A Weekend in Penang
After the Cameron Highlands, the plan was to spend two days in Penang, exploring Georgetown, Penang’s historic capital city which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and sampling street food from this renowned foodie paradise.
The drive from Cameron Highlands to Penang took about four hours. As we descended from the highlands, we passed small villages with traditional houses and roadside stalls. Once on the highway, the air became warmer and the humidity returned. We passed Ipoh, known for its delicious local dishes, but didn’t stop assuming most restaurants would be closed due to Ramadan. The scenery transitioned from limestone hills to coastal plains, where palm oil plantations dominated the scenery, stretching as far as the eye can see. After about three hours we saw the azure waters of the Malacca Strait, and crossed the Penang Bridge. At over 13 kilometers (8 miles) long, it is one of the longest bridges in Southeast Asia and connects Penang Island to the Mainland. We didn’t get any pics, so here is one by Aaron Lee from Unsplash
Because this was a last minute trip, the place we wanted to stay in Georgetown was booked so we stayed in Batu Feringgi. It is on the North part of the island, about 30 minutes past Georgetown. It was 32 degrees Celsius (90 Fahrenheit) and over 90% humidity so as soon as I saw the pool at the Shangri-La, my plans went out the window and I knew where I’d be for the next two days. We basically moved back and forth between the pool and adjacent beach for the entire two days.
The concierge mentioned that dusky monkeys sometimes hang out in the banyan tree, and it didn’t take long to find them. The only problem was that the foliage was pretty thick and there wasn’t a lot of light. This was our first time photographing this species, and I fell in love with the white markings on their faces.
The next morning we headed to the botanical garden, because the internet said this was the best place to see monkeys. It was already hot and humid when we left the hotel around 7am, but the signs mentioning monkeys kept us motivated while the sweat dripped from every available pore.
We thought we would have the place to ourselves, but it seemed like half of Penang uses this park for morning walks and tai chi. We walked around for an hour and the only evidence of monkeys we encountered was some rustling in the trees which was likely a bird. We did get some lovely macro flower images though.
After 5km of exploring, the heat was just too much so we decided to go back to the hotel. Seriously, the only other time I remember being this hot and sweaty was in Indonesian Borneo. We headed back to the car, taking a slight detour into the Japanese garden.
And of course there were about two dozen monkeys there. Literally a five minute walk from where we parked.
We also saw this huge monitor lizard.
And this Greater Rachet-tailed Drongo.
After a slow start, the Penang Botanical Gardens certainly delivered in the end!
Our flight back to KL left around 8am, so the airport was pretty quiet when we arrived around 6am. After three laps of the airport, we could not find the rental car return area. The desk didn’t open until 8, so I called the Avis hotline and they said to leave it at the curb. I couldn’t think of an airport where you can park right outside in the pick-up/drop-off area, and was certain this would cause an issue, but apparently this is how it is done in Penang. We took a photo of where we left it just in case. There’s a strong chance that it is still parked there!
