Just booked flight to Penang end July for 3 days trip. Will arrive penang about 6pm on a Saturday and depart at 9pm on Tue.
This is my 1st trip and planning to stay at Georgetown area. Want to ask the experts here if the traffic be bad when going to Georgetown?
Any recommended places to go? Won't be going penang hill due to the hot weather.
Is 3 days enough or should I stay 1 more night? This trip is mainly for eating and a bit of shopping.
Penang is "famous" for its char koey teow and Assam laksa.
Yes, they spell char kway teow as char koey teow. There is one stall right in the heart of "Chinatown" which is quite nice, but I am afraid I am unable to give you the exact name of the coffee shop, which looks like those old coffee shops we have in Singapore.
One place people would go to is Gurney Drive, which is an open air "food court" similar to our Newton Circus. I am not sure if it's still in business but last I went there a few years ago, it was, though some stalls were not opened.
Assam laksa is now available in Singapore and it tastes quite authentic. So, it's not really necessary to go all the way to Penang for that. But it may still be worthwhile to eat it there for an experience.
Penang is a rather laid back city, and many of the shops are closed by 7 pm or so. But the bigger shopping centres remain open.
Maybe you can use Grab to go around because the taxis are day light robbers. Their prices (taxis) are fixed and skyhigh. I refused to be cheated by them and took the local buses. That was before Grab and Uber became widely available.
As to shopping, Penang is not exactly a shopper's paradise. In fact, Malaysia is not even a shopping Mecca, and if you see how jiu hu kias and jiu hu gina dress here in Singapore, you'd get what I mean. The "fashion" are ten to fifteen years behind. You get better range and better prices in Singapore.
I remember reading in Tripadvisor some Singaporeans asking about shopping for fashion wear in Perth which was really embarassing. Really suaku......because Perth is hardly a place for shopping...so, if you do go to Tripadvisor to ask for advice, I would not suggest asking about shopping in Penang.
But then again, it depends on what you mean by "shopping". Computer stuff (well this forum is HWZ right)? Again, Penang is hardly the place to look for the latest gadgets.
So what do you intend to buy? Some specialised item which is found in Penang? Belacan? Pon Piah? All are available in Singapore.
A 3 or 4 day trip to one single city as laidback as Penang is not something I would do. I would make it a 7 or 8 day vacation covering Penang, KL and Ipoh or Penang, Ipoh and Cameron Highlands. A couple of days in each city would be enough. But you need to do your research, so as not to waste time losing your way. Malaysia - it is easy to move around the country anyway using their coaches. But to each his own. Some people say it's too hectic wor, but I like the rides...