If You're Planning to Be in Penang....

For quite a while I've been meaning to start posting jpegs of our published work, even that which is not focused on food. But then the publication comes out, I get busy and .....

But judging from the hordes of tourists I saw in George Town this morning, this is timely -- a round-up of recent boutique hotel openings within the Unesco world heritage site that appeared in last month's issue of Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia.The 2011 George Town Festival is going on from now until the end of July, which makes it the perfect time to book a stay.

We've got more Malaysia coverage and a bit of Taiwan coming up in near-term issues, so stay tuned.

Comments

[Kalyan]

I wish I knew of these places when I went to Penang. On the other hand now I have another reason to go back. Not that I needed one :)

[philip hendon]

On my wish list of places to visit.

P Hendon
http://restaurantsinchester.org

[K]

Thank you, Robyn. It is good to see Penang is getting good coverage since the Heritage listing. I was born and brought up there but moved to Australia in my late teens. I am still very proud of Penang and I visit quite often. Penang does need a good revival after being stagnate for a while.

I hope you are loving Penang as your new base.

K

[Jonathan]

Hi Robyn - I'm not sure if you have seen the "finished" guest rooms at Moontree47; if not I suggest you pay them a visit now that you are permanently in Penang. We booked a room there on the strength of your article and whilst the cafe has been lovingly restored (& is a place that deserves to do very well), the guest rooms are, in our opinion, unpleasant and far too expensive for what they are.

It certainly isn't a "boutique" lodging experience as your article implies, the guest rooms would be more suited to backpackers happy to forego comfort in order to save money. Simply putting a nice looking sideboard in a tiny room with a concrete floor and cement walls doesn't give it "local character". Unfortunately, having made a booking weeks in advance based on the information in your article we were unable to get into one of the other true "boutique hotels" such as Yeng Keng, which really did look very nice, because it was booked up.

[Robyn]

Hi Jonathan - I'm sorry to hear about your experience at MoonTree. I'm not going to accept 100% responsibility for your disappointing stay in Penang (ever had a disappointing dinner at an expensive restaurant that's lauded in all the reviews? I have. And MoonTree is markedly less expensive than the other lodgings in the article so I think it's reasonable to expect a rather more budget experience than Yen Keng or Muntri Mews offers). But I appreciate the heads up and I do plan to communicate this to Moon Tree's owners when I return to Penang this week. (And to let them know that you comment will stay up on my blog.) I hope that you also conveyed your disappointment directly to them.