Penang Georgetown Penang Malaysia Nightlife & Malaysia Shopping.

many Chinese Taoist temples, some Buddhist temples, Mosques and Hindu temples and it is a great daytrip to visit this various sacral places, it gives a good idea about the people living here.

There are 3 possibility to enter the island, via the airport, the Penang Bridge and the Penang Ferry. The best is probably the ferry since the bridge is totally filled with cars and motorbikes, worst time to drive over is in the morning. When the well known "gridlock" is on.

They call Georgetown Penang Malaysia

their new home and enjoy the exotic environ, a good climate, there are even some mountains, beaches and almost everything someone need including Plenty of hotels and apartments in the city and along the northern coastline towards Batu Ferringhi.

This part is characterized by its exotic beaches, night markets and restaurants plus other attractions like spice garden, botanical garden and the attractive Penang beaches, some having granite boulders popping out from the sand. At the beach along the north coast are most top beach resorts, the sand strip is white yellow and varies in width, at the front is the Andaman Sea, part of the Indian Ocean. Penang and Malaysia in general has lots of tourist from Arab countries, since the main religion is Islam it offers a suitable environment for the tourists from the Arab Peninsular. Other main tourist groups are naturally Chinese since the whole island has deep roots in China from where a large part of the population migrated to the island over the last few centuries in particular during English colonial times, there are also quite a lot of Indian people.

industrial park area of Penang. For instance the Vistana Hotel, Equatorial Hotel, Sri Malaysia Hotel and apartment hotels such as B-Suite and Krystal Suite. The airport and Snake Temple is also in this area. There are also other hotels or Apartments when you plan to stay longer, there are at least a dozen of budget hotels, midrange hotels and some luxury hotels such as the E&O.

Here is a Penang hotel list. Hotels are virtually around every third corner and many beach resorts don't have a road between the building and the beach means you could walk right form the hotel room to the beach. Staying at Georgetown Malaysia for a longer period of time is no problem, visa handling is very flexible.

Penang beaches

are some of the well-known and popular beaches in Malaysia. Within a 20 minutes drive range from Georgetown Malaysia some great Penang beaches are waiting. But when you are on vacation or beach holiday you better use one of the hotels  along the beach road towards Batu Ferringhi, there are all kind of accommodations and hotels available close to the beach. All beaches are light yellow sandy beaches and some have granite boulders as decoration, Penang shopping is always just a few meters away. A other version of to stay is buy Penang property, a foreigner can buy a house

multiethnic flair of a great Asian island showing the heritage of colonial times. Even if you don't like all this colonial stuff, it has, undeniable something special. Enjoy the great photos, videos and pictures in our site, they tell more than "1000" words. One of the great sides of the city is food, in comes in all variants and has worldwide origins, to enjoy visit

Georgetown Penang restaurants

and food courts offer the whole Malaysian, Asian and European spectrum of food. Restaurants reflecting the different cultures of the island such as Chinese, Indian, European, Malay, Thai and more., a Penang temple is virtually around every corner at

The opposite is Shanghai where they destroyed similar quarters like this one to make way for high ride buildings, actually there are also enough high ride buildings in Penang City but it looks as if they found a good mixture to combine past end present. This is very important for one of the major business which is tourism, a visitor wants to see something exiting and this is what he or she gets, read more.

Visit the vibrant Chinatown and go shopping,

The city is named after the British after King George Ill but referred to by the Malaysians as Tanjong (or Headland), is a almost pure Chinese town, although there is "Little India" but that's only a very small part of the city, China is everywhere and Chinese characters are

decorating the streets more or less its a Chinese City. Chinese people are a bit lees than half of the population in Malaysia. Actually the whole Penang Island could be seen as a big city since the distance between the urban cluster are rather small and wherever you are on Penang you are more or less in the city, even the beaches are only a couple of minutes away. This is continuously pushed by a real estate boom where the Malaysian government actively supports the island and particular as retirement destination and they are very successful.

This is a Far East warehouse

for everything imaginable, from electronic gadgets to plastic toys. Chinese ceramics and other goods, silks from Thailand and India, plus simple fabrics for less expensive sarees, tech gear from Japan and China, Malaysian and Indonesian handicraft and textiles plus jewelry of every kind and style. Jalan Pinang is the main shopping bazaar, shops open in the early morning and close around midnight.

Lebuh Campbell, just off Jalan Pinang, is the main "Chinese" shopping centre where Nepalese street vendors sell Chinese made shirts, fake alligator-skin shoes, and precious stones of the cut glass type. Probably the most exciting shopping in Georgetown is in the many "junk" shops along Rope Walk. Here, shoppers must literally climb over of discarded gear. Those who do not mind getting their hands dirty probably will discover some hidden treasure. If you like to do it as locals do visit pasar minggu or pasar malam (weekly market or night market). These are temporary markets of the same kind as in Thailand and other south east Asian countries which are just erected on some open space with the help of metal pipes fixed together and some plastic sheets. This markets are called pasar mutant and they move every day to another location which is very convenient to them because often they sell junk and coming back the next day to have the junk replaced wont work, they are gone.

Antique Shopping is like to dive into a Chinese antique world, there are plenty of goods imported from China and among the most interesting are various ceramics, porcelain and celadon. There are also dozens of Indian shops with everything imaginable from India including music and Bollywood movies. Everything else is on sale in the big malls at downtown there are also several restaurants in the malls with rather modern style Malaysian food.

All this means more or less shopping in Georgetown since most malls and shops are there. Some more shopping is at Batu Ferringhi and the airport area. Since the island is very compact because of the topography which has no much flat areas means the urban area is very compact. Shopping is for sure one of the exciting things to do in Penang. Just browse the malls, the small shops in little India and Chinatown, there are plenty of things to discover. This is not like Kuala Lumpur Chinatown, much smaller but very interesting. Between the shops in the center are restaurants and old Chinese pharmacies with exotic medicine.

There are several shopping malls around, one of them is Queensbay Mall another is Gurney Plaza, the most diverse is around KOMTAR and the Traders Hotel.

Plus roads with plenty of shops in downtown but the real exotic and unique stuff is digged out at the small shops in Chinatown. But this again has its variants since at downtown are also plenty of Indian shops among other with Indian jewelry, Indian restaurants and more. Shop for cheap clothes, some cosmetics and books, there are not many book shops on Penang, plus electronics and gadgets, plus everyday items at 7-11. This area has not only shops and restaurants, also cinemas, fitness centers plus banks with ATM are around. Be aware that the bank charges a not so small fees when using their ATM, now the money is available to search some Chinese antique shops.

In general Penang is a shopper's paradise

since everything imaginable is available and its not expensive as long as it is not imported, that’s more or less the same as in Thailand. Actually most of the cheap clothing, fake designer bags, designer shoes etc, come in from Thailand and China that’s the experience in a country at the crossroads of Asia that means treasures of the Orient, Chinese antiques, white - blue porcelain, celadon and other ceramics, Thai celadon and some exotic jade jewelry and other Myanmar jewelry. There are exquisite shops selling ruby gemstone items and various diamond rings and more. During English colonial times Pulau Pinang and the former Rangoon, today Yangon were very close under colonial rules.

When shopping cheap stuff from China, means fake item and antiques, but also branded designer goods are available, not very advisable since very expensive and local handicrafts. Beside of the shopping malls are also sidewalk stalls, bazaars and night markets. Tax free areas around are Langkawi Island and Padang Besar at the border to Thailand; this is not Sadao and Hat Yai which is a bit further to the east.

Unique Malaysian batik painting,

silver, brass and pewter plus pottery and rattan, Malaysian Batik comes in beautiful designs as paintings and clothing. Fashion item from all over the world are available at any bigger city with a bigger mall. The Kuala Lumpur Central Market in Chinatown is probably the ultimate destination for shopping Malaysian made goods. Penang Georgetown is not a famous shopping destination since the malls and centers show more or less all the same items. The interesting shopping destination are the small Chinese antique shops plus malls selling goods imported from India and China.

Another great bargain

could wait at the night markets in the center and at Batu Ferringhi, there are plenty of souvenir shops with native Malaysian handicrafts, among other famous Malaysian kits, handmade fashion jewelry and myriads of fake items from China and Thailand, those are mostly on display at road-side shops. If you want to do some mall hopping Georgetown is the destination practical all malls are compact in the city center.

Penang is also a excellent shopping

ground for original old style Chinese furniture, since most locals on the island are Chinese that's the right objects to decorated the home with, actually the islands is experiencing a renaissance of China heritage since 2 years now (2012) many old house are renovated and new furniture is moved in.  Very popular are good quality Chinese antique furniture made from various woods, but the highest value seems to have rosewood, since the style has not changed considerably over the centuries, it always looks good.

The most demanded wood for furniture comes from Hainan Island, the name is rosewood and most traditional furniture in China is made from huanghuali which is botanically rosewood, this is hardwood and is very stylish if someone likes antiques. There are also plenty of lacquer ware in form of furniture, tableware and other items used in the house. Currently Myanmar or Burma is one of the main supplier. Another major rosewood supplier is Myanmar or Burma.

When digging a bit deeper in the antique shops even snuff bottles from the 18th century can be found which are Chinese art "en" miniature. Ivory items are very rare since the restrictions came in place but there are pretty bamboo carvings, paintings, calligraphy, enameling, ceramics, glassware and many other crafts. Very special and high priced are glass bottles painted on the inside showing the image to the outside this is extremely difficult arts and crafts.

One of the best selling souvenirs in this shops are Chinese paintings,

traditional and modem. Landscapes are the most prevalent subjects and paintings of idyllic lofty mountain scenes are just as common as wallpaper. Contemporary Chinese art is available too, often in form as Chinese pop art with Mao as the main subject.

What to do in Penang Georgetown?

One of the best things to do in Penang is eating, there are food courts and myriads of restaurants of various styles and food, Indian, Malay, Chinese, Continental and all other imaginable. There is also plenty of street food and hawker food available throughout day and night. There are great restaurants at the waterfront, especially at Batu Ferringhi. If someone wants to have it fashionable try the food outlets of the hotel indicated before or a restaurant in one of the high-rise buildings overlooking the city and the Andaman Sea until Butterworth on the mainland coast. See the photos and video in the video section. Great constructions are the bridges. There are two

Nightlife is one of the most lively in Malaysia,

only Kuala Lumpur nightlife can beat it. But the nightlife is still far away from the vibrant nightlife scene in Thailand and especially Phuket nightlife. Phuket nightlife is only about  800 km to the north. It looks that Malaysian and Singaporean people rather prefer Hat Yai which is just across the border.

You could also do a little island hopping to Langkawi which is easily reachable by the Penang ferry. Langkawi also has some small ferries to Satun and to Ko Tarutao. Actually from the Ko Tarutao Langkawi is visible on a clear day. There are also enough hotels and budget hotels.