Penang Island is part of the state of Penang, on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It was named Prince of Wales Island, when it was occupied by the British East India Company on the 12th of August 1786, in honour of the birthday of the Prince of Wales, later King George IV. The capital George Town was named after the reigning King George III.
For us, it's simply "Heaven"...
OUR ROOMS - THE RAINBOW PARADISE BEACH RESORT
....la piece de resistance
And our view from this balcony.... Yes, we have TWO balconies; the second balcony is off the bedroom; we barely had time to use that one... shame...
couldn't decide which picture we liked best....so you get both!! Unfortunately we neglected to get a picture of the kitchenette (with fridge), that allowed us to have our tea, coffee and hot chocolate whenever we wanted; to keep fruit cold, chill wine, and even prepare a few meals "at home"...
And all this is even before we get to the beach.... and then we're SURE we are in HEAVEN ON EARTH...
The Rainbow Paradise Beach Resort, our hotel...er, OUR "heaven on earth"... in the background!
And remember we've just come from Hotel Station 18 in Ipoh...which we did enjoy...
...the bathroom was a little smaller...
...very nice tile and GREAT shower head...
Our accommodation at Hotel Station 18 was bigger than The Sabahat Guesthouse in Kuala Lumpur...
And we liked that one too...
...and Margaret's favorite "torture chamber"... where she showered with her daughter twice!
It did take a little getting used to for showering.. I think we previously mentioned that it's the "new" European model where the whole room becomes the shower floor... At least the toilet wasn't one of those holes in the floor; which we have had occasion to use; at least Anne & Debra have. Margaret has missed that opportunity so far... The water pressure here is terrific!
....so back to Paradise, er...The Rainbow Paradise Beach Resort.... This is our walkway to the beach...
...we pass the restaurant and swimming pool on the way...
IT'S A TOUGH JOB...AND WE'RE HAPPY TO DO IT!! Margaret & Debra are very grateful to Anne for all our luxury accommodation bookings... especially this one! Penang Island was not meant to be part of the "Margaret Adoration Festival"... at least that wasn't the plan. As we mentioned previously, Bill & Margaret honeymooned here... 55 years ago... but Margaret couldn't remember the name of the guesthouse they stayed at. Penang Island was the "we would really love to go there but not sure that it will fit in the budget". So Anne spent hours looking at beach accommodations to see if she could fit it in the budget... Great Job Anne!
We were so tired by the time we arrived on Sunday... Margaret was exhausted... what else is new?! Anne went out to pick up a few things at Tesco and we ordered room service for her return. Margaret had picked up the magazine on the living room table and opens it to...
...discover an article about the "guesthouse" she had stayed at 55 years ago...which is now a 5-star hotel on Batu Ferringhi; the hottest beach on the Island; and a short drive from where we are! Now if that isn't a God-thing, we don't know what is. Of course, one of our highlight trips on Penang Island would be a visit to the Golden Sands Resort...
But first order of business was a walk on the beach...
and a first dip into the Malacca Strait...
Margaret went as far as you can go with a cane on the beach...and returned to the resort's beach chairs to tan, while Anne & Debra continued along the shoreline a little further...what a delight...
This is the Floating Mosque. When the tide is in, the mosque sits in water. We heard the call to prayer and the prayer chanting from our room. ....and next priority on the agenda was hanging out at the pool...
...need we say more!!
We didn't plan a lot of activities for our Penang Island "Retreat". We hoped to sit back, relax, tan, and not have something we had to do each day. We did though manage...
A LONG LUNCHEON AT THE GOLDEN SANDS RESORT
Again, we were treated like Royalty... we're quite enjoying it too... When we arrived, the sign said that parking was strictly reserved for hotel patrons only. When we told the security guard our story, he smiled and ushered us through. Upon entry into the hotel, we relayed the story to the man at the door. He was Asian and wore a brightly coloured and flowered shirt. He definitely looked like he was someone important at the resort. He too thought our story was great. Margaret even asked if there were any pictures of the "guesthouse" from back in 1958.... This man asked us where we were staying and began to tell us about a wonderful tour we should take.... He didn't even work at the hotel. He was the tour guy soliciting business! We quickly excused ourselves and went through the gateway to a wonderful world....
Margaret did remember the golden sand and the beach. Pretty much everything else has changed dramatically from 1958! The magazine article mentioned a daily special burger luncheon from 10AM. We were there and ready for lunch about this time! The waiter told us that lunch was only served from 11AM. We think the daily burger special is no more... We had tea and coffee; then ordered an exquisite lunch at 11AM... - chicken satay, chicken curry & nasi anan... brilliant (thanks Deane, we needed a new superlative)!! We decided that there was NO WAY this place would ever fit in our budget until we won the lottery... and if we did, we were coming back and staying here!
...and it works!!!
KEK LOK SI TEMPLE
Anne & Debra were anxious to visit Kei Lok Si, both the largest and one of the best known Buddhist temples in all of South East Asia. The temple's enclave includes a prominent statue of the Goddess Juan Yin. The main hall has colourful souvenir shops... stalls really; and their owners literally attack you as you walk through.... A Shrine filled with statues sits next to the courtyard where a large pond full of carp and tortoises are the main attractions. From the courtyard a stairway leads to the seven storey pagoda of 10,000 Buddha images, displaying the essence of an eclectic mix of Chinese, Thai and Burmese architecture.
The Taylor family had visited this temple a few times and shortly prior to departing Malaysia for Scotland in 1964. Anne was 4 years old at this time and remembers the tortoises vividly. It was a defining moment in Anne's life as she has been enamoured with tortoises since that time. In fact, she has a tortoise tattoo on her ankle and turtle/tortoises throughout her home and everything hers!
Debra claims she has a hard time remembering what she did yesterday and definitely has no recollection of this temple other than home movies. She admires the Buddhist philosophy though and also enjoyed the visit immensely. Margaret stayed at the Resort planning to lie in the sun at the swimming pool. Unfortunately she only made it as far as her bed!
Anne & her turtles/tortoise.. trust that this is only ONE of about ONE HUNDRED pictures at this location! Anne's new screen saver will be one of these pictures... No doubt it'll take forever to pick which one!
Debra enjoyed feeding the turtles too.
SHOPPING AT THE BATU FERRINGHI NIGHT MARKET
Shopping anytime anywhere is appealing. This night time market had lots of stalls and lots of people. It was an interesting adventure.... and about the only time we went out at night... mainly because Margaret & Debra were always ready for bed quite early... poor Anne!!
Margaret's favorite things...watches and sunglasses... Did you know that she has pretty much one of each in every color? ...and she didn't buy any here only because the watch she has on she bought yesterday.... and she didn't like the orange sunglasses!
The folks come all different ways to the market!
THE FERRY RIDES
There are two ways to get from the mainland to Penang Island - bridge or ferry. Anne suggested the ferry so we had a pleasant ferry ride to and fro...
TO PENANG ISLAND
FROM PENANG ISLAND
Many GREAT days on Penang Island in Malaysia!
