Splurging in Penang

It was a series of impulsive decisions after another that led the three of us (Jheng, Elise and Me) to a weekend in Penang. Jheng wanted to buy a laptop (Ok, you'll see later why this is relevant...be patient!) I didn't even want to go as I don't have money. She found her laptop, Lenovo and decided to buy it. After a while, she excitedly told me it comes with a free airline ticket to Penang, of Phuket, or Langkawi. I ended up buying two laptops so we could come with Elise. So much for sticking to a budget!

And so we planned our get away to Penang, our chosen destination. Since our Airline tickets (Malaysian Airlines) are free, we thought maybe we could splurge on the hotel. Having stayed in a Shangri-La managed hotel in Kuala Lumpur before (and greatly delighted by it) I decided to pursuade them to go to the best hotel in Penang since we figured it's not exactly a picturesque location anyway.

So we decided to rent a S$500 a night room in Rasa Sayang Hotel Penang, said to be the best hotel in the area. True. It's wonderful. Plus because we chose the Rasa Wing, we were preferred guests and simply could not keep up with all the eating. We were welcomed with cold drinks, cookies, pistacio nuts and an array of other munchies I do not know the name of plus a box of Orchids. When we went inside the room, there was warm tea and fresh fruits. The pool was salt water and is soothingly warm. The toiletries are branded (Aigner). Cuisine is superb and service is good. The room is not WoW because it's an old hotel. Being a Filipino, the beach is nothing extraordinary as well. Nonetheless, we enjoyed our stay and it justified the price.

The next day, after dozing on and off complimenting the heavy breakfast, we got ourselves a cab to go around shopping areas of Georgetown. Not really pleased...I should say. Penang is a small area with wonderfully simple people and their commerce is as simple as they live, I guess. We rented the same cab to go to Penang Hill the next day and it capped our restful little vacation. The cab driver then took us to the airport for our afternoon flight back to Singapore.

Would I come back to Penang? Well, maybe given another free trip perhaps. :)