Peace in Penang

Penang: lots to do but at your own speed

Some places that are overrun with backpackers make a real effort to keep them happy, with others it seems sometimes that you can’t leave quickly enough for their liking.

Some locals act like you’re a walking moneybox, or some kind of blonde western sex toy, rather than just have a chat or treat you like a fellow human being. In a few, the town is purely for tourists and has no other industry. The locals in these places are all there to serve you, which adds an uncomfortable and rather strained element to travel.

It is very rare to find a place that incorporates a bustling town, with a thriving and friendly local population, great spirituality, good food, night life, beach life, and lots to see and do. So, when you do hit on a place like Penang, it’s all the more delightful.

This place is like an innocent daydream of a place, after the demented global helter-skelter of Kuala Lumpur. Don’t get me wrong – it’s not perfect. The nose lottery still keeps you on your toes, back alleys are truly scary at night, not least because the rats and the cats here have a seemingly equal street presence and size, and the beer could be cheaper.

But it does have everything a traveller could seemingly want, or need. From reclining buddhas to Hindu temples, museums, art galleries, churches, beaches, and food, glorious food from a dozen nations, fused into one glorious whole. The island even has a free wifi connection for those who want to eschew the island’s other delights in favour of catching up with news from home (what, me?)

A major highlight is the background of spirituality here. On the road that separates Little India from Chinatown, for example, is the Gold Dealer Area, also known as Harmony Way because it is home to a huge colonial church, 17th century Chinese temple, still in constant use, various Hindu shrines, where regular Puja take place on the street corners and a giant busy mosque. I can’t think of anywhere else I have been where so many religious centres sit so close and with so little fanfare. The harmony here is totally taken for granted.

Likewise, the syncretism of so many different cultures is also strange and delightful. Little India is so convincing a microcosm that I believed I was back in India; Chinatown is home to a bustling and welcoming community, filled with street shrines and Chinese-run businesses. Cycle rickshaws decorated with flags and garlands zip up and down the backstreets between the two and the wider area.

And if all the culture and romance seem a little too highbrow for you. Fine! Why not fill your face instead? Penang has some of the best food in Malaysia, if not Asia. Take your pick from Chinese dumplings, Indian curries (served on banana leaves and no scrimping on the extras), Japanese pastries in the night market, oodles of noodles, or more of the Malay bakeries where every possible pie and cake can be bought. There’s no chance of leaving this place slim, I’m telling you.

The best thing about Penang is that it’s not just here for the tourists. This is a local town for local people. The restaurants are filled with people on their lunch hours, as well as chubby little foreigners; the temples are in regular use rather than just photo ops; the beaches and markets are as popular with domestic tourists as foriegn ones. So, instead of feeling like the target of unwanted attention, you are almost just one of the guys. And that makes all the difference.

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