After an overnight bus ride from Singapore, we arrived at the Penang bus station before sunrise and were ambushed by multiple cabbies. We were actually the only two left on the bus and they even boarded the bus to try to be the first to snag us. We fought through the crowd and picked the most respectable looking cabbie to head to the guesthouse. It was only 7:30 when we arrived but thankfully they let us check in early and we spent most of the morning organizing and researching what to do in Georgetown.

That afternoon we took a cab over to the Penang Turf Club to watch some local horse racing. Getting into the betting spirit, we put down a 5 Ringgit bet on “Lucky Flier”. It wasn’t meant to be as our horse came in 7th, but we had a good time cheering! Later that day, Sara found some local Indian food in our price range for dinner. We ordered based on pictures without much knowledge of Indian food. The meal was delicious but it was incredibly spicy – my mouth was on fire the rest of the night!

The following morning, we asked our guesthouse, Guest Inn, about renting bicycles (Our hosts were always super helpful and friendly). They suggested a shop located right next door which was a convenience store. We picked out 2 newer looking bikes and hit the roads but didn’t make it far because Sara’s bike was riding crooked and sounded like it was about to fall apart. Luckily, we passed Love Bike Shop which was displaying beautifully new bikes and a knowledgeable owner greeted us. We quickly returned the junkers and rented the beauties for the same price. Once on the road, we explored the old section of town starting with the waterfront. There were 3 old “jetties” with houses built over the water down the entire length of several hundred feet. We continued along the waterfront on a busy road barely avoiding a few collisions with motorbikes and turned into a park. Next to the park was an old fort. We didn’t go inside because the admission price was too high, but it was neat to relax next to the fort walls.

That night we rewarded our savings by going out to a local bar. After a few beers, we heard a really good duo playing acoustic hits at the next bar over. We sat enjoying the music for a while and met some other travelers from South Africa and New Zealand.

The next day we had planned on going hiking up Penang Hill, but slept-in after our late night. Instead, we decided to walk the old town and see everything we missed on the bikes. Georgetown commissioned an artist to paint several murals around the old section of town. Sara and I made a game of trying to find each mural by only getting a general direction using the paper tourist map which wasn’t to scale. (The first person to spot it got a point). It was harder to do than we thought because many murals were hiding on side streets but I managed to win! It was really fun and made us look and appreciate the town more.

We spent the following day hiking up Penang Hill (which is a bit more than a hill at almost 3,000 feet). Our plan was to take the bus to the botanical gardens and go up a trail I found online. After waiting almost an hour for the bus (which supposedly ran every 40 minutes), we concluded that Google had misled us and confirmed with another local that the bus left from a different stop. So instead, we hopped in a taxi and made it to the trailhead earlier than we originally expected! The hike was pretty intense, especially with the heat. The trail was about 3.5 miles long and climbed 2,500 feet in that distance. A third of the way up was a rest area with exercise equipment which is apparently a popular workout destination for the locals. A couple hours and a little bit of bush-wacking later, we finally made it to the top. The views of the island were spectacular! We explored the top for a couple hours (it’s is a popular tourist destination with historic bungalows from when it was a British colony). We found a nice view to enjoy the sunset with our PB&J dinner (and there were monkeys swinging trough the trees overhead as a bonus)! We rode the funicular down which is a super steep train that went straight down the mountain. At one point it’s steepness was greater than 45 degrees! That night we slept well and dreamed about our next island destination.

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