. The dishes included ba bao ya (eight treasures duck). It cost only 130 ringgit, or about S$9 per person. My economy rice dinners in Singapore sometimes cost $4 to $5 per meal.
Enjoy the pictures.
Views from the hotel
Peranakan House museum
Khoo Clan museum
Fort Cornwallis
Weld Quay
Penang food
Others
