02.08.19 - 09.08.18 Pulau Penang

From the small idyllic island we continued north to a slightly larger island - Pulau Penang. We had spent a few days here five years ago and we enjoyed refreshing our memories of the city of Georgetown and exploring new things.

The center of Georgetown is a UNESCO World Heritage site and offers beautiful old Chinese architecture in addition to a variety of street art projects. It is also known to be one of the most touristy places in Southeast Asia. Nevertheless, you can have a wonderful time here.

This time, we decided to stay here for a whole week. Penang is known in Southeast Asia as one of the best places to eat... And that must mean something. Especially on the street, you can find something tasty to eat at any time of the day. The vegan options are also above average. So we couldn't resist indulging in a snack or two during our time in Georgetown.

A whole museum is dedicated to the food here, where you can playfully learn a lot about the diverse cuisine of Malaysia. In addition, all local specialties are recreated in oversized form and various dining situations are recreated in miniature. We didn't miss the opportunity and had a lot of fun posing for funny photos.

But our interests are diverse, so we didn't just eat, but also did other things. :) Georgetown itself is a perfect city to explore on foot, and you can walk through the streets for hours and discover all sorts of things. The city is heavily influenced by Chinese architecture and culture, which is especially evident in the old shop houses. Occasionally, you can also see beautifully decorated temples and clan houses. These served as the first point of contact for Chinese immigrants a long time ago. Nowadays, the old buildings are being beautifully restored. But this is not only positive, as many buildings are being converted into pretty boutique hotels and cute little cafes, and living in the city center is becoming less and less affordable. Allegedly, houses are already being sold here for up to 1 million dollars. Something that is very striking in Georgetown is the cultural diversity. Although it is heavily influenced by Buddhism, there are places where you can walk past Buddhist temples, Hindu temples, mosques, and churches in the same street. And there is also a little 'Little India'.

From Georgetown, you can go on various excursions on the island. Our first excursion took us to the Tropical Spice Garden, where we could not only learn about the local spices and herbs, but also about the vegetation in general.

The next day, we went to Air Itam. Here, not only is the largest Chinese temple in Penang located, but you can also take a small train up to Penang Hill. Since we remembered how strenuous the uphill climb was on foot last time, we decided to take this route. For that, we took the footpath back down, and it was also quite challenging. I don't know how we managed to climb up five years ago. The last half hour was a steep staircase that gave both of us sore muscles in our calves, but it led us directly to the beautiful botanical garden.

On our last day on the island, we visited the National Park. It is the smallest in Malaysia. We opted for the slightly more difficult trail to Turtle Beach. Although it wasn't that difficult, we still sweated a lot because of our sore muscles and the high humidity. Our shirts were easily wrung out afterwards. But we could walk through the beautiful jungle again and see cute little turtles on the beautiful beach, unfortunately not in the wild but at the Turtle Conservation Center.

On the day of departure, we went for breakfast to Lea's favorite buffet restaurant before getting on the bus that would take us to the Cameron Highlands.