Where to eat and stay in Penang

so yeah i'm finally updating my recent trip to Penang with my college friends. we travelled to Butterworth by train, boarding from KL Central, and the entire journey was about 7 hours. please close your hanging mouth, we took the night train so we slept off for almost three quarters of the 7 hours. it was a night train(left KL around 11pm), so we reached Butterworth at 6.30am. my friends and i decided to walk our way to the ferry station as there is no transport one could get from the train station(since everyone was walking). gosh i hate morning workouts. not with an empty stomach okay.

the ferry ride costs only RM1.20 per person(free ride for the return trip), which was...really cheap. i thought it would at least cost me RM3-5. saw the most beautiful sunrise from the ferry but no pictures i was too weak and hungry to take pictures. 

reached Penang Island. (woohoo! breakfast!) NOT. because we decided to check-in to the guesthouse first, to dump our backpacks on our bed. spent almost half an hour searching for the place, walking, yelling at each other(because we all think ourselves were right), looking at the map, asking locals, and more walking. and finally found the guesthouse which is located at Muntri Street. somewhere near Love Lane, Georgetown. 

we didn't travel to the beach as we preferred to do more eating and sight-seeing in the heritage city. we mostly travelled within Georgetown by RapidPenang(the drivers are all F1 racers wannabe), and sometimes walking. 

the area where i stayed have pretty much awesome indian food, such as, Claypot Biryani, Naan, and Tandoori. these were the ones that i tried. 

and of course i went to the famous Ayer Itam Market to get the best Penang food there. you can find all sorts of Penang food over there. stopped by at Kapin coffeeshop for breakfast before my friends and I made our way to Kek Lok Si(very nice festive decorations up there). also tried out the famous Char Kuey Teow at Lorong Selamat. (thanks for the recommendation) thinking of it makes me hungry right now. again there is no food pictures because i'm kind enough to not make you drool all over your computers. okay fine i lied. everytime i only remembered to take pictures of the food after i finished them. (but i was hungry!)

enough about the trip. shall start with the superb place where i spent my night during the trip. 

it's actually a guesthouse and the reason my friends and I chose to stay there is the room rates are cheap(only around RM30++ per person). i didn't expect much for that price, i just want a clean bed, and that's all. but it exceeded my expectations. the place is a heaven for backpackers. it is clean, neat, and modern. the staffs there are friendly(we got 20% discount some more!) and their service is good. the rooms and shared bathrooms are clean. 

chillax corner with iPad 2. (they have good wifi)

mini bar which sells beverages and alcohols. also serves breakfast. 

games' corner with carom billiards and card games.

walkway to the rooms and shared bathrooms on the first floor. 

lounge area with ultimately comfortable bean bags for in-house residents only.

washing area.

hand-drawn art.

shared bathrooms.

reading corner on the second floor.

 the exterior of the guesthouse.

 late night poker.

 look, they even decorated for CNY! so cute.  

 the lighting is so good i couldn't resist. plus my hair looked good on that day.

fantasies moment. 

overall, i really love where i stayed, it was cool and economic. you can go here if you wish to know more about the place. they're opening a branch in KL soon. first hand news i got from the staff there. haha. 

i spent less RM200 for the entire trip, including my train tickets. pretty economic right? 

however, the journey back was... rather raging. because the goddamn train broke down twice in Kuala Kangsar and Ipoh, which delayed our return to the city centre for at least 5-6 hours. but i was really thankful that it only happened in the return trip, imagine if it happened while i was on the way to Penang... 

fuck Malaysia's public transport, seriously. 

i hope this will keep you guys be patient for a while as i will be off to Langkawi on Friday. happy chinese new year again and stay healthy. :)