When we booked the flights with Malaysian Airlines we were offered a free return flight to Penang so we thought it a good idea to take them up on the offer and havea relaxing few daysbefore going back home. The flight from Auckand got us into KL at 8.15pm local time and we transfered to our Penang flight. Sadly the flight was delayed and we were pretty shattered by the time we boarded but at least it was a short flight and we arrived in Penang at 11pm. At the airport we were relieved to find that our luggage had transferred with us and we went to the taxi counter to get a voucher to take us to our hotel. We were soon installed in the taxi and on our way but oh what a nightmare drive it was. The driver was young, the taxi was ancient and he drove like a madman through the heavy traqffic. Thankfully, despite the age of the taxi, the brakes worked well and they certainly needed to! It took about three quarters of an hour and I suppose the fact that we were absolutely shattered mitigated the horror of the drive. We were booked in at the Paradise Sandy Beach Hotel http://www.paradisehotel.com/ in Tanjung Bungag for 6 nights, the check in staff were swift and we were soon installed in our room on the top (23rd) floor. It was a large comforttable room and we were soon in bed and fast asleep.
Although the room had a balcony I was not tempted to venture out onto it, far too high up for me! Breakfast in the hotel was a buffet and there was plenty to choose from including lots of beautiful fresh fruit which I loved. The breakfast area opened out onto the large pool and then there was an expanse of lawn leading to the beach where the loungers were put out every morning. The sea looked very tempting but there were notices advising caution when swimming due to the preponderance of jellyfish. I did see lots of people venturing in the sea but decided not to risk it and stick to the pool. It soon became apparent that one had to bag a lounger quite early as most people reseerved one, draping a towel over it, early on.
The hotel had 2 restaurants, a pool bar where pizza and pasta seemed to be popular and a more formal one where breakfast, lunch and dinner were served. The pool bar served fresh fruit platters and one of those and a freshly squeezed fruit juice soon became my preferred lunch.
We spent the first couple of days just relaxing by the pool and getting over our jet lag and planned then to do some sight-seeing. However on the 3rd day we both went down with a cold, most likely picked up on the flight from Auckland, and that put paid to our plans. N had to see the hotel doctor as he needed some more asthma medici ne and again on our last day there when he was running a fever and had to have some antibiotics. I fared better but still felt pretty grotty and was qute happy to spend most of the time lying on the lounger with a book and occasional dips in the pool.. Luckily the hotel had a small library with plenty of English books so I wasn't short of reading matter.
We did eat out a couple of times as there were 2 restaurants over the road from the hotel, one Indian and one Malaysian, where the food was good and much cheaper than in the hotel. We went to the main resort of Batu Ferringhi one evening and after seeing it I was very pleased not to be staying there! N had been there, about 25 years ago, when it was just a small fishing village. Now there are lots of large hotels and many restaurants some offering steak and chips and fish and chips! We walked along the beach and then explored the "famous" night market. Lots of fake designer stuff for sale and not a lot else. Perhps the fact that we felt rather jaded clouded our opinion of the place but we were both happy to get back to the santuary of our hotel.
We had booked into another hotel, nearer the airport, for our last night in Penang as we had an early morning flight the next day. With hindsight we would have been better staying put and getting up a half hour earlier to get to the airport. We arrived at the Krystal suites http://www.thekrystalsuites.com which advertises itself as "a business class apartment hotel which provides both space and luxury" and were somewhat dismayed to say the least. Space it may have, luxury it does not. It was like a huge barrack block and it was far from clean as well as having some rather small insects joining us in the luxury accomodation. Thankfully there were plenty of eating places nearby and we had a very nice meal before getting an early night.
We were up at 4.45 am and the taxi that we had booked arrived on time, 5.30, to take us to the airport which was somewhat more that the barely 5 minutes that reception had told us. Luckily Penang aairport isn't too busy and we were soon checked in and had time for a coffee before boarding our flight back to KL and the connection to Heathrow.
I don't think that I would be too keen to go back to Penang again although I was disappointed not to be able to explore Georgetown and some of the surrounding areas and feel somewhat guilty that most of my time was spent on a sun lounger! It did serve it's purpose though as an extended stopover on our way back home.
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