When visited: February 2014.   Weather: HOT 25C

Arriving in Penang after sleepy Butterworth, it was immediately obvious how much wealthier and more developed Penang island is compared to Butterworth. The traffic though is truly terrible! I stayed at the Eastin Hotel near Queen’s Bay Mall and it was adequate but twice the price of the Aroma in Butterworth.

The afternoon was unbearably hot so we decided to go up Penang Hill, a cool verdant hill station.  The funicular railway of old has now been replaced by a brand new Swiss funicular railcar and it takes all of 5 minutes to get to the top.

the inside of the funicular

Arriving at the top we are greeted by an absolutely amazing and stunning view of Georgetown and the Penang Bridge…

view from penang hill

Penang Hill is all about the views …there is a little private aviary in the grounds of the Bellevue Hotel…it is nowhere as good as the one in Butterworth so save your money and just have an ice cream to cool off.

We planned a seafood meal in the evening at the Tanjung Tokong seafood restaurant by the sea….

seafood restaurant in Tanjung Tokong

As the sun set, the little boats bobbled around gently…

a lone tree at the breakwater

and the sun finally disappeared

The seafood and beer were awesome…

After a good night’s rest, I decided to try my luck birding in the botanic gardens the next days but truth be told, it was a but disappointing with few birds apart from a few common local species like white throated kingfisher, mynahs etc. But these little guys made up for it…

spectacled simian

with baby

So that was 24 hours in penang!