Penang Travel Tips (16 March 2020)

 Latest Pages & Updates

 Discover with Timothy

Guide to visit Penang and make it your home

B. Melayu

Hello and welcome to Penang Travel Tips. My name is Timothy Tye. I created this website as a guide to visit Penang and to make it your home. It is not just a website for travellers. It is more a place information encyclopedia. If you are looking to acquire real estate in Peanang, this is the place to start.

As a property specialist, I realise that people need useful information to make informed decisions when it comes to acquiring real estate. This website is the result of the research I carried out on the local real estate. At the same time, it is also an encyclopedia of place information, not only of Penang, but also of Malaysia, Singapore, and many other places.

Songs about Penang

Discover Penang Road By Road

Looking for information on Penang? Use this Map of Roads in Penang to zoom in on information about Penang, brought to you road by road.

Penang Place Information

To help you find what you want about Penang, use the Sight Directory of Penang which lists 4233 Penang sights, a Business Directory of Penang listing 212 types of businesses in Penang, and a Street Directory listing 1640 streets in Penang. And that's not all. Also within this website is an online, audio-enabled Penang Hokkien Dictionary with over 5,500 words.

About Penang Travel Tips

Penang Travel Tips is one of the most comprehensive English-language resources about Penang, with a growing body of information on other cities in Malaysia as well as Singapore.

The Penang Travel Tips website was started on 26 July, 2008, when I relocated my Penang content from my earlier site, AsiaExplorers. Over time however, more and more non-Penang content was moved across to be housed here. As of 22 March, 2017, it has 20,018 pages and receives some 2,000,000 page views per month. On 1 September 2017, I split this website into two, with non-Penang content gradually moved to my new Timothy Tye website. As of 12 November, 2017, all my Asia content has been moved, with relocation of non-Asia content planned for a later date.

Penang Travel Tips was initially created to satisfy my curiosity about the world around me. Over time, it has become my personal encyclopedia of place information. The pages on Penang Travel Tips date as far back as 2003, and have been updated countless times. Every page is built like a layer cake, with information updates being carried out on it from time to time. The result is a body of knowledge that has become a useful source of reference material not only for casual tourists, but also by the locals, students, teachers, journalists, just about anybody seeking fast information about Penang and elsewhere.

I was born and raised in Penang, and I have a deep passion for the state and its people, as well as for the documentation of its cultural heritage. Aside from Penang Travel Tips, I am the co-founder of AnakPinang, a Facebook-based community of Penangites, to build a better Penang for all its people. On 20 May 2020, I established SojiMart, a platform to help people sell things on Facebook without having to pay commission or any associated fees.

About me

My name is Timothy Tye and I am the author of this website as well as the Discover with Timothy YouTube Channel. I am a subject matter expert oin the field of Penang culture and heritage, and have written extensively about the history, architecture and food of Penang as well as of Malaysia and Singapore.

How to reach Penang

You can reach Penang by taking the plane, arriving at the Penang International Airport; by driving, usually using the North-South Expressway; by taking the Electric Train Service trains; by taking the ferry from Langkawi and Medan; and from taking cruiseliners.

Accommodation in Penang

 Information for selecting a hotel in Penang

What to see in Penang

 Geography of Penang

Administratively, Penang State is divided into five main districts called the Northeast District (Daerah Timur Laut), Southwest District (Daerah Barat Daya), North Penang Mainland (Seberang Perai Utara), Central Penang Mainland (Seberang Perai Tengah) and South Penang Mainland (Seberang Perai Selatan). To help you find your way, I have grouped the places in Penang by the following major towns.

Location of places in Penang on the map

 Map of Roads in Penang

Click the above link to view map of the streets in Penang that I have described.

 Introducing Penang

 Planning your trip to Penang

 Visitor Transport Information

If you are planning a trip to Penang, here's the information to help you plan your visit!

 Exploring Penang

Whether you plan to explore Penang on your own, by taking public transport, or rented car, or even walk about the city, the information is here. Also, if you are planning to engage a tour guide to show you around, the information is also here.

 Going on Foot in George Town

George Town - the inner city anyway - is a very walkable place, especially during the weekends. It is possible to explore and discover George Town on foot, or you may also hire a bicycle or tricycle and ride around.

 Eating in Penang

Penang is one of Malaysia's most famous food destinations. It is particularly famous among Malaysians for its street food. However, over the past two decades, Penang has become increasingly popular for its many restaurants as well.

 The types of dining outlets in Penang

 Penang Hawker Food

The hawker food of Penang is world famous, with names such as laksa and char koay teow having rounded the globe.

 Categories of eateries in Penang

 All about Penang Food

 Cooking in Penang

Not only is Penang street food famous around the world, the dishes cooked at home is also famous, but often visitors do not have the privilege to taste these homecooked items, unless they are fortunate to be invited into someone's home. My own wife happens to be a superb cook, especially of local pastries called kuih. In this section, I provide a selection of dishes cooked by my wife.

 Learn Penang Hokkien

For over a hundred years, the Chinese people of Penang speak a dialect of Hokkien known as Penang Hokkien, long before Mandarin was introduced to the region. It was the lingua franca of the various Chinese ethnic groups in Penang, regardless whether or not they are Hokkien. As with so many local dialects in the world, Penang Hokkien is today one of the threatened dialects, as parents often prefer to speak Mandarin or English to their children, yet continuing to use Penang Hokkien when conversing among themselves or with their own parents.

Penangites are incredibly proud that we speak our own variant of Hokkien called Penang Hokkien. To ensure that our Penang Hokkien do not die away, Penang Travel Tips has its own online dictionary that uses Taiji Romanisation, a home-grown romanisation that takes into account the speakers' familiarity to English, Malay and Mandarin.

Dictionary

Want to learn Penang Hokkien? We have a free course to teach you the language, just go to Learn Penang Hokkien right here.

 Get to know Penang Hokkien

 Administration of Penang State

The executive authority of the Penang State Government is under the Penang State Executive Council, which since the 2018 State Election is headed by the Right Honourable Chow Kon Yeow, Chief Minister of Penang.

The Penang State Legislative Assembly is a unicameral 40-seat assembly which convenes at the State Assembly Building on Light Street. Members of the assembly are called State Assemblymen (Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri or ADUN). As of the 2023 State Election, the Pakatang Harapan (PH) coalition won 29 out of the 40 seats, of which PH won 27 while Barisan Nasional (BN) won 2. Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition won the 11 remaining seats. List of the 2023 Penang State Assemblymen here.

In the 2018 State Election, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition commanded a supermajority in the legislature, with 37 out of the 40 seats, comprising 19 from the Democratic Action Party (DAP), 10 from the People's Justice Party (PKR), 2 from the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (PPBM) and 2 from the National Trust Party (Amanah). The state opposition is made up of 2 seats from the National Front (BN) and 1 from the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS).

Penang State is divided into five districts namely Daerah Timur-Laut and Daerah Barat-Daya on Penang Island, and Seberang Perai Utara, Seberang Perai Tengah and Seberang Perai Selatan on Penang Mainland.

The local governments of Penang State comprises the Penang Island City Council, which administers the City of Penang Island, inclusive of George Town, headed by the Mayor of the City of Penang Island, and the Seberang Perai Municipal Council, which administers Penang Mainland, headed by the President of the Seberang Perai Municipal Council. At time of this update (May 2018), the Mayor of the City of Penang Island is Mr Yew Tung Seang while the President of the Seberang Perai Municipal Council is Mr Rozali Mohamud.

 Places to get Tourist Brochures in Penang

 Taking the Bus in Penang

 Other Public Transport in Penang

 Driving in Penang

 Cycling in Penang

 Postal Services in Penang

 Vital Contacts in Penang

Getting started on Penang Real Estate

Whether you are planning to buy a house, a shop, an office, a factory, a hotel or land in Penang, the first thing you need to do is to understand the locality. In this section, I explain to you every locality in Penang, so that you have a better idea what type of property you can expect there, and at what price level. For the sake of easy comprehension the property types are residential, commercial, industrial and land, while price levels are low-cost, low-medium-cost, medium-cost, upper-medium-cost and high-end. Residential real estate can be further divided to flats & apartments, condominiums & serviced residences, landed houses and gated communities. Landed houses in Penang include terrace houses, townhouses, semi-detached houses and detached houses, bungalows and villas.

At any point, if you need personal assistance, please email me at penangtraveltips at gmail dot com, or whatsapp me at +60-12 429 9844.

Information on the residential real estate in Penang

Planning to buy, sell or rent a house, condominium or apartment unit in Penang? This website provides you with useful information.

 Categories of sights in Penang

If you operate a business with an address in Malaysia, submit this form to have your business listed in my directory. Listing is free of charge.

 Activities in Penang

Do not know what to do during your spare time? In Penang, there's lots of opportunity for recreation. The following is just a sample of activities that you can join while you're here!

 Arts of Penang

 Culture of Penang

 The People of Penang

 Major Towns and Destinations of Malaysia

 The Whole Wide World at Your Fingertips!

This website covers not just Penang, and not just Malaysia. I have described the entire world, and the information is shared here to you. Feel free to make use of my expanding body of knowledge. Pages are being updated on a regular basis.

Updates on the Penang Travel Tips Homepage

7 May 2016
After years of aligning the homepage in two columns, I decided to simplify the homepage to just one column, and make the information much easier for readers to find.

About this website

Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.