{"id":519,"date":"2009-09-14T01:34:12","date_gmt":"2009-09-14T01:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itravelabout.com\/blog\/georgetown-penang-malaysia\/"},"modified":"2009-09-14T01:34:12","modified_gmt":"2009-09-14T01:34:12","slug":"georgetown-penang-malaysia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itravelabout.com\/2009\/09\/14\/georgetown-penang-malaysia\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia"},"content":{"rendered":"
We’ve been staying in Georgetown for a few days now, at the Tune Hotel.<\/p>\n
The Tune Hotel is good. Malaysia has the worst budget accommodation in Southeast Asia. Whilst in most countries \u00a310 gets you a pretty good room (Aircon, TV, clean), in Malaysia is doesn’t (grubby).<\/p>\n
The Tune Hotel is costing us \u00a310 a night, but it’s modern clean, has AirCon and doesn’t have bugs!<\/p>\n
We rarely stay in corporate run hotels, so it’s always nice to do something a bit different.<\/p>\n
During this visit to Malaysia we have discovered the Old Town coffee and toast houses. A chain of stores that sell lots of different coffees, and lot of different toasts, and other rice-style dishes.<\/p>\n
In Malacca we also found Old Taste, which is a rip-off. The colours, uniforms, menus, and just about everything else seems to have been copied.<\/p>\n
Well, in Georgetown, they have Georgetown Coffee. Yet another rip-off of Old Town. There is not much to choose between them. Better coffee at one, better breakfast menu at another.<\/p>\n
We visit them on most days for coffee and breakfast.<\/p>\n
It’s the start of Ramadan, the Islamic period of fasting during the day. Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country, so there are a lot of celebrations and events.<\/p>\n
We found a great Indian restaurant. During one meal, just before sundown we noticed a number of Muslims sitting at tables with food before them. They didn’t eat their meals though, they waited until the time was right. Interesting stuff.<\/p>\n
Around the streets of Little India are a lot of celebrations, especially after dark.<\/p>\n
Whilst in Georgetown we take a bus out to Bakinafaso. The beach is quite nice, but the surrounding areas are rough and poorly planned. In fact the area has a bad feel and is so disorganised that it’s not a great place to be. After a little lunch we head back to Georgetown.<\/p>\n