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Penang Travel Tips (16 March 2020)

Visit, Discover & Enjoy Penang, and Everywhere Else!

B. Melayu

Hello and welcome to Penang Travel Tips, the guide to visit, discover and enjoy everything about Penang.

Hello and welcome to Penang Travel Tips. It is more than just a website for travellers. Penang Travel Tips is a place information encyclopedia. It is used not only by travellers, but also by locals, and people from other places who are planning to settle down in Penang.

My name is Timothy Tye. I am a realtor and place information specialist. I research and study the development, property landscape and infrastructure of various cities, especially those in Peninsular Malaysia, to assist home buyers, business owners and property investors in making property-relation decisions from a position of knowledge. Penang Travel Tips encapsulates the information I have gathered about Penang. It serves as a subset to my timothytye.com website, which provides place information for all other places.

To help you find what you want about Penang, use the Sight Directory of Penang which lists 3950 Penang sights, a Business Directory of Penang listing 210 types of businesses in Penang, and a Street Directory listing 1025 streets in Penang. And that's not all. Also within this website is an online, audio-enabled Penang Hokkien Dictionary with over 5,500 words.

About Penang Travel Tips

Penang Travel Tips was started on 26 July, 2008, when I relocated my Penang content from my earlier site, AsiaExplorers. Over time however, more and more non-Penang content was moved across to be housed here. As of 22 March, 2017, it has 20,018 pages and receives some 2,000,000 page views per month. On 1 September 2017, I split this website into two, with non-Penang content gradually moved to my new Timothy Tye website. As of 12 November, 2017, all my Asia content has been moved, with relocation of non-Asia content planned for a later date.

Penang Travel Tips was initially created to satisfy my curiosity about the world around me. Over time, it has become my personal encyclopedia of place information. The pages on Penang Travel Tips date as far back as 2003, and have been updated countless times. Every page is built like a layer cake, with information updates being carried out on it from time to time. The result is a body of knowledge that has become a useful source of reference material not only for casual tourists, but also by the locals, students, teachers, journalists, just about anybody seeking fast information about Penang and elsewhere.

How to reach Penang

You can reach Penang by taking the plane, arriving at the Penang International Airport; by driving, usually using the North-South Expressway; by taking the Electric Train Service trains; by taking the ferry from Langkawi and Medan; and from taking cruiseliners.

Accommodation in Penang

 Information for selecting a hotel in Penang

What to see in Penang

 Geography of Penang

Administratively, Penang State is divided into five main districts called the Northeast District (Daerah Timur Laut), Southwest District (Daerah Barat Daya), North Penang Mainland (Seberang Perai Utara), Central Penang Mainland (Seberang Perai Tengah) and South Penang Mainland (Seberang Perai Selatan). To help you find your way, I have grouped the places in Penang by the following major towns.

Location of places in Penang on the map

 Map of Roads in Penang

Click the above link to view map of the streets in Penang that I have described.

 Introducing Penang

 Planning your trip to Penang

 Visitor Transport Information

If you are planning a trip to Penang, here's the information to help you plan your visit!

 Exploring Penang

Whether you plan to explore Penang on your own, by taking public transport, or rented car, or even walk about the city, the information is here. Also, if you are planning to engage a tour guide to show you around, the information is also here.

 Going on Foot in George Town

George Town - the inner city anyway - is a very walkable place, especially during the weekends. It is possible to explore and discover George Town on foot, or you may also hire a bicycle or tricycle and ride around.

 Eating in Penang

Penang is one of Malaysia's most famous food destinations. It is particularly famous among Malaysians for its street food. However, over the past two decades, Penang has become increasingly popular for its many restaurants as well.

 The types of dining outlets in Penang

 Penang Hawker Food

The hawker food of Penang is world famous, with names such as laksa and char koay teow having rounded the globe.

 Categories of eateries in Penang

 All about Penang Food

 Cooking in Penang

Not only is Penang street food famous around the world, the dishes cooked at home is also famous, but often visitors do not have the privilege to taste these homecooked items, unless they are fortunate to be invited into someone's home. My own wife happens to be a superb cook, especially of local pastries called kuih. In this section, I provide a selection of dishes cooked by my wife.

 Learn Penang Hokkien

For over a hundred years, the Chinese people of Penang speak a dialect of Hokkien known as Penang Hokkien, long before Mandarin was introduced to the region. It was the lingua franca of the various Chinese ethnic groups in Penang, regardless whether or not they are Hokkien. As with so many local dialects in the world, Penang Hokkien is today one of the threatened dialects, as parents often prefer to speak Mandarin or English to their children, yet continuing to use Penang Hokkien when conversing among themselves or with their own parents.

Penangites are incredibly proud that we speak our own variant of Hokkien called Penang Hokkien. To ensure that our Penang Hokkien do not die away, Penang Travel Tips has its own online dictionary that uses Taiji Romanisation, a home-grown romanisation that takes into account the speakers' familiarity to English, Malay and Mandarin.

Dictionary

Want to learn Penang Hokkien? We have a free course to teach you the language, just go to Learn Penang Hokkien right here.

 Get to know Penang Hokkien

 Administration of Penang State

The executive authority of the Penang State Government is under the Penang State Executive Council, which since the 2018 State Election is headed by the Right Honourable Chow Kon Yeow, Chief Minister of Penang.

The Penang State Legislative Assembly is a unicameral 40-seat assembly which convenes at the State Assembly Building on Light Street. Members of the assembly are called State Assemblymen (Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri or ADUN). As of the 2018 State Election, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition commands a supermajority in the legislature, with 37 out of the 40 seats, comprising 19 from the Democratic Action Party (DAP), 10 from the People's Justice Party (PKR), 2 from the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (PPBM) and 2 from the National Trust Party (Amanah). The state opposition is made up of 2 seats from the National Front (BN) and 1 from the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS).

Penang State is divided into five districts namely Daerah Timur-Laut and Daerah Barat-Daya on Penang Island, and Seberang Perai Utara, Seberang Perai Tengah and Seberang Perai Selatan on Penang Mainland.

The local governments of Penang State comprises the Penang Island City Council, which administers the City of Penang Island, inclusive of George Town, headed by the Mayor of the City of Penang Island, and the Seberang Perai Municipal Council, which administers Penang Mainland, headed by the President of the Seberang Perai Municipal Council. At time of this update (May 2018), the Mayor of the City of Penang Island is Mr Yew Tung Seang while the President of the Seberang Perai Municipal Council is Mr Rozali Mohamud.

 Places to get Tourist Brochures in Penang

 Taking the Bus in Penang

 Other Public Transport in Penang

 Driving in Penang

 Cycling in Penang

 Postal Services in Penang

 Vital Contacts in Penang

 Categories of sights in Penang

If you operate a business with an address in Malaysia, submit this form to have your business listed in my directory. Listing is free of charge.

 Activities in Penang

Do not know what to do during your spare time? In Penang, there's lots of opportunity for recreation. The following is just a sample of activities that you can join while you're here!

 Arts of Penang

 Culture of Penang

 The People of Penang

 Major Towns and Destinations of Malaysia

 The Whole Wide World at Your Fingertips!

This website covers not just Penang, and not just Malaysia. I have described the entire world, and the information is shared here to you. Feel free to make use of my expanding body of knowledge. Pages are being updated on a regular basis.

Updates on the Penang Travel Tips Homepage

7 May 2016
After years of aligning the homepage in two columns, I decided to simplify the homepage to just one column, and make the information much easier for readers to find.