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Penang & Pulau Langkawi

West Coast

Tony Clemens
2005-08-31 20:58:51

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For my first trip to Asia the choice was to concentration my travels in a small area for an in-depth trip (for example spend 3 weeks in one country) or to do some hopping around and visit several areas. The Cathay Pacific All Asia Pass allows you to travel to up to 17 cities (in 9 countries) including Hong Kong in a three week period for one price. If you want to spend all your time on airplanes and in airports you could probably visit most of the cities but we decided on 3 cities (in three countries) plus Hong Kong. Since Cathay Pacific is based in Hong Kong you have to travel through Hong Kong for most legs of your pass. Plus its a long trip from North America, it was 19 hours from Toronto. With 17 cities in 9 countries our biggest decision was where to visit on our Cathay Pacific All Asia Pass, so much choice so little time. For Malaysia we wanted to visit the Borneo part of the country but there were no Cathy Pacific flights so Penang with its combination of history, beaches and modern living looked like a good option.

Penang

Penang is a confusing mixture of state and island. Most of the state of Penang is on the island of Penang which contains all the interesting things found in Penang state. The island is 285 square kilometres in size and connected to the town of Butterworth on the mainland by a 13 kilometre bridge, supposedly the longest in Southeast Asia, and a 24 hour ferry.

The state capital, and Malaysia's second largest city, is sometimes also called Penang but its correct name is Georgetown, a city of about 1 million which is fighting a battle between the preservations and the industrials for the architectural future of the city. A taxi from the airport will cost about RM25 and coupons are purchased from a desk inside the terminal, it takes about 30 minutes to get into the city.

Georgetown has the largest collection of pre-war buildings in Southeast ...