Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
250
Outside Georgetown
Batu Muang Fishing Village
If you'd like to see a local fishing village, here's a good
one. This village is special for its shrine to A
dmiral Cheng H o, the early Chinese sea
adventurer.
Southeast tip of P enang. Free admission. F rom Georgetown, take the Jelut ong Expy., then take Teluk
Tempoyak into the village.
Botanical G ardens
Covering 30 hectar es (74 acr es) of landscaped gr ounds, this
botanical garden was established by the British in 1884, with grounds that are perfect for
a shady walk and a ton of fun if y ou love monkeys. They're crawling all o ver the place
and will think nothing of stepping forward for a peanut (which you can buy beneath the
do no t feed the monke ys sign). Also in the gardens is a jogging track and kiddie park.
The gardens are important for tropical research.
About a 5- or 10-min. drive west of Georgetown.
&
04/227-0428.
Free admission. Daily 7am-7pm.
Penang Butterfly Farm
The Penang Butterfly Farm, located toward the northwest
corner of the island, is the largest in the world. O n its .8-hectar e (2-acre) landscaped
grounds ther e ar e mor e than 4,000 flying butter flies fr om 120 species. A t 10am and
3pm, there are informative butter fly shows. Don't forget the insect exhibit—ther e are
about 2,000 or so bugs.
Jalan Teluk Bahang.
&
04/885-1253.
Adults RM20 ($5.80/£3.60), childr en RM10 ($2.90/£1.80), fr ee for
children 4 and under. Daily 9am-5:30pm.
Penang Hill
Covered with jungle and 20 natur e trails, the hill is gr eat for tr ekking.
Or you can go to Ay er Hitam, a to wn in central P enang, and take the K eretapi Bukit
Bendera funicular railway to the top. It sends trains up and down the hill every half-hour
from 6am to 9pm, weekends from 6am to 11pm, and costs adults RM4 ($1.15/70p) and
children RM2 (60¢/35p), r ound-trip. In 2008, the train was closed for r epairs, so do
check with the local Tourism Malaysia office to be sure it has reopened before you head
out. If you prefer to make the trek on foot, go to the “Moon Gate” at the entrance to the
Botanical Garden for a 5.5km (3
1
/
2
-mile), 3-hour hike to the summit.
A 20- t o 30-min. driv e southwest from Georgetown. The funicular station is on Jalan St esen Keretapi
Bukit.
SHOPPING
The first place anyone here will recommend you to go for shopping is
KOMTAR.
Short
for “Kompleks Tun Abdul Razak,” it is the largest shopping complex in P enang, four
stories of clothing shops, r estaurants, and large depar tment stores. For those staying in
Batu Ferringi resorts,
Gurney Plaza
(
&
04/228-1111
) is close by.
Good shopping finds in P enang are
batik,
pewter products, locally pr oduced curios,
paintings, antiques, potter y, and je welry. If you care to walk ar ound in sear ch of finds,
there are a fe w streets in G eorgetown that ar e the hub of shopping activity . In the city
center, the area around Jalan Penang, Lebuhraya Campbell, Lebuhraya Kapitan K eling,
Lebuhraya Chulia, and Lebuhraya Pantai is near the Sri Mariamman Temple, the Penang
Museum, the Kapitan Keling Mosque, and other sites of historic interest. Here you'll find
everything from local crafts to souvenirs and fashion, and maybe ev en a bargain or two.
Most of these shops are open from 10am to 10pm daily.
Out at Batu Feringgi, the main road turns into a fun
night bazaar
every evening just
at dark. During the day, there are also some good shops for
batik
and souvenirs.
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