60 hours in Penang

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

Georgetown is only about a 50-minute flight from Singapore and is serviced by several airlines.
To get a cab at the airport requires paying the central fare office for a standard cab ticket.
Though many things in Penang are in walking distance, you may want to opt for a taxi in midday, unless you are used to some serious tropical heat and sun.

Sometimes the reviews you read before seeing a place leave a bit to be desired. So it was with the Sheraton - and I almost decided to stay elsewhere - but a buddy of mine that had been in Malaysia a few months before recommended it and said see for yourself.
After checking in, I went up to my room to find that I had been given a business suite large room with a side office area to it. Definitely not what I had been expecting - but a huge room none the less. No problem with the room smelling musty or the hallways being that way - it was all very clean while I stayed there.
The view from the room was simply amazing, and looked out over a portion of Georgetown and the shipping channel that separates Penang Island from the mainland. The water in the channel is one of the sharpest light blue colors I have seen when the sun is reflecting on it.
The desk and door staff at the Sheraton were excellent in all regards in the assistance they gave and in the tips given on what I may want to see and especially where to go eat. The front desk staff continuously were both cheerful and excellent resources for exploring Georgetown. Do ask them if you are looking for a close in place to go and grab a bit to eat as well - they had great picks each time I tried their recommendations!

The Sheraton is a 4-minute cab ride to Penang Road from the hotel. The hotel van is also able to take you into the city for a small fee. If you are going to walk, you will most likely take Jalan Burma to Penang Road, about a good 20 minute or so walk to the intersection that will lead you to the restaurants or to the mall.

The hotel has a small shopping center next door that has a grocery store on its first floor. It makes for a great stop to stock up on water and other drinks for when you come in from the heat. There is also a book store in this shopping plaza that had some good titles on Malaysia and South East Asia in English on history, languages, and many other items.

The breakfast buffet comes complimentary and is a great spread of pastries, Malaysian, Japanese and Chinese breakfast foods. Just make sure you do not eat too much before wandering out into the hot morning sun.

Overall, the Sheraton has definitely made my list for the place to stay on my next trip to Penang.

Though the room rates may be well beyond most travelers, the lunch at the E&O Hotel Sarkies Corner is an experience all unto itself that should not be missed while you are in Penang. The lunch specials are less than $10 and come as a wonderful mixture of Malay/South Asian/South East Asian dishes served in tin ware. The typical special will include a beef/lamb/vegetable/ and chicken dish. You can have iced tea with it—or perhaps it is ginger beer that you want to try with your meal.

Sarkies Corner's dining room is a colonial coffee shop setting looking out on the channel that offers all-day dining and truly celebrates Penang's diverse cultural crossroads heritage and the influence other cultures and spices have had in its foods. Choose from a wide selection of delicious local fare and various international cuisine. It has tables that seat about 150 people.
Breakfast is from 6:30am to 10:30am

All-Day Dining from 10:30am to 11:00pm

Situated in Georgetown at the intersection of Farquhar Road and Penang Road, the Eastern & Oriental is right next to the food havens on Penang Road, shopping complexes and several entertainment outlets of downtown Georgetown.

Amitha's Signature is an Indian Restaraunt located off Jalan Burma on Jalan Nagore and a block from the Sheraton Hotel. Amitha's is a popular local place because they serve a lot of very good food at a very low prices.

The owner, Mr. Krishnan, is a great guy who will definately take good care of you with a large menu of Indian and several Malay dishes. Most items on the large menu board are less than $2.

The roti prata is a dish you will want to try at Amitha's, with the curry being spicy and very good - good enough to go ahead and order a 2d plate of it! The chicken briyani and the fried rice is also worth trying.

I was given recommendations for the Kashmir by two different local sources upon arriving in Penang. They both told me it was a place that had very good to really good Indian food and breads and was well worth a visit to dine there. Definitely a good sign when looking for a first night impression on a city's food scene.

The Kashmir is located off Penang Road and under a hotel. It is medium sized, clean and air-conditioned place decorated in typical Northern Indian attire and the owner was super friendly and talked with me a while. And that is about where the similarities to other Indian restaurants in Penang ends - because the food was even better than the recommendations made it out to be. Do get some of the different naan breads that are offered - and dip them into the northern style curries that are offered. The chicken briyani was the best I have had anywhere - with the rice being as close to perfect as you are going to find. I give it my highest recommendation for an item you should try! The sambals were all very good - and I did try several of them as well.

So besides the cab drivers, doormen, and desk clerks - add me as giving the Kashmir a recommendation as a place you should stop for dinner at!

Built after Penang Island was taken possession of by the British in 1786, Fort Cornwallis was named for the 18th-century governor of Bengal. (As a footnote in American history, this is the same General Cornwallis who surrendered at Yorktown to the American-French Army under George Washington.) Captain Sir Francis Light originally built the fort with a nibong (palm trunk) stockade.

Fort Cornwallis is laid out as a star-shaped fortification with thick brick and stone walls. From 1804 through 1810, the fort was rebuilt with bricks and stones by Indian convict labor during Colonel R.T. Farquhar’s term as governor of Penang and completed during Norman Macalister’s term as Governor of Penang at the cost of $80,000.

Even though the fort was originally built for the Royal artillery troops and the military, its actual function was more an administrative rather than defense role. In its entire history, the fort had never been engaged in any battle. Apart from being used for basing some British Royal artillery troops, the fort was also occupied at one time by the Sikh Police of the Straits Settlements during the 1920s.

The remains of the fort are worth seeing for the cheap admission price charged. There is a lot that could be done at the fort to make it a much more interesting historical site, but it seems the interactive historical approach has not yet made its way to Penang. Several of the old rooms in the walls house artifacts dug up from recent digs at the fort. But some parts of the fort are in disrepair, with horses grazing on the back walls.

Fort Cornwallis could be a great attraction if it became a showcase area, and the government or nonprofit organizations improved what is available there already to become a really good living museum.

When your looking for a good place to go out to later in the evening, Slippery Senoritas definitely fits the bill for a good time bar/club. Featuring a live Filipino house band that is usually pretty good and gets the crowd up and dancing, and bartenders that repeat some of the tricks from the movie Cocktails - SS is one of the best places to be on Penang. They do a good job on the mixing of some strong drinks and have Tiger beer on tap.
SS is one of several Garage complex clubs and has a good draw of different people that start coming in later in the evening. The music is even better when the house DJs start in playing Latin to music fusion of R&B and house and current hits. The best time to get there is after 10pm, and watch the place start moving on Wednesday to Saturday nights. The SS also has a pretty good and varied menu as well.

SS is a fun enough time that even I found myself closing it out 2 nights in a row. Getting a cab back to a hotel from the Garage complex is not a problem, being Penang Road is right out front.