Destination: Penang-Location Location Location

For those travelling from KL, Sarawak, Singapore and Brunei (thank you so much for coming!), I try my best to put in bits and pieces of information about Penang. While most of my relatives reside on Penang Island today, I grew up in Alor Setar. So, I do not actually know a lot about Penang except how to get to my Ah Mah's (grandmother) place from the Penang Bridge and back again.

My 10 months spent in International College (Bukit Jambul, Penang) were mainly confined in a students' apartment barely 5 minutes away from the school - not much of an outgoing person then.

Anyway, here's a first look at where the event will be taking place, and some suggestions of where to stay.


That island above is Penang Island, situated somewhat West of Peninsular Malaysia with mainland Butterworth and Prai to its East. Further inland and towards the North will be the state of Kedah-where I come from.

The map below is a magnified section of the top right quarter of the island above. The Eastern & Oriental (usually only known as E&O) Hotel, where the wedding reception will be, is located right under that word GEORGETOWN. See it?


For those not considering to stay at the E&O, there are plenty of other hotels nearby.

If you'd like some seabreeze in your face and sand in between your toes, Paradise Sandy Bay, Copthorne and Tj Bungah Hotel aren't too bad. They're about 15-30 minutes away from E&O by taxi.

Now, for those who simply MUST go to Gurney Drive (but seriously, there ARE other similarly or better eating places elsewhere but I'll humor you anyway) The Gurney Hotel and G Hotel are pretty much quite close to your heart's desire. G Hotel is brand new and is literally glued to the Gurney Plaza - quite good shopping there for those in need of last minute touch ups to their party gear. Plus there are a number of cafes there for a late night drink or two. Apart from those two, the Evergreen Laurel hotel is not too bad, so is the Northam AllSuites. In the map above Gurney Drive is roughly between Northam and Evergreen. That's where G Hotel and Gurney Hotel are as well.

Other hotels within the vicinity of E&O to consider are:

Cititel
City Baview
Traders Hotel (Shangri La in the map above)
Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion (a magnificently restored mansion of a chinese merchant converted into a heritage hotel. A breathtaking work of asian architecture)
The Merchant Hotel

The next map is mainly dedicated to those who wish to stay nearer to the airport. I know some of you have an early flight to catch on Monday morning (19 Nov) after the wedding reception.

This is a magnified section of the Bayan Lepas/Bayan Baru area-bottom right quarter of island. Around this area there's the Vistana Hotel or Krystal Suite or Equatorial.

More to come on Things to Do and attractions along the Feringghi stretch. Later...

-Disclaimer: As I've always stayed at home when in Penang, I do not actually know how good these hotels are. Those that I would recommend (from friends' experiences) are G Hotel, The Gurney and maybe Cititel. Bayview I heard is not too bad too.