LittleSandyBeach

On our first day back in Georgetown we stumbled across Tua Pek Kong Temple where they were burning giant joss sticks (essentially large incense sticks). They do this for various reasons including to show extra devotion to the God of Prosperity, for important prayers and during festivals.

After this we went to check out Penang State Art Gallery. It had various paintings, drawings, sculptures and photography with a heavy focus on artists from Penang.

On route to check out a shopping centre we walked along Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah (Northam Road) which is home to many iconic colonial mansions that were central to Penang’s wealthy elite during the early 20th century. It’s known as millionaire’s row.

Also we saw the new development of Andaman Island which is a reclaimed island township currently being built which will feature luxury homes, malls and offices.

After a long hot walk we finally made it to Gurney Paragon Mall. On the very top floor we discovered one of the largest bookstores in Malaysia with over 1 million books!

The next day we decided to try out the free CAT (central area transit) bus. It’s very convenient stopping at 12 different key locations and with a bus coming every 15 minutes there’s never too much of a wait. It also runs 6am till midnight!

We got off at the furthest stop to start our walk to the botanical gardens. We came across another monument dedicated to Queen Victoria’s reign.

The Penang Botanic Gardens were established in 1884 by Charles Curtis. It was an old granite quarry before being transformed into a garden at the foot of a waterfall. It is the oldest botanical garden in Malaysia.

It is huge at 242 hectares. There are many different sections to the garden including different plant houses such as a Fern House, Orchid House and Bromliad House. With many different trails leading to various sections you could spend all day exploring.

After many hours strolling around we were about to head off when we heard some splashing in a stream nearby. You know it’s a hot day when even the monkeys need to cool down!

After working up an appetite we treated ourselves to a home comfort of Nandos for lunch! At 3x cheaper than the price at home we couldn’t resist.

The following day we went to the famous Hin Bus Depot Market, where there’s many small stalls selling quirky handcrafted items alongside food and drinks.

In the evening we had heard about a Christmas parade and market taking place at St. George’s Anglican Church. After a day of zero clouds in the sky at precisely 5 minutes before the parade started the heavens opened!

On our last evening, armed with a map of central Georgetown we tracked down some of the most popular street art. Here are a few of our favourites…

Also dotted around the World Heritage Site are 53 steel-rod sculptures which were created in 2009 to retell the history of the streets and stories of its local communities. Here are our favourites…

The next morning it was time to move onto our next location. We got the ferry again back across to Butterworth and then hopped on a bus all the way to Tanah Rata in Cameron Highlands. It took about 5 hours and went up some very steep and windy roads.

Once we arrived we checked into our Hostel which blew us away at how nice it is. Very modern and clean and even has a lounge room and pool room..

In the evening we went for a walk around the town and admired all the Christmas lights that have been put up. We had to run back to get our jumpers though as it is a lot colder here as it’s 4,600 feet above sea level. It got down to 18 degrees!

Yesterday we headed to the next town along called Brinchang which is about 5km away. It is a lovely walk through the mountains and also past a very nice golf course.

Our first stop in Brinchang was a place called Cactus Valley. Like the name suggests it’s a collection of thousands of Cactus plants on display but can also be purchased.

They also had many different flowers and succulent plants. Be prepared for lots of steps though as it’s positioned up the side of a valley.

Some of the Cactus specimens are thought to be 60 to 80 years old.

Just 100m up the road is the Big Red Strawberry Farm where you can pick your own strawberries. However at a minimum of 1kg we decided to pass and will be finding another farm as there are many around.

On the walk back we came across The Smokehouse Hotel. It was built in 1937 by Englishman William J. Warin as “Ye Olde Smokehouse Inn”. In WW2 it was used as a Japanese Army Mess and since 1977 its been owned by the Malaysian Lee family.

We have really enjoyed it here and love the Christmas atmosphere so have extended our stay.