Diary of an Internet Addict

Our Mission List

After many hours of Google, Wiki and TripAdvisor, this was our mission list for Penang.

1. Kapitan Kling Mosque
2. (optional) Glass Museum Penang
3. Chowrasta Market
4. One book souvenir from Penang
5. Little India
6. Buy Penang Fridge Magnet
7. Penang Floating Mosque
8. Eat Penang Laksa
9. Drink Penang White Coffee
10. Street Art
11. (optional) Penang Islamic Museum
12. (optional) Penang Hill tram
13. (optional) Owl Museum at Penang Hill
14. Penang Batik Factory
15. (optional) The Blue Mansion / Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion

Final tally

Accomplished:

1. Kapitan Kling Mosque
2. Chowrasta Market
3. One book souvenir from Penang
4. Buy Penang Fridge Magnet
5. Penang Floating Mosque
6. Eat Penang Laksa
7. Drink Penang White Coffee
8. Street Art
9. (optional) Penang Hill tram
10. (optional) Owl Museum at Penang Hill
11. Penang Batik Factory
12. (optional) The Blue Mansion / Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion

Failed:

1. (optional) Glass Museum Penang
2. Little India – this was due to Thaipusam activities.
3. (optional) Penang Islamic Museum

12/15 accomplished, which is not bad, really. Most of it was covered in Day 2.

Costs

The total cost of the trip was $300 thereabouts, together with airplane ticket, lodging and two way airport transfers.

We used a single agency, AirAsiaGo, to book the flight tickets, lodging and airport transfers.

For day 2, when did the bulk of our sightseeing (a whopping 14 hours!), we hired a taxi driver introduced by the hotel concierge. It cost us around 400RM (after discount), though apparently it was supposed to cost higher.  Tip: Try to negotiate for a full day package instead of per hour.

Shopping does really cost a lot, especially if you likely would splurge on chocolate, coffee and stuff. Tickets to tourist attractions vary between MYR10 – 20, so if you are hitting the various places, do budget for that.

The Internet

The internet plan used was M1 Prepaid Data roaming. 1gb (I paid $10 for 30 days validity, but the current promo is $5 for 3 days) sufficed for the three-day trip with whatsapping, google mapping and blogging. A bit on the pricey side, but cheaper than the postpaid data roaming, that would have cost around $45 for unlimited data use for any of the current mobile service providers (Singtel, Starhub, M1).

The prepaid data connects to My Celcom which was great in Georgetown but pretty patchy outside it, and sometimes even drops completely in Batu Ferringhi and Penang Hill / Bukit Bendera).

Lesson Points

When we booked for the weekend, we knew that there would be Thaipusam, which explained why the price were cheaper than Chinese New Year peak period, but not that much cheaper.

A lot of the shops in Little India were closed for the Thaipusam weekend, and there was a huge jam on Day 1 which forced us to do a hasty rearrangement of schedule.

Thankfully Day 2 and 3 went off without a hitch.