Hi there. My name is Laura Wong. In case you're wondering, yes I am a Chinese. I may or may not have a slight obsession with green tea and daisies. A follower of Christ and a shopaholic.

As the title suggests, this post will be about potential activities which you can do in Penang! I was on a short getaway with my friends for 3D2N, since we are on our semester break. It was a spontaneous and last minute trip- to the extent that we still had no idea on what to do on the night before. We thought that we would figure out what to do on the day itself haha.

These are the things we've managed to cover within a span of 3 days!

1. Take pictures with murals

One of the usual activities to do when you're at Penang is to take pictures with the murals at the Street Art of Georgetown, so we decided to go with the flow. Our tour guide, Eric, said with confidence that he knew where the murals were located, so we decided to trust his instincts. Turned out his sense of direction had become rusty, and it took us half an hour before we could find out the exact spot.

Given my poor sense of direction, I should not judge.... yet I cannot help but to judge hahaha.























Aside from taking pictures with the murals, you could also rent bicycles to ride around the streets. We got our bicycles at RM10 each for unlimited hours! Eric, on the other hand, had to rent a three wheel bike because.. he cannot cycle hahaha!!! Initially, we wanted to get a tandem bicycle instead, so that one of us could ride him around. We gave up on that idea immediately after we tried it because it was so difficult to control the bike. It's nothing like riding a bicycle on your own. Since we were going to be cycling with cars and motor vehicles surrounding us, we felt that individual bicycles would be the safest.

Don't know why we chose the hottest time of the day to cycle. We cycled from 1-3pm and we managed to cover almost all of the streets. It was pretty adventurous I would say, as we had to constantly watch out for cars and any moving objects coming our direction. Also, we were clueless on which route to take, so we followed our instincts. It was cool as there was something to discover in every direction; whether it is rows of shophouses, food stalls or even more murals. Sometimes, impromptu decisions can be fun!

By the time we were back from cycling, our skin tone went a few shades darker. Some of us had awkward tan lines while some went red from sunburn. Eric's case was the funniest; he did not only become more tanned, but he was red all over. Best part was when he took out his watch- you could clearly distinguish the shape of his watch on his wrist because his arm was so so red hahaha! Too bad he didn't allow me to take a picture, or I would have posted a picture of it over here sigh.


Another place you could visit is the biggest waterfront settlements in Georgetown: Chew Jetty! It is part of the Penang Heritage Trail (located nearby the street arts), hence you can walk or cycle there. At Chew Jetty, the houses and the shops are built on stilts along the wooden pier that extends to the sea. I love how the houses and shops still uphold traditional lifestyles and cultures. Despite being a tourist spot, some of the houses are still occupied with citizens.












2. Try all kinds of hawker food

Penang is well known for being a food heaven. Since we had two locals with us throughout the trip, our hunt for yummy delicacies was made easier!

Char Kuey Teow 

Our first meal in Penang was Penang's famed dish: Char Kuey Teow. Eric claims that this Char Kuey Teow is one of the best in Penang; and indeed it was! This Char Kuey Teow clearly deserves its title because #1 this kuey teow really taste so good #2 there was a crazy amount of people who queued up for this and the number of customers coming in every minute is insane. Often in business terms, large customer base = good food so.

This plate serves for RM5 and it comes with prawns, "si ham", dried Chinese sausages and bean sprouts. For those who are interested, this shop is located in Siam Road. You will see an uncle using charcoal stove with a road side hawker stall. Customers usually wait at the coffee shop, known as Hock Ban Hin Cafe, which is located right across the hawker stall. The average waiting time can range from 45 minutes to 1 hour, but it's worth the wait. Disclaimer: It is not recommended if you're in a hurry. I cannot confirm whether it is opened every day but it starts operation from 3pm onwards.

Loh Mee, Chai Tow Kway & Wan Tan Mee.



Loh Mee is one of Penang's must try dish as well. It is made up of yellow noodles and dark-colored gravy cooked with pork rib, and it is usually served with a spoon of chili. Somehow this isn't my favorite dish because I don't fancy eating yellow noodles.

The Chai Tow Kway (also known as fried carrot cake) is really yummy! The carrot cake was tender and chewy, and I like how the crunchy tauge and fried eggs go so well with the "kway". Wanton Mee, on the other hand, isn't exactly popular in Penang, but my friends noticed that there were many customers ordering the dish that night, so we decided to give it a try. Turned out it taste pretty good! The gravy was on point (ran out of adverbs to describe taste of food help) and the char siew was delicious. However, I am slightly disappointed with the size of the portion. It is quite small and it only has two miserable wantons. :(

These dishes can be found at Macalister Road. As for the prices... I cannot confirm the price because the guys settled the bill hahaha. #failfoodblogger Even so, I recalled that each dish costs less than RM6, super cheap and reasonable!

Hokkien Mee 

For those who are unaware, Penang's Hokkien Mee has a vast difference as compared to the one we have back in KL.The one from Penang is served with prawn-based broth and noodles, as opposed to the charcoal friend Hokkien Mee we have in KL. Basically in KL, we call Penang's hokkien mee as prawn noodle or "har" mee.

Eric calls this dish the "real" Hokkien Mee lol.

I cannot comment much for this particular dish because it was spicy, and my tolerance for spicy food is terrible. :( Those who knows how to enjoy spicy food will probably enjoy this more than I do. I'm pretty sure it tastes good because there were so so many people who were at the hawker stall even at 8am in the morning.

Also, no picture because I was too hungry and food was all that mattered then. Definitely cannot qualify to be called a food blogger hahaha.

For those who are curious on where it is located despite my unexciting description, the hawker stall is located at Burma road, opposite a police station. It is priced around RM4.50 each.

Gu Bak Koay Teow 

It is basically beef noodles with its main ingredients include beef balls, beef slices and offal. The broth was really appetizing and the beef balls were my favorite. Each bite releases the subtle flavor of the broth- so satisfying!!!

This dish can be found in Lorong Pantai and it costs RM10, which is slightly on the pricier side. This is because we added more ingredients into our dish. The regular one should cost few bucks cheaper than this!

One thing I've realized that all Penang's famed dishes have in common is that they are mostly noodles. Did anyone notice that or is it just me??

3. Grab a drink at Starbucks in Batu Feringghi 

This is not your typical Starbucks you see on the streets of KL. If you have not came across pictures of the new Starbucks outlet in Batu Feringghi, you're missing out some good things in life!

One of the limited activities we had in mind was to visit the huge Starbucks located at Batu Ferringhi. I think I've mentioned before on how I really love places with beautiful interior and great ambiance. It impresses me when people put effort into designing a place.

I think it is worth while to drop by as you don't usually get to enjoy a Starbucks this pretty back in KL.

4. Hike up the Penang Hill

Or at least attempt to.

Initially, we were going to take the challenge of a 3-hours hiking session up the Penang Hill. Apparently, the hill is very steep, and it takes lots of physical & mental preparation to hike up the hill. We were pretty motivated to hike up the hill- Gabby even bought a new pair of shoes for hiking hahaha. To our dismay, it rained the night before. We could have continued with our plan to hike, but we decided not to since the hill is very steep. Don't want to come back home with any broken body parts lol.

In the end, we decided to go jogging and attempted workouts at Youth Park hahaha. The name of the park suggests that it is catered for youths, but it was full of senior citizens instead when we visited the park lol. Young people these days are so confined indoors tsk.

Still, we didn't want to miss the Penang Hill, so we decided to go up the hill by using the funicular train. The train leaves every 20-25 minutes and it costs RM4 for students & RM8 for adults. There are different charges for foreigners though. Please note that if you want to obtain the student price (RM4), you will have to bring your student ID along with your IC or you will be charged with the normal price (RM8). Those without IC will have to pay RM30, which is ridiculous for a 10-minute ride.