FUN BIKING Around Georgetown – Penang

11.30 am, January 1st 2015

Gara-gara semalem taun baruan, yak bangun kesiangan deh di hari pertama 2015. Ah.. memalukan! Rencananya mau bangun jam 7 pagi trus ini dan itu buyar semua. Jam setengah 12 siang baru cabut dari hotel. Tanpa makan, kita langsung ke tempat penyewaan sepeda (bisa ditemuin dimana-mana). This is biking day! Woohhooo! Bayar sewa sepeda Rp.35 ribu, bisa langsung dipake seharian penuh. Let’s go!

We woke up late! We planned to wake up at 7 am and blah blah blah but… oh no. So, in a hurry, we went straight to one of George Town’s heritage streets and rent a bike there. (bike rentals are pretty much everywhere) They charged us RM10 per bike and asked us to return it before 10pm. Good deal. The rest of the story is so much fun. Been looking forward to do this, biking around Georgetown, so I was super excited!

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please meet KIKI & KOKO, our bikes! HA!

 

The paintings on the walls – Lukisan dinding.

Udah lama banget gue nggak sebahagia ini di atas sepeda. Terakhir sepedaan lama di Borobudur trus gue cidera kena pedal, langsung ilfil ama sepeda. Sekarang bisa semangat lagi. Suamikuh mengayuh didepan sambil bawa peta, terus kita bersepeda keliling Georgetown Penang deh, sambil ketawa2, ngobrol, berenti untuk foto2 dan nyasar parah pas nyari tempat makan enak. I LOVE our quality time on our bikes.

It’s been a while for me to find joy in riding bicycles. My husband was right in front of me holding the map and we stopped at every spot we liked. Taking photos, joking around, got lost finding a certain restaurant, and doing some stupid stuff with our bikes.

Daya tarik Georgetown yang paling utama sekarang adalah MURAL (lukisan dinding). Lukisan2 nya ada banyak, bentuknya kreatif gitu, dan tersebar di seluruh kota. Kita, para turis, bakal bawa peta khusus (peta bisa didapet di airport atau hotel) yang nunjukin lokasi2 lukisan ini. Jadi nya kayak permainan berburu harta karun gitu. Lokasi lukisannya juga ajaib, ada yang dipasar, di samping tempat sampah, di ujung gang, atau di kuil. Ini brilian banget, bisa mengubah dinding biasa jadi objek wisata. Salah satu lukisan yg paling terkenal dan jadi simbol kota ialah lukisan 2 orang anak kecil naik sepeda. Nah, sepedanya tuh beneran nempel di lukisannya! Gila, ampe antri untuk bisa foto disini. Disekitarnya, warga lokal juga sampe buka usaha karena rame turis.

Georgetown should really thank a Lithuanian artist called Ernest Zacharevic, who painted beautiful and creative wall paintings across the city. The artworks are funny, fascinating, and open to everyone’s interpretations. Several different maps are provided for us to find the paintings. Just like a game, us and other tourists were trying to locate and then posed in front of them. Cute and what a simple yet brilliant way to attract tourists!

here are the photos: 

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bersepeda keliling georgetown penang

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btw, this is Ernest Zacharevic – photo taken from google

 

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so happy,baby!

 

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bersepeda keliling georgetown penang

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bersepeda keliling georgetown penang

 

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queuing for a photo with the famous mural

 

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the artwork is made in honor of JIMMY CHOO – the shop is Choo’s first workplace in Penang

 

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Let’s meet the cats – Mampir di Café Kucing.

Lagi sepedaan, gue ngeliat tulisan CAT CAFÉ, tempat makan bareng sama kucing-kucing. Nah, karena suami pecinta kucing, jadinya kita mampir deh. Ini adalah café kucing pertama di Penang dan isinya ialah kucing-kucing ras yang gendut, ngantuk, kebanyakan makan, dan males gerak. Diajak foto aja males2an. Adddohhh. Suami sih hepi banget ya, sedangkan gue sibuk komentar.

We stopped by at this small café at Muntri Street which is the first CAT Café in Georgetown called Purrfect. My hubby loves CATS, and me, a dog person whose husband is a cat person. So, figure that out.

The ground floor is a retail store selling all things cat-related but for humans and the café is on the second floor. The food is simple and consists of a small selection of pastries and cakes actually more suitable for midday snacks cause what they basically sell here is a quality time with some fat lazy furry full sleepy cats. Miaooowwww!

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06.00 pm – Jam 6 sore.

Gila, lumayan nih berjam-jam sepedaan. Dari keluar masuk jalan sepi, gang, jalan raya, lawan arah, nuntun sepeda, nyebrang jalan ala orang Indonesia dll udah gue buat. Menyenangkan banget ternyata sepedaan di Georgetown! Asli! Untuk yang mau ke Penang, jangan lupa masukin sepedaan sebagai salah satu ‘must do’ disini. Romantis juga loh ternyata sepedaan bedua. Walau keringetan dan tangan jadi agak belang karena sempat siang bolong sepedaannya, tapi tetep suatu kegiatan yang nggak terlupakan.

We stopped by at Penang’s fisherman’s wharf, Penang’s famous Blue Mansion, Penang Chocolate Museum (BEWARE: this is not a museum, it’s a souvenir STORE and a tourist trap! Although they sell pretty good Durian Ice Cream) and some other iconic places in Penang until I couldn’t pedal by bike anymore. It’s time to return the bikes and called it a day. I am glad to be able to spend my last days in 2014 and early days in 2015 here in Georgetown Penang, the one UNESCO named in 2008 as a World Heritage Site and one of the most interesting and colourful cities in Malaysia. I enjoyed it a lot. I made a request to my husband afterwards. Buy us some bikes in Jakarta….please!

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BLUE MANSION

 

SIDE NOTES & stories.

Getting to Georgetown from the airport – Airport Penang ke Georgetown.

Kesan pertama gue di bandara Penang waktu lagi nyari transport ke Georgetown agak nggak enak. Tadinya kan mau naik bis gara2 murah banget (sekitar Rp.9500 per orang). Eh tapi supir bisnya ternyata nyolot semua. Ada yang jalan pas kita mau naik padahal udah antri panjang, ada yang nggak mau ngangkut karena kita nggak bawa uang pas dan ada yang tanpa alasan nggak mau ngangkut aja. NAH! Sejam tuh ngabisin waktu. Ujung2nya naik taksi carteran seharaga Rp. 140 ribu. Enak juga sih karena dianter langsung pas ke depan pintu hotel. Ada hikmahnya juga. Fiuh.

It will take you about 20-30 minutes and it will cost around RM45 by airport cab, RM40 by chartered cab, or RM2,5 by Rapid bus (per person) – longer ride of course. Your choice. We had a bad experience with some buses there. Two of them left before we got on it (we queued already), one didn’t wanna take us because we didn’t have change, and 2 said they were taking a break. We wasted an hour. So we took a cab.

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bright day in main street of Georgetown

 

Getting around Georgetown – Muterin Georgetown.

I tell you, kalau mau nginep di Georgetown, dari 1200 hotel yang ada (banyak banget yahhh) cari deh yang paling deket sama Komtar. Komtar adalah gedung tertinggi di situ, jadi gampang nyarinya kalo nyasar. Di Komtar juga ada beberapa mall dan ada stasiun bis umum. Dari Komtar, sgt strategis untuk kemana-mana.

Kemana-mananya pake apa Liv? Bisa naik bis umum, tapi musti sabar nunggu bis nya lewat dan mastiin dia bakal lewat ke tempat tujuan kita. Bisa naik becak nya Penang, tapi musti tawar2an ama emangnya. Bisa naik taksi (semua taksi males pake argo, jadi harga borongan semua). Biasanya untuk jarak deket mintanya skitar Rp.40 ribu sekali naik. Itu jaraknya bener-bener deket, tapi rasanya ditaksi bakal jauh deh, soalnya banyak jalan di Georgetown yang satu arah, jadi musti muter-muter. Bisa juga jalan kaki, yang biasanya dilakuin ama bule-bule tapi jarang dibuat ama turis Indo yang pemalas! Hahaha. Dan yang pasti, bisa juga rental sepeda. The best option. My option.

Sangat menyenangkan bersepeda keliling Georgetown Penang.

My advice, find a hotel near KOMTAR in Georgetown like we did. Komtar is where the main bus station is, which connects to several different malls. It is the tallest building in the city as well. Easy to spot. Everytime you’re coming back to the hotel, just look for the building, walk towards it and you will never get lost. Yes, Georgetown is small so you can walk everywhere if you want to. Second option, you can use the cab. They have meters but never use it, so you have to pay certain amount of money to get to one point from another. Usually around RM10-20. Most streets in Georgetown are one way, which makes it feel like it’s a long ride sometimes while actually it’s really near.

Third option, the trishaw. It will make you feel like a tourist. you’ll need to agree on a price with the trishaw driver before getting on. Usually around RM30 per hour. Fourth option, of course the bus. Buses in Penang are cheap and go to almost all directions. You just have to provide the time to wait for it and ask the driver whether you are on the right bus to the right direction. Last option, my favorite, rent a bike.

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small hotel found everywhere in Georgetown

 

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KOMTAR

 

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Georgetown’s Trishaw – Becak Penang

 

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“Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of riding a bike.” ~ John F. Kennedy

–www.olivelatuputty.com/blog – @shiningliv

(10) Comments

  1. M. Dary says:

    Halo mbak. Makasih banyak sharingnya sangat membantu. Rencananya agustus ini saya ke penang. Idealnya di penang berapa hari ya?

    1. halo Dary thanks for reading:) glad i can help! ideal mungkin 3 hari juga cukup kok.. udah sama kuliner puas itu hehehe have a great time nanti disana ya!

  2. ronythrive says:

    Mbak Olive, nyewa sepeda di mana? sy sana rcn mau ke sana januari 2018 nginep di wassup youth hostel dekat komtar dan pengen naik sepeda keliling kota, cuma dr sore ke malam, soalnya kl siang hari kayanya ga kuat panasnya.

    1. halo Rony.. thanks for reading! begitu sampai ke daerah sana, langsung bakal ketemu cukup banyak tempat penyewaan sepeda kok:) bisa minta di sewain sama hotel juga… have fun!

      1. Rony Suleman says:

        januari ga sempat sewa sepeda 🙁 , tapi akhir oktober 2018 ke penang lagi n akhirnya kesampean naik sepeda, sambil sebelah tangan megang payung lipat :)) . kl di ingat2 pengen balik lagi hahahahaha.

        1. hahaha awesome! Glad u enjoyed it

  3. trully enjoying it with my beloved

    1. aw, so sweet:)

  4. Good Article. Harga hotel rata2 brp ya utk pengobatan? Makasih

    1. well kalau spesifik utk pengobatan di RS tertentu ya harus cek ke rumah sakitnya dan lokasi tepatnya. Tapi kalo menginap di hotel umum biasa, bisa as low as USD 30 dan bahkan bisa lebih murah lagi (USD 15) kalau mau shared bathroom/room (hostel). Semoga cepat sembuh ya:)

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