Goin' Feral One Day At A Time: Penang, Malaysia

Georgetown is ace!

Georgetown

We didn’t have any great expectations for our day on Penang but it turned out to one of, if not our favourite, stops on our cruise around South East Asia back in late 2018 early 2019. This little island off the coast of Malaysia slipped under my radar a little, with abundant natural beauty and lots of cultural heritage as well, there was a lot to see. It wasn’t any of those things we noticed first up this morning as we walked off the ship though, our first impression of Penang was the heat and humidity, this place was stinking hot even at this early hour of the morning.

The ship docked right beside Georgetown.

First up today we headed to the Botanical Gardens.

Thankfully with me being a fairly soft Feral traveller we only had to handle the heat for a few minutes before we boarded our air conditioned bus and headed off to check out the Botanical Gardens. Arriving at the gardens there was no avoiding the heat though, more than half of our group passed on the guided walk and took a golf buggy ride around the gardens but along with the more hardy leftovers Sam and I battled through on the walk. With a waterfall tumbling down in the distant jungle and a resident population of monkeys, these gardens feel about as tropical as you can get I think. Our local guide spending plenty of time patiently explaining the different plants and their uses to the group as we walked a kilometre loop around the well manicured garden. If you are travelling to Penang independently then it would be easy enough to lose a few hours checking out this peaceful place, unfortunately for us we only had an hour here today but it’s another spot that’s etched into some dark recess in my mind that I wouldn’t mind spending more time exploring.

Botanical Gardens

Alright, strap yourself in for a bit of a self indulgent photo dump.

Botanical Gardens

There is plenty of cheeky wildlife at the Botanical Gardens.

Botanical Gardens

It's a fairly easy walk around the gardens...but it was bloody hot and humid today.

Botanical Gardens

Most of the group took a motorised buggy around the gardens, being hardcore cruisers though, we walked!

Botanical Gardens

After the Botanical Gardens we re-boarded our air conditioned chariot and headed along the very scenic winding coastal road to check out the Tropical Spice Gardens. The spice gardens are only fairly small but they are situated on the slopes of a fairly steep hillside, so once again we worked up quite a sweat as we climbed up and down 100’s of steps. The Feral highlights of the Tropical Spice Garden were the shy Long Tailed Monkey and a huge sun baking monitor lizard who didn’t seem put off by me putting my camera under his nose and lastly the very informative talk and display of the different spices grown locally and their uses.

Heading to the Spice Gardens we drove past a statue of Dipper (it's a Melbourne thing!).

Flat out like a lizard drinking, at the Spice Gardens.

Spice Gardens

We had a bit of a taste test at the Spice Gardens.

Spice Gardens

Long Tailed Monkeys at the Spice Gardens.

Spice Gardens

There are a lot of stairs at the Spice Gardens.

Back on our bus we trucked a little further along the coast to arrive at the Entopia by Penang Butterfly Farm. Once again my expectations here weren’t that high, these smaller nature based places can be a bit hit or miss I’ve found sometimes, the owners enthusiasm is always evident but sometimes the places are very amateurish. We’d experienced one such place recently on Sentosa in Singapore, the owners obviously loved their butterfly’s and the place was very informative but it was very dry. Thankfully Entopia was special, these guys also appear to have a love for what they are doing but the displays and anything but dry, the animals looked well cared for and the displays were clean, with plenty of relevant information at hand. Once again our time here was limited but if you find yourself in Penang one day pencil in a visit here and you want be disappointed I don’t think, just give yourself more that the hour that we had.

Entopia Butterfly Farm.

Entopia

Exploring the Entopia Butterfly Farm.

Entopia

Have I mentioned that it was bloody hot today?

Entopia

There are is also a big audio visual display at the Entopia Butterfly Farm.

After visiting Entopia Butterfly Farm we headed back to the ship for a quick shower before heading out again to explore Georgetown.

After cruising back along the coast towards Georgetown and our ship, still at what was a relatively early hour, Sam and I decided that with plenty of time left we’d head out and explore the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site of Georgetown. Georgetown is recognised by UNESCO for it’s “unique architectural and cultural townscape without parallel anywhere in East and Southeast Asia”. The old colonial buildings in Georgetown are beautiful in their own right but even more of a bonus here is the vibrant street art scene that has sprung up around town, it’s a wonderful spot to wander around exploring whether on foot or with a local guide.

Georgetown is one of the best spots that I've ever had the good fortune to visit.

I'm guessing that this is a Sea Eagle.

Georgetown

Georgetown, as I mentioned earlier the ship docked right on the edge of town.

Georgetown

It's not all cool old buildings in Georgetown, the owners of this one must be pretty patriotic!

Georgetown

The best news for us was that with our ship docked at the wharf at Georgetown we just had to leave the wharf and we were straight away into this vibrant town. We’d grabbed a Georgetown street art map on our way out earlier in the day and it was all we needed to make our way around the old town. There are so many nooks and crannies, galleries and cafés, street vendors and buskers that time slips by very quickly here. With our ship not due to leave until 8:30 that night Sam and I stayed out exploring fairly late, not only enjoying the softer early evening light but also the slightly more comfortable temperature as the sting had gone out of the sun.

Georgetown

Georgetown comes alive as the temperature drops later in the day.

Georgetown

Eventually all good things have to come to an end I suppose and, just on dark we returned to the ship. After a quick shower it was time to head up on deck to watch as we sailed away from this great little port. Today had definitely been a great day (as you can probably guess by the number of photos on the post!), not only were the attractions interesting but unlike a lot of our other ports on this Southeast Asia trip Penang wasn’t a seething mass of humanity sweating under a tropical sun and was a fairly easy place to explore. The other good news today was that we weren’t sailing until 8:30 pm so it left plenty of time to explore and we got the added bonus of the city lights receding into the night when we eventually sailed off into the Strait of Malacca.

Georgetown

Fort Cornwallis, Georgetown.

Georgetown

The Dirt.

We were in Penang on a Princess cruise on this visit. We booked out mornings tour on the ship. The tour was called Butterfly Farm & Gardens and set us back just under $50 US each, which I thought was pretty reasonable. Our walk around Georgetown was free, we picked up a couple of free information brochures as we disembarked and that was all we really needed to explore. As I've already mentioned Georgetown is UNESCO listed and I'd highly recommend putting some time aside, preferably in the late afternoon or early evening, to explore this fascinating place.

Relevant Posts.

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, 2018.
Kuala Lumper, Selangor, Malaysia, 2019.