Georgetown in Penang, Malaysia

Georgetown is the capital of the island and state of Penang, on the west coast of peninsular Malaysia. It was listed by UNESCO in 2008 as a World Heritage Site, together with fellow former Straits Settlement, Melaka.

Francis Light and the Clock Tower

Founded in 1786 by British trader Francis Light, Georgetown was one of the three Straits Settlements along with Malacca and Singapore. Modern-day Georgetown is one of Malaysia's largest cities with 600,000 inhabitants.

Note that with its combination of Chinese and Muslims, Georgetown takes its religious resting days. Most of the town stops working for the latter half of Saturday, and all of Sunday. Many shops and restaurants are closed during these times and the streets are extremely sleepy and quiet, with little tourist friendly activity going on. Muslim prayer calls can be heard at the required prayer times, and it is not uncommon to see the Chinese locals burning incense for ancestor worship on the sidewalks.

The town seems quite relaxed, as restaurants, small shops, and mall shops don't fully open until around noon. If you're waking up early, be sure to look for Chinese Dim Sum stalls as they are only available in the morning. But don't bother looking for any other activities besides eating.

Georgetown is Penang's transportation hub. Ferries arrive at the terminal on Weld Quay (Pengkalan Weld) on the east city of the city; the bus station is nearby on Victoria Street. Take a note of where these are located as you will no doubt want to see them again rather shortly in order to depart.

Public transportation around the city is not very well organized. There are, however, buses that ply the length and breadth of the city, and even one that can take you around the island itself. Having said that, there is a chance you master the system by going either to the KOMTAR building or the ferry terminal. There, all busses stop on their route, and if you don't mind going around the city a bit if you actually want to leave it, you have good chances of getting where you want. But if you're planning to venture out of Georgetown to the suburbs and beyond for a day's tripping, do bear in mind that the public buses STOP picking up passengers AFTER 10PM daily - apparently even on weekends and holidays (as of November 2006). And if you need to take a taxi back to your quarters after midnight, be prepared to pay a 100% surcharge on top of the usual quoted fare.

Going to and from the airport (Rapid Penang bus 401E from the airport to Komtar and the Jetty, and vice versa) takes about an hour, and the buses come once every 30 minutes. The bus fare is RM2. This is in contrast to the official taxi fare of RM38 with a journey of about 45 minutes from the airport to downtown Georgetown, and vice versa.

According to the Ministry of Tourism, "City taxis are required to charge according to the meter effective from August 2006" (from "Penang: Pearl of the Orient", published May 2008). However, as in Kuala Lumpur, many taxi drivers have no respect for the law or at least believe that foreigners have no legal rights and will even try to cheat foreigners.

Therefore, taxi rides within the city may cost up to RM20; agree on the fare before you get in. Taxi's can also be hired for a minimum of 3 hours at RM25 per hour. A good way to see the Northern and Western parts of the island if you don't have your own vehicle.

Trishaws cater to tourists and charge around RM30 per hour. However, these trishaw rides are becoming more of a curiosity rather than the norm as the number of trishaw peddlers are now lower in number than before.

You may also rent your own motorbike or little scooter to get around. These shops can be found along Chulia Street and also Penang Road.

Street names can be confusing: the street signs are in Malay, but locals will invariably use the old English names, e.g. Pitt Street instead of Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling, Beach Street instead of Lebuh Pantai, etc. Lebuh, Jalan, Lorong, etc. are the Malay words for street, road, lane, respectively.

Georgetown is a pedestrian nightmare as there are very few footpaths. In places without footpaths it is almost impossible to get around on foot due to the heavy traffic and prevalence of deep, wide, disgusting open sewers.