My first blog – Introducing ‘My Penang Stories’

Honestly, this is my first attempt at blogging! So, why am I blogging now?

Well, I am seventy, I’ve always wanted to write and I want people to read what I write! So here I am trying to create a free website for that purpose. Hopefully some of you active on social media may read or even follow my blog!

What will I blog on? Penang, of course! I am from Penang, and we locals proudly call ourselves ‘Penangites’, ‘Penang-lang’, etc. We are a multi-racial community and we speak English, Malay, Tamil, Mandarin and so many Chinese dialects that we can proudly say we are multi-lingual.

I believe I’ll never run out of material on Penang. But first, an introduction to the island state itself.

Heritage houses

Georgetown, the capital city is now a UNESCO heritage site. Dilapidated houses in the city have been bought over and beautifully restored, largely by foreigners, and tourists now outnumber locals in the inner city, where there are queues to have photos taken, not with Tom Cruise or Andy Lau, but with 3D wall murals.

Penang is an island with beautiful beaches everywhere and we have challenging nature trails to help the most adventurous hikers get lost up our hills!

Penang street food is world renowned. Lonely Planet named Penang the ‘top food destination of 2014; the Huffington Post included the ‘char koay teow’ as a ‘must try delicacy’. Fruits like the various varieties of durians are to die for. Penang seafood is freshly brought in from the sea. You’ll always get the best in food when in Penang. After all, it’s a known fact that only what is ‘cheap and good’ thrives and survives Penang,

Penang wins multiple awards every year; Georgetown was placed third on the US News’ list of places to retire in 2014; Georgetown was ranked Fourth Most Charismatic City to Visit in 2016 by Lonely Planet; and we locals are proud to note that the list goes on.

Follow me and read about Penang in my future posts.