Rabu, 16 Juli 2014

Old Penang, The Reflection of Shanghai 50's

I would say that Penang was my unintended journey because I was going there to accompany my friend that supposed to go to Kuala Lumpur watching F1 Racing. But unfortunately, since he took the wrong schedule so I joined and persuade him to continue the journey to Penang, an island which is located at the west of Malaysia.

It takes about 1 hour flight from KL-Penang and many budget airlines that you can use as options for this route such as Air Asia or Firefly (the local Malaysian flight serves for local flight). Penang airport is much better than LCCT KL, with moden design structure and of course the wifii is pretty good.

From the airport don't forget to take the map and you can take either buses or taxi but I suggest to use taxi if you are not familiar with the buses route. All of the bus usually stop at Komtar a place like central bus transit where all Rapid Penang buses will stop here. Me and my friend was staying at George town, the capital city of Penang. It looks like Shanghai in 50s (just like what you see in Chinese mafia movie) so nice and a good place to walk around. You can choose to explore the town by foot or rent a bike.

1st Day - Penang
On our first day we prioritized to look around and enjoyed the old town of Penang because you can find many interesting historical sites here including Sun Yat Sen base and also many Clan houses. During our trip we also taste many local food.

The food in Penang is full with many tradition aculturation you can find many Asian food such as Passembur (mixed vegetables with tomato sauce), fried noodle/ rice, laksa, mee Curry, Wonton Noodle, etc. But the most important is everything is so cheap here compared to KL.



Selasa, 08 April 2014

Modern Singapore

My first experience to see the outer world is Singapore, a small developed country that is becoming one of the busiest port in the world. Traveling to Singapore is quite easy because you will get all information that you need when u are stepping out from the airplane.

Simply just when you get out from the Immigration, there is a lot of map that u can take for free in the airport. For the cheapest way of transportation you can use SMRT that will bring you to many places in Singapore. Basically they have also taxi and buses, but the taxi might be expensive enough  (even some of my friend said the fare almost the same like taxi in Paris lol). Meanwhile bus could also be an option for going around but you might need to learn more about its route.

The living costs here i guess is more expensive compared to my country Indonesia. Usually if you are traveling with low budget I would suggest you to look around China town for food and accomodation, (you can use the SMRT purple line NE line, from Changi EW green line you take to Joo Koon and change into intersection at Outrampark to NE Purple line to Punggol then you can stop at Chinatown).

The center of attraction that might be interesting are:
1. Marina Bay Sands (SMRT stop at front bay red line) >>
     Hotel & Mall where you can see good scenery from above
2.Garden by the Bay
     Quite close to Marina Bay Sands, it has 2 domes flower dome and rain forest dome. Where you can see      many flowers and plants also simulation of rain forest scenery.
3.Clark Quay
    If you like to hang out at bars, this could be one area that you should visit. It is located along the river.
4.China town
    Just like its name, you can find many Chinese food here with more affordable prices