Penang nightlife – or lack thereof…
Posted by sideshowBOB | Blog, Malaysia, Reader Submissions, Trip Report | Posted on August 18th, 2007
Well folks. Last post from rainy Penang. I am so glad to be coming back to BKK!
After my Post 2 escapades I figured there was no use trying to top that so I just hung out – reading, writing and exploring a little bit. I guess if you have never been to Malaysia one could do okay in Penang for a few days but after living in Bangkok it is really tough to enjoy this place. I did my best but Bangkok rules.
If you are looking for cheap digs I have been staying in the Banana New Guest House on Chulia. Decent enough with the free WiFi and good iced-coffee for those caffeine fueled love making sessions with my keyboard and wireless mouse. I don’t get the cheap dig scenarios here. One has to fork over real money if you want a bathroom in your room. Showers in the room – no problem. Bathroom – not in the room. I guess water drainage plumping is easier than sewer plumbing? Anyway. I paid 45 RM for a room with air con and a shower. Bathroom down the hall along with a hot shower which I ended up using anyway. Whatever. I think Thailand is better for cheap digs.
I spent the afternoon on foot wandering Georgetown’s Little India. Had no idea it was there before. If you are into Hindi movies, gaudy outfits and Indian sweet shops then this is your place. I went in search of some decent Indian Food. I ended up on some street corner that seemed to specialize in Lassis and Rotis. Great stuff. I gorged. Paid up and went to lay on a bench by the ocean. About 45 minutes later I realized I was without sunglasses. I am mole-man. I implode without my shades. I was sure I left them at the food stall.
So I run back and see the cashier. No glasses were left here he told the squinting white boy.
“Yes they were – I can assure u.”
Cashier finds one of the waitresses who confirms that they were no sunglasses left.
“I sat there. I left them on the table.”
Then I see the roti boy. Pretending to hide behind his roti station looking busy. I walk right up to him and asked if he remembered seeing my sunglasses. Then I looked and there they were perched on top of his prized roti station. I was pissed. I just grabbed them and left. Malaysia sucks.
Back to the hotel for a nap. Then back out for a bar crawl. Head for the main drag at the end of Chulia. Opposite of where Little India is. Then take a right. Explore. Nothing really that good. I figured for a Thursday night there would be some traffic but hardly anything.
Stopped into Soho – the big main pub with no interior lighting. I ordered a Carlsberg draft, bummer Thailand screwed over Carlsberg, but the beer was almost warm. I would like a cold one please. Waiter says the Carlsberg is always that way. Whatever. Non ice-cold draft beer is worse than being stuck in Penang. Drank half and moved on. Besides the LBs of the Hijra variety lounging in the bar were giving me the creeps.
Moved down to the blocked off street near the Garage building. Just look for the Sloppy Senoritas sign. I stopped into this small pub called the Tigers Arms. Pub research. I ordered a Tiger. Ice freakin cold. Place empty. Tried to chat up the waitresses. Not a pick-up session but wanted someone to chat with since the place was empty. Then it appeared the white manager was giving them look and they backed off. Nice. In an empty bar scenario the staff should be encouraged to small-talk with the customers to keep them from walking off. Too boring. I checked-bin.
On the way back to Chulia Street I noticed a big crowd gathering and then realized there was a police sting going on. They were going through the hostess bars picking up illegal or un-documented workers. Most seemed to be Ladyboys. Funny thing was I was chatting with a local Chinese guy who was laughing and telling me that with all the problems in Penang one would think the Police have better things to do with their time. I said agreed – like what?
He deadpanned – “They could start by getting all the crooked taxis to use their meters!”
Amen my Chinese brother. Amen. Penang sucks.
So I bailed on bar-hopping. Just too boring. The one thing I like about Bangkok is the concept of a beer bar or go-go bar when it comes to flying solo. I am not taking about pulling but at least you can go in, ogle, buy a few drinks and have somebody cute to chat with. How bad is that? Penang has no equivalent unless you count those scarily dark bars with things resembling women calling you in for a drink. I am just not that brave folks.
I decided to hit one of the Chinese reflexology centers for a foot massage. The counter lady asked if I wanted a body massage – with that twinkle in her eye my mind started working overtime but then I decided I wanted the real deal so I could chill and read the paper. Foot massage rules.
Then I headed back for the hotel, stopping along the way to duck out of the rain and munch on some Malay curries with Naan. Yummy stuff. Cheap food. Lots of good, cheap food in Penang. I will give it that much.
Air Asia bitch – last one. What is up with this place? The day before my flight I tried to change my afternoon flight to a morning flight. No dice. Seems you have to make changes 48 hours ahead of time. That would have been impossible since I would have had to change it before I even left Bangkok. Okay. So I get the rules. Can I pay money to change it? No – u can’t. Can I fly standby? Nope. Can I buy another ticket? Yes – u can. I don’t understand it. Why wouldn’t they let someone pay some penalty charge to change a flight time if they have seats available? Customer happy and they make more money. My guess is they don’t have enough competent staff to manage the chaos. Anyone know?
Well. This is it from Penang.
Back to the land of smiles. Say what u will about Bkk but no one is smiling in Penang.
PS. Air Asia was 5 hours late. No apologies. No free food.
Penang airport sucks. No WiFi.
10 Responses to “Penang nightlife – or lack thereof…”
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I’ve never done Penang, but done KL and had a great time. There’s a bar called ‘The Beach’ that heaved every night. No shortage of available women. I can’t comment on the food as I don’t recall eating very much.
View all comments by bo
Yup – used to work in KL. I can deal with KL. Some great nightlife indeed. It is a bummer there is no real competition to the beach though.
Maybe others with recent experience can chime in.
KL kills Penang…
View all comments by smitty
WiFi at the Nando’s and the coffee shop at Penang airport, before you check in. I was surfing asianstreetmeat with a cup of tea and a blueberry muffin in anticipation of returning to Bangkok last time I was there…
View all comments by Bangkok Bad Boy
hahahahaha….’asianstreetmeat’ with a blueberry muffin….what a picture that paints.
Cream in your tea ? No thanks, I’ve brought my own.
View all comments by bo
i lived in penang for 4 months and it effing killed me
i had moved here from a 3month stink in Bangers to work for Celebrity Fitness in Gurney Plaza – plenty of skirt but majority were chinese and on the whole they are po-faced miserable bastards
soho is full of inbreds and ladyboys, Sleazy Senorits is a shithole with a dangerous floor layout (unannounced 3 foot deep steps in middle of dancefloor) and the other pubs arent worth a wank
after 4 months in penang i went on a rampage in bangers it was heaven – on a sidenote KL is pretty good, beach club is rammed with hookers (my first P4P experience was from there at tender age of 18)…….. where does the time go?
View all comments by myspace.com/penfold_xxx
I feel for you, mate. Penang. Badly sucks ass.
Had good experience with Air Asia in Hat Yai. My flight was at 7.xx PM. Got to the airport at 4.xx PM. There was another flight due to depart ten minutes after I’d arrived at the airport. They let me hop onto that one, without charging anything. Still prefer Nok Air and 1-2-Go.
View all comments by rick
I spent a few days in Penang last month. I enjoyed Penang food so much that I didn’t mind the lamentable lack of available female company. I noticed when wandering around Georgetown that there were so few attractive women out. In Thailand I see someone beautiful every few yards. In Penang if I saw one in the mall it was a major event.
I heard that the Chillout nightclub at the Guerney Hotel on Guenrey Drive has many freelancers. But that was from a Malaysian whose standards may not be the same as ours. I did’t check it out.
The best time I had was chatting up a shy Indonesian girl who worked at a char kway teow stall on Swatow Lane. It used to be that the owner’s daughters would work in the family business. Now the daughters want to go to university and become doctors so they import labour from Indonesia. The girl spoke no English but Bahasa Indonesia is close to BM so we could exchange a few words. Papa who owned the stall was’t pleased but I complimented on his noodles and he smiled.
I didn’t make any progress but it was fun to try and I got some good photos of her.
Some of the most attractive girls I saw were Malay. It’s interesting how in relatively liberal Penang many wear a conservative head covering but tight jeans and show their figures. You would not see that on the East Coast. I think many Malay girls have extremely beautiful faces. But I would not risk even talking to them.
Apart from good food I enjoy it because far more people speak English. It’s a smaller place than BKK or KL and I thimk the average person in the street was more genuinely friendly.
Like Smitty I took a long walk through the old part of Georgetown and Little India. The place is a living museum with so many old buildings. I think it is like Singapore used to be 50 years ago. Nice to look at but terrible to live in. They are doing some renovations e.g. by the Butterworth ferry terminal but it is so slow.
I found some walk-up brothels on Love Lane in Little India but didn’t go in. Also an Indian transvestite hooker on Chulia Street who wanted me to take her picture. Scary.
Oh yes, one lonely Chinese freelancer in the afternoon on Penang Road. In Bangkok she’d be a 3 or 4 but I had to recalibrate in Penang and she was a solid 8. I almost took pity on her but no, not worth it.
I was considering Penang as a backup retirement location if anything happens here. I was told that you neeed to lodge the equivalent of US$70K in a Malaysian bank to qualify for a retirement visa. Big difference from the 800H baht they require here.
I’ll check out the Philippines next.
View all comments by Arthur
Mm. Just caught up on your blogs. Was it your friends or your enemies who recommended you go visit Georgetown, Penang? No offence, but it’s definately not your kind of place. Had to go there to find out? Could have found out heaps more before you went. Not a cowboy kind’a town. Hope you did better in the Phillipines.
View all comments by sam
sam – we have business reasons for going – so no choice really.
malaysia and Philippines are about the same for me.
View all comments by smitty
well…I’ve stay in Penang since I moved to here from Bangkok..it was about 9-10 years ago..
All I can say Penang has its good heritage places, nice beaches & superb food..
I like spicy food & good food cooked with great spices..though in Bangkok I can find spicy & good food too..but taste here is just different and more varieties…I get to choose Chinese, Indian & some Malay food which I don’t quite prefer..Food here is pretty cheap & very tasty (unlike the kuala lumpur food which is really sucks)..and now I just couldn’t resist the delicious chinese food..I will take at least 4-5 times a week..The Indian food is another choice of my favorite too..My mum is a great cook & she taught me lots of ways to use spices during cooking..I got myself lots of great spices here in Penang & I will cook for my relative which stay out of the town once in a while..
Well talking about the heritage places…I just got to know that the Penang has just obtained the World Heritage status..I notice many buildings or pre-war houses are currently being renovated or preserved…this is a good direction…but still more hard work to go…
My relative is staying near Teluk Bahang..which I will pay them a visit every 1-2 months..and I really love the beaches at Muka Head or Pantai Kerachut (Kerachut Beach)..or Betong Beach.. if you like the nature & silence while on the beach & feeling the sea breeze..then here is the place…Bt.Ferenghi beaches are more commercial places but if you prefer water sports activities, night market or 5-6 stars hotels..then Bt Ferenghi is yr place..
I heard Hard Rock hotel is going to open here in June 2009 replacing the existing Casuarina Hotel..which I anticipate so much..Thailand has one too
Talking about politic, Penang has a new government now which is 100 times better than the previous…corruption level is greatly reduced..and public are being treated more equally rather than previously where malays race are biasly given great care in many aspects..
One thing I have to agree is the air asia service which is really sucks..mayb because of the cheap air fare (used to be, but I don’t think it’s cheap anymore since these 2 recent years)..It has been a frequent practice for them to text the customers last minute saying the flight will be delayed..If you are heading for business purpose, my advise is get rid of air asia…Anyhow there’s another flight FireFly owned by Malaysian Airline..which is currently putting great pressure to compete with Air Asia..
I would say Penang is definitely a great place to stay..with superb food, beautiful nature, friendly people..relaxed lifestyle & less polution !
View all comments by muo