My Experience Of Getting A Tourist Visa In Penang

[mrducky]

Dear All

I would like to share my experience of my trip to Penang several days ago which I hope will be of some use to others. The purpose of my visit was to get a tourist visa.

Here are some key points:

a.) Accomodation:

• I stayed at the recently-opened Tune Hotels (run by the same owners as Air Asia). I paid roughly MYR 130 for 2 nights, but I could have gotten it for cheaper had I booked earlier (I booked only the day before travelling). The place itself is very new (1 month old) and very clean and is located next to New World Park, on Burma Road. The location, as far as I can tell is in between Chulia Street and the Royal Thai Consulate. They provide a shuttle van to the airport for MYR 15 provided there is more than 1 person travelling in the same trip, otherwise you pay MYR 30 if you're the only traveller. I would highly recommend this place.
  
• I could have booked the Cititel for MYR 109 at www dot cititelpenang dot com, but I hesitated and 2 days later, the price shot up to MYR 300+!
  

b.) Tourist Visa:

• I used Muhammad of NJ bookstore which was highly recommended in other topics in this forum. His contact is 0164306474. Before I saw him he advise me on what documents were required (2 photos and passport), and since I'm Malaysian, I didn't have to pay for the visa . Nonetheless, his fee was MYR 20 which is worth it, considering the amount of time I saved from going to/from the consulate as well as time spent waiting there and filling the form. You also have to consider that the average one way taxi fare is MYR 12 minimum. So 2 way is MYR 24 depending on where you take the taxi from. Please also take note that NJ is not open until around 10 AM, so find something else to do or eat prior!
  
• I gave my passport at 10 AM and received a call from Muhammad at 4PM the same day with no issues!
  

c.) Things to do/eat (for 1 day and 2 nights):

• Check out the heritage buildings of Georgetown. If you can, try to check out the Heritage buildings around Chulia Road.
  
• Eat and shop around Little India.
  
• Check out Fort Cornwallis and Penang Museum.
  
• Shop at Gurney Plaza down at Gurney drive. Huge mall with heaps of shopping. You could spend several hours there.
  
• There is excellent Char Kuay Teow at Lorong Selamat (across the street from Tune Hotels). You can have this for lunch there, but be prepared to wait for 20 minutes!
  
• In the morning at 9AM onwards, check out Old Town Coffee at New World Park right next to Tune hotel. Malaysian food like Nasi lemak is served as well as fantastic Ipoh-style coffee.
  
• There is excellent indian food also at New World Park, but I can't remember the name of the place.
  

IMHO Penang is way nicer than KL, because of the nice people, good food and beautiful location. However there are fewer flights to/from BKK.

Anyway, hope this is helpful for all of you who are planning to visit Penang.

D