George Town, Penang

After leaving Sumatra we spent a few mostly uneventful days in Kuala Lumpur. Then we took the train up north near the border with Thailand. For four hours, we passed a mostly flat terrain with an endless sea of trees. The train was pretty quiet with few passengers though there was a movie (Eddie the Eagle) being played on a 20 minute loop, annoying me a little too much. Technical difficulty or deliberate?

Our destination was Penang Island — the train only goes as far as Butterworth, just across the channel.

Ferry from Butterworth to Penang

From Butterworth there are two bridges to Penang, and taxis were eagerly offering to take us but we promised Asa we would take the ferry. So from the train station we walked along a confusing series of ramps, up and down stairs and made our way to the ferry terminal. The ferry ride was short and gave us a view of Butterworth, an industrial shipping hub for the region, not so picturesque. Immediately on the Penang side the heat and humidity of the afternoon seemed to bear down. During our 10 days in Penang, the highs were mostly around 34 C (93 F), and hovering around 90% humidity.

Georgetown

We first spent a few nights in George Town, the urban center of Penang and (obviously) eponymously former British colonial town, and also after Kuala Lumpur is the most populous city in Malaysia. The old center of the town is a UNESCO World Heritage site due to its collection of historic landmarks and architecture: colonial, post-colonial and early 20th century Asian architecture styles.

Cheong Fatt Tze (Blue Mansion) in George Town

But we stayed in George Town to be close to the Thai embassy to get our 60-day tourist visas. So we had some time to explore. The beachfront was under some kind of restoration with large construction vehicles moving around sand and digging channels. It was smelly and couldn’t have been more uninviting. With the industrial hub of Butterworth just on the other side it’s hard to say how nice the beach will be after the restoration is complete.

Just around the block from our guest house were two famous Buddhist temples:

Outside Wat Chaiyamangalaram

Wat Chaiyamangalaram - a Thai-style Buddhist shrine built in the 1950’s with a huge reclining Buddha. It had a pair of large dragons adorned with a mosaic of mirror pieces. Once we were in Thailand we would see this temple style repeated often.

Reclining Buddha statue inside Wat Chaiyamangalaram

Devas figurines at Wat Chaiyamangalaram

Just across the street was the Dhammikarama Burmese temple, over 200 years old and apparently the oldest Buddhist temple in Penang with large statues and fountains. The latest addition was the towering Golden Pagoda Bell Tower. Though quite compact, this temple complex was more extensive than its Thai counterpart, with fountains, fish ponds and several small buildings used by monks and other for functions unknown to us.

Dhammikarama Burmese Temple