We arrived early this morning in Penang and we were dumbfounded! Honestly, we had no idea Penang was such a big city, mostly modern. We love historic places and had I focused my research on the historic old city. Wow! What a surprise! For lots of information on Penang, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penang. Amazing!
I arranged a 3 hour Heritage Walking and Food Tour several months ago. Our guide, Lim is fifth generation Chinese born in Penang. He knows the city well and took us all over the historic area of George Town, a UNESCO site, eating as we toured, at two Michelin recommended restaurants plus several others, and tasting things we never had before and loved! George Town is colorful, and the multicultural capital of the Island of Penang. It is known for its British colonial buildings, as well as skyscrapers. Lim is very proud of the city’s multicultural life, blending Chinese, Indian, Malay, and the rest of the world. The city is obviously proud of the locals religions, celebrating Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Christian traditions. One street has churches of each religion within a two block area. We had a great time with Lim!
We spent the afternoon on Penang Hill, taking the funicular to the top, and visiting The Habitat rainforest, with the world’s longest two span stressed ribbon bridge and the highest public viewing point on the island, 800m above sea level. The views were beautiful and the experience was quiet and cool. We enjoyed every moment!
