LittleSandyBeach

We left very rainy Pangkor Island on the ferry and arrived back on the mainland at Lumut Pier. After a three hour wait we got on our bus to Butterworth which took 2.5 hours.

Then, we got on a ferry which only took 15 minutes to Georgetown on Penang Island. This was our cheapest ferry yet at 2RM each (37p)!

Then we had a short walk to our hotel called The Harbour by Moonknight which was very nice and even had lots of Christmas decorations up.

In the evening we headed down to 1st Avenue shopping mall to grab some dinner. They had a lovely small Christmas market and a giant tree all decorated.

The next morning we popped across the road to check out the Central Fire Station as it’s a very famous building because of its civic architecture within Georgetown’s UNESCO world heritage site. It was built in 1908 during the British colonial period in the Edwardian Baroque style.

The next site to see was the Queen Victoria Memorial Clocktower which was donated by a local businessman called Cheah Chen Eok to commemorate her Diamond Jubilee.

Just next to this is Fort Cornwallis built by the British East India Company in 1786 to respond to possible enemy threats during the Napoleonic Wars. It’s currently under restoration so we couldn’t go in but we walked around the perimeter.

A short walk away we saw the Cenotaph to commemorate the deaths of all commonwealth servicemen during WW1, WW2, The Siam-Burma Death Railway, The First and Second Malayan Emergencies and The Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation.

After a few very hot hours walking around we stumbled across Little India. It is an ethic Indian enclave in downtown Georgetown. The Sri Mahamariamman temple really stood out to us for its decorative features. It is the oldest Hindu temple in Penang being built in 1833.

Also down this street are many Indian food stalls and restaurants serving traditional Indian food. We decided to try some samosas from the stall called Penang Famous Samosas, it didn’t disappoint!

Next we searched for Loteng Bookstore which is a second hand bookstore located in an art cafe. The building is very cute and aesthetic with lots of wooden beams.

At this point we were extremely hot so tracked down a Mixue ice cream shop and got our favourite soft serve!

In the evening we checked out Chew Jetty which is one of the Clan Jetties on Penang. There are seven Clan Jetties which were built between 1880-1960 and are now part of the World Heritage Site and therefore protected. Local families still live on the jetty and sell souvenirs and snacks to tourists.

The next morning after Tasha tried to post our room key into the drop box we headed to Penang Airport to catch our flight to Langkawi Island. Our Grab driver was very friendly and even told us about the history and current buildings all the way to the airport which took about 40 minutes.

After a very smooth check in and boarding process we took off and it was even 20 minutes early. The flight was only 23 minutes long and we had entertainment watching people try to eat a meal in 5 minutes!

After checking into our motel we headed down to Cenang Beach which is a popular place for tourists to do lots of water sports, paramotoring and to relax. However, we will be avoiding getting in the water as recently a Russian child sadly died after being stung by a box jellyfish here.

In the evening we checked out Temonyong Night Market which is only held on Thursdays. There was a good selection of local dishes, desserts and some clothes stalls.

Yesterday we went to Eagle Square which is located next to the islands main ferry port. It is home to a giant statue of an eagle because Langkawi literally means “Eagle Island” so it serves as the islands mascot. It’s 12m high and was built in 1996.

In the afternoon we came across Langkawi Falls which is a manmade waterfall built by the Malaysian government as a gift to the people of the island. It was the brainchild of former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Mahathir. It was completed in 2004 and became the highest manmade waterfall in Malaysia.

In the evening we went to check out another market called Ayer Hangat Friday Night Market where we picked up Nasi Ayam (chicken and rice), a few chicken satay skewers and an assortment of miniature dessert bites.

We’ve got four more days here before heading back to Penang, let’s see what else we can find!