It was a short one hour flight that took us to the south of Thailand, to Hat Yai. Chris and I had been here before in transit when we were travelling around the south islands. Thanks to Chris' PocketEarth app, we were able to find the cheapest way to take us from the airport to the bus station, via a songthaew. Unfortunately however, this was not the station we needed, there were no minivan’s going to Penang, Malaysia. Looking a little lost, a helpful man made a few phone calls, and the next thing we knew we were clambering into a smaller songthaew which would hopefully take us to the correct bus station.
He did not take us to a bus station, but instead we pulled up to a travel office, where we managed to purchase tickets for a minivan leaving at 3.30pm that afternoon to Georgetown, Penang. Only being just after midday we had some time to kill, which in most instances means eating!
Recognising the town from before and remembering we had eaten for fairly cheap in a food court, we decided this would be our best option, especially since it would also be air-conditioned. We were also limited to around 40 baht each to spend on food due to only withdrawing a certain amount the day before. Luckily, we managed to find our favourite Pad Kaprow for 40 baht in the food court. On our walk back to the travel office we managed to barter for two mangos – we knew it was a good price when the lady selling them got a little angry at her friend that made the deal with us! After buying the essential water for the journey we were left with just 8 baht, and since there was no point in keeping hold of it we searched around 7/11 for something to spend it on….we managed to find some strawberry jelly!
The minivan from Hat Yai took a lot longer than we anticipated. What we thought might be a three hour (four max) journey, turned into over five hours! We passed through the Malaysian border with ease, for our driver to then take the slowest back roads, travelling only 20km in over an hour. We couldn’t understand why he had chosen to take these roads, when there was clearly a main motorway running straight in the direction we wanted.
Eventually we pulled up to the bus station in George Town, then it was a short 10/15 minute walk towards 'Love Lane’, where we had been recommended to find cheap backpacker accommodation. We managed to find space in a four bed dorm at a newly opened hostel called ‘Dreamcatcher’, and luckily for us we had the room to ourselves. With Malaysia being an hour ahead, it was now nearly 10pm, and we were definitely ready for dinner. The helpful ladies running the hostel pointed us in the direction of some local popular street food.
When we were in Malaysia a few months ago, I did not particularly take a liking to the Malay use of anchovies in their cooking, so I was a little reluctant to try something new. Chris as always jumped straight in and ordered a stir fried noodle dish. We all fancied the look of the chicken satay being bbq’d, so shared a portion of 9 sticks between us. Then Beth and I went in search of something a little safer, and opted for our ‘go to’ meal of noodle soup.
With our tummies satisfied we strolled back to the hostel and planned our one and only day on Penang.

Our alarms were set for an early rise to make the most of our one day on Penang. The hostel provided some fresh fruit (bananas, yellow watermelon, and oranges) and toast, for a light breakfast. But more, to mine and Beth’s delight, there was peanut butter! Banana + peanut butter = delicious!
Despite being warned off going to Penang Hill by the ladies at the hostel due to it being school holidays and a popular place for mums to hang out, we thought since we were up early we might be able to beat the crowds. We caught the bus, taking around an hour, to Penang Hill. It was a very expensive tourist attraction, costing 30 ringgit each (around £7) to take a train along a funicular railway up to the top. It takes about 10 minutes and is 2,007 metres in length. At the highest point of the hill you are 833 metres above sea level, with incredible views across Penang Island. Once at the top it didn’t take us long to realise the climate and temperature change. Penang hill has a fairly consistent temperature of 21°C, and unfortunately for us the clouds had come in, and it felt even cooler. This also meant the view was soon obstructed, so we went for a look around.
I can only describe the top of the hill as a combination of theme park/fair ground/park. From Henna Tattoos to golf buggy tours, it was a tourist trap. We didn’t hang around long and decided to go for a walk along one of the nature trails. Just a few minutes along the road the noise disappeared, going from cheesy attraction to luscious green woodland, with plenty of monkeys swinging in the trees. We took route ‘B’, around 400 meters downhill, through the forest. We met a couple along the way who had said they had just seen a lemur, so we kept our eyes peeled and our chatting to a minimum. It was a very pleasant and peaceful walk through the forest, and luckily on our way back up (via route ‘C’), I managed to spot a lemur jumping from tree to tree. It was awesome to see one in the wild, but he didn’t hang around for long, before he shot up high into the treetops, out of sight.
It was a good work out walking back up the hill, but we also got eaten alive by mosquitos. So it was time to head back down, and catch the bus back to George Town. We jumped off near Little India, starving hungry, and keen to try some raved about Indian food here in George Town. Not wanting to make a wrong choice in terms of restaurant, Chris asked a local, who pointed us in the direction of a popular and bustling Indian restaurant. As we walked in, the smell from the tandoori oven was mouthwatering, and I knew from that moment exactly what I would be ordering! However, the menu did make our choice very difficult, as everything sounded delicious, and peering around us, everything looked and smelt extremely appetizing. I stuck with my initial tandoori chicken, Beth was venturous and ordered curried goat (much to my dismay), and Chris opted for the tandoori chicken naan combo. It tasted even better than it smelt, the best tandoori chicken I have ever tasted. We were all overly pleased with our choices, and left feeling full and content.
After a short stroll back to the hostel for a quick pit stop, we decided we would be best hiring bicycles for the remainder of the afternoon. This would allow us to cover more distance in a shorter space of time, in order for us to see and hunt down as much of the street art as possible. George Town was formally inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008. A main attraction in George Town is the various street art scattered around the city. Ernest Zacharevic, a Lithuanian artist, was commissioned to work for the George Town Festival in 2012. His artwork ‘Mirrors George Town’ became a huge hit, and now queues of tourists line the streets to have their picture taken in front of his work. Along with Zacharevic’s work, a Thai artist, Natthapon Muangkliang and Malaysian artists Louise Low and Tang Yeok Khang created 12 cat-related street artworks aimed at creating awareness towards stray animals. There are also 52 iron structures dispersed around the city, which were commissioned by the Penang tourism board to provide a fun pictorial anecdote about the history of the street it is located on. Of course, many other street artists have also found patches to work on, making the city very unique. 
One of my favourite artworks was ‘Boy’, which was extremely difficult to find, but well worth it. Having to cycle the wrong way along ‘one way’ roads, cross busy traffic, and squeeze down a small alleyway, we eventually found ourselves at the back of some very run-down buildings, with two very sad and poorly looking pooches. But the artwork was incredible. Of course, I loved the Minions artwork, but also the animation to several of the artwork, including the ‘children on a swing’ and ‘children playing basketball’. It was great to just cycle around the city searching for the artwork, but also stumbling across hidden gems, such as the ‘No animal discrimination please’, hidden down an alley. It was the best way to really get a feel for the city and within a few hours we had seen rather a lot of artwork.
Our last stop took us to ‘Trishaw man’, a huge artwork by Zacharevic on the side of a building. Fortunately for us, en route to finding this artwork, we spotted a chocolate and coffee shop, similar in style to the one Chris and I had visited on Langkawi. Inevitably we stopped by, made a whistle stop tour of the museum about where the coffee and chocolate comes from, as all that was on our minds was tasting the chocolate and coffee! We did a pretty good job at trying out the testers, even trying some freshly made. We ensured Beth had a taste of the durian coffee, before we treated ourselves to tiramisu, hazelnut, and vanilla coffees – delicious!
We dropped our shockingly bad bicycles back; mine had wonky peddles, Beth’s was continuously pulling to one side, and Chris’ had such a badly buckled back wheel that it kept changing gear by itself. But we managed to survive the afternoon, and despite spending most of it cycling the wrong way along roads, we made it back in one piece.
We ventured out to the ‘Red Garden’ food night market for dinner. A large covered area with all different types of food from around Asia on its perimeter; from Filipino to Thai. But it was only right that we stuck with Malay food, and having had such a delicious lunch in Little India, we kept in theme, and opted for clay pot cooked biryanis. These were also very tasty, so it was a great day all around for food!

We were up early to catch a bus to the airport, leaving us plenty of time to grab some breakfast before catching our flight to Kota Bharu, over on the east coast.