Penang and Hatyai Travel Itinerary 2018
Travelling on budget - Penang (Malaysia) and Hatyai (South thailand)
Day 1 - Arrived at Penang International Airport (PIA)
a. Penang International Airport
- Arrived at PIA by Airasia at 2.00 pm. As we Walk inside arrival hall we found some stall selling malaysia mobile SIM card, I choose the cheapest SIM card "digi" for 1 week service include data and 15 minutes outgoing call
- After Custom prosedur was done we went outside arrival gate , walking to the bus stop at the left side. Waiting for public bus which pass by KOMTAR (we stay near Komtar)
b. PIA -> Komtar Bus Terminal /Buy minivan Ticket to Hatyai/ Go to Hotel
- Waiting "Penang Rapid Bus" number 401E with signed "balik pulau - jeti" (means the bus leaving from balik pulau to jeti) or Airport Free Shuttle bus that called "AT (airport transit)" with sign "airport-jeti". Please be careful to see the bus sign because 401E bus with reverse direction "jeti - balik pulau" is also stop there.
- After waiting long enough, 401E bus then arrived. We get in from front door, tell the driver where you want to go, then the bus driver will give you a ticket and told you sum of the fare to be paid. From Airport to Komtar charged RM 2.7 per person. We put the fix sum of coin into the box provided, then take a seat.
- From the airport to Komtar by bus take around 45 minutes, passing 24 stations. But the bus doesn't have to stop on every station. If there is no passengers who stop or ride on the station then the bus will not stop. You can check the next bus stop station on the bus's TV monitor, press the bus's bell (as the sign for the driver) to stop at the next station. That is applied to all penang rapid bus. Also you can check the route from moovit application on phone.
- Arrived at Komtar bus terminal jalan lebuh lintang at around 4.00 pm, we get off the bus.
- Walk to prangin mall left wings section and look for a travel agency there. I choose AG Express service and bought ticket depart to hatyai tomorrow at 5.00 am and return to penang the day after tomorrow at 9.00 am (hatyai local time). its cost RM75 for return ticket.
-Open google map to guide us to walk to our guesthouse named "kimberley house penang" located not far away, around 400 meters from prangin mall.
- Arrived at hostel, check in, leave our luggage in our room with shared bathroom. Overall kimberley house hostel is ok, friendly staff, clean, just a bit dim in corridor :)
c. Hotel -> Thai Pak Koong Temple, Tanjung Tokong beach and Avatar Secret Garden (same area)
- We order online taxi "grab" to go to the temple instead of walking to komtar again to take bus as the day is getting darker.
- After pay homage to thai pak kong, we walk to the beach near the temple, take some pictures, beautiful decoration :)
- The colourful light in avatar secret garden turn on around 7.30pm. Prepare your camera full charged for awesome picture taking here :)
d. Thai pak koong temple -> gurney hawker / gurney plaza
- We walk out to jalan tanjung bungah, around 300 meters from temple, find the bus stop at right side, check the bus route on moovit app. waiting for bus number 101(t.bahang - jeti) or 102 (t.bahang-airport) or CT5 free bus (pulau tikus - t.tokong circular)
- bus 101 arrived, we get in, tell the driver we are going to gurney hawker centre or stop at opp. mutiara villa. it's cost RM 1.4 per person
- get off at opp. mutiara villa station. walk around 200 meters to gurney hawker centre.
- This area has many many stall that sold penang typical food like pasembur, asam laksa, char koei tiaw, satay, curry mee, hokkian mee, wan tan mee, and so on with a reasonable price :) cheap
- After take our dinner, we proceed to gurney plaza on foot, located beside hawker area
e. Gurney Plaza -> back to hostel
- Just a minutes window shopping and bought some bread for next morning breakfast, then we went out the plaza, right across the plaza was a bus stop located on kelawai street.
- check moovit app, we found only bus 103 (komtar- p.tikus circular) which heading to komtar direct without connect to another bus :(
- the last bus 103 coming after 30 minutes more waiting.. huff..
- we stop at komtar bus terminal at ria street, then walking back to our hostel
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| Penang rapid bus ticket |
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| Penang avatar secret garden tanjung tokong |
Tips going to penang :
*Moovit application really helped me to look for the best bus route and monitor the schedule. Download it from play store. But the arrival time of the bus doesn't match what is displayed.
*Prepare some coins to pay the exact amount bus fare for the driver wont give you change. Just assume the rest is donated to the bus :)
*Use Google map to guide you walking tour
*If you are going somewhere in hurry, I suggest you to book online taxi better than public bus :)
*Penang to hadyai minivan schedule : 05.00 / 08.30 / 12.30 / 15.30. Hatyai to penang minivan schedule : 09.00 / 12.00 / 15.00. Tell the agency officer where you will be pick up and drop off and give them your active mobile number.
*Actually entering the avatar secret garden penang is free, but around 7 pm, I saw someone start picking up the entrance ticket to visitors who just arrived (RM2 per person)
Day 2 - Penang to Hatyai
a. Country border - Immigration
- Wake up early in the morning, the minivan comes in front of our guesthouse at 5.00 am exactly :) . Fortunately the driver was malaysian, he can speak melayu also english so we can share stories. After picking up another guests (7 people in a group) the van depart immediately to hatyai.
- We passing penang bridge before we stop at malaysia border named "bukit kayu hitam changlong".
- Arrived at malaysia imigration office, we get off the van and enter the office to stamped the passport for coming out of malaysia, then back to the bus. Mark your minivan plat number.
- Not far away from malaysia border, we stop again at thailand border names "sadao". we get off the van again and enter the office to stamped the passport for coming in to thailand, then we walk back to the bus to continue the journey to hatyai city
b. Hotel - kim yong market - hatyai municipal park - big C extra - hotel - night market hawker
- The Minivan dropped us infront WE Hostel Hatyai , located at "thanon nitpatuthit 3" around 8.00 am (hatyai's time 1hours late from penang's time). The driver re-confirm us to wait in front of this hostel for tomorrow's pick up at 09.00 minivan back to penang.
- We leave out luggage in lobby and walk to kim yong morning market that located not far away from our hostel. Im using print out map for my guide as i didnt buy thailand sim card
- Walk to phetkasem road, in front of Honda Motor Showroom, waiting for white color "songthaew" (public van in thailand) to go to hatyai municipal park.
- If you see white color songthaew is coming, just wave your hand as the sign we want to take the public bus. I showed the picture of hatyai municiple park to the driver before I get into song theaw. or you can say " suan satharna " (in thai means town park) if the driver give a sign yes, then get into songthaew :)
- Around 30 minutes drive then we arrived at hatyai municipal park, songthaew will make U turn, then we get off there, pay to driver 10 bath per person, and walk into the park
- Not far from the gate, near fitness corner, we buy park's tram ticket to bring us up to the hill in front of huge standing Buddha located . Cost 20 Bath per person for return trip.
- Then from standing buddha statue, we walk down stairs to Guan Yin statue, kwang kong statue, Laughhing buddha, Dragon Mouth and so on
- We need to walk up stairs back to standing buddha location to wait for the next tram to bring us back to entrance. it's quite tiring me to climb up more than 300 steps up :"(
- Waiting White song theaw in front of park gate, plan to go to Big C extra Supermarket as that is the nearest one to our hotel. As before, I ask the driver first "BIG C EXTRA?" the driver nodded, then i get into songthaew :) . Songthaew from hatyai park stopped accros big C mall.
- After buying some snacks from big C , we walk back to the first place we stop, across the street in front of BIG C, waiting to white songthaew to go to kim yong market and then walk back to our hotel from here
- After taking bath in hotel , we continue our afternoon journey walking around our hotel area, like niphat uthit 3 road, niphat uthit 2 road, saneha road , thumnoonvithi road, lee garden plaza and odeon shopping mall. There are many many stall reselling souvenirs and street foods at both side of these road. After taking our dinner we back to the hotel for rest.
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| Hatyai municipal park - Phra Puttham Maharat |
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| Hatyai Municipal Park Wishing Bell |
Tips :
* We add to pay to the driver 20 bath for charging immigration forms and 50 baths for travel insurance (the agency already inform us via sms)
* No need to bring down your luggage to immigration office when go to hatyai
* No need to bring down your luggage to immigration office when go to hatyai
* If going to and from hatyai on weekends there will be a long queue in immigration office
* You can ride songthaew wherever and stop wherever you want, just wave your hand to take the songthaew and press the buzzer inside the cab, wherever you want to get off . When the songthaew stops, climb out and walk around to the driver's side window to pay for your ride.The fare is flat 10 bath per person one way route.
* Hatyai city's weather is very hot, so make sure bring your hat n umbrella
* Need around 2 hours to walk around hatyai municipal park
* You can ride songthaew wherever and stop wherever you want, just wave your hand to take the songthaew and press the buzzer inside the cab, wherever you want to get off . When the songthaew stops, climb out and walk around to the driver's side window to pay for your ride.The fare is flat 10 bath per person one way route.
* Hatyai city's weather is very hot, so make sure bring your hat n umbrella
* Need around 2 hours to walk around hatyai municipal park
Day 3 : Hatyai - Penang
a. Back to Penang
- Early in the morning we walk to kim yong market again to buy some snack and fruit for our breakfast, then back to hotel and check out
- Minivan stop in front of our hotel at 09.00 am , we get in and there are another guests in the van already.
- the driver ask for 20 bath imigration fee per person
- when arrived at sadao thailand border we all get off the van, go into imigration office for stamped our passport
- when arrived at bukit kayu hitam changlong malaysia border, we all get off the van again and bring all our luggages into malaysia imigration office for stamp and scanning
- after all, we get back into van, the van continue the journey to penang island dan dropped us infront of our hotel in penang
b. Hotel - chew jetty - wonderfood museum - street art - tokong guan yin temple - chulia street - new lane food hawker
- check in "old penang hotel" located on trang road at around 02.00pm (1hour ahead from hatyai local time) . This hotel looks old, room is average according to the cheap price :)
- its drizzle outside, so we order online taxi to go to chew jetty to have our late lunch at "chew jetty big bowl noodles". online taxi cost only RM 5.
- the rain has stopped when we arrived in front of the jetty, we walk into chew jetty alley, about 200 meters then we stop at the restaurant i mention above. if you buy 2pax noodles or more with same taste, they can serve it into a giant bowl. sure you will surprise with the bowl size. the taste was average i think, 2 pax noodles cost RM 45.
- After finishing the contents of the big bowl, we walk out back to the main road. many shop selling souvenir in the alley . we passed by gat lebuh armenian, lebuh ah quee, lebuh chulia and found many street art there
- Continue walking to wonderfood museum located on beach road. this museum displayed artificial food of Malaysian in extra large size. Worth to visit and don't forget bring your camera here.
- Then we walk to pangkalan weld jetty. This place is rapid bus terminal like Komtar. So we went to CAT free bus line and get into the bus.
- we stop at bus stop number 16 (court) and walk to "Tokong Guan Yin Temple". After paying homage, we continue walk to chulia street but found no hawker here or i get lose?
- our stomach are starving, so i order online taxi to go to new lane hawker food to take our lunch there
- after finishing our lunch, we walk on foot back to our hotel on trang road
Tips :
* We got discount 20% off for entering Wonderfood Museum, check it from website : https://mypenang.gov.my
* There are many more wonderful museum that you must visit like Phantamania, 3d Trick Art Museum, PG Gold Museum, Dark Mansion, iBox Glass Museum , Ghost Museum, Upside Down Museum and so on
Day 4 : Medical check up - Temple - pulau tikus market - penang time square mall
a. Medical check up
- Early in the morning 06.30 we hired online taxi to go to lam wah eh hospital cost RM 10
- Many people already queue for registration early in the morning, im in queue line, waiting to be called
- After registration prosedur was done , we go to level 1 waiting to the doctor
- Medical check up was done by doctor but laboratory tests cannot be complete on that day. the nurse suggest us just go home as the result will be sent by email the day after tommorow
b. Temples
- hired online taxi "grab" to go to dhammarikama burmese temple located on lorong burma. cost RM 10. After pay homege and take some photos we just walk across the temple and get into wat chaiyamangkalaram temple (sleeping buddha temple)
- from here we walk to pulau tikus market located on jalan burma intersection with jalan pasar. we buy some chinese medicine and take our lunch here.
- from balai polis pulau tikus bus stop, we waiting for free shuttle bus with "CT5" sign stop at soka gakai jalan burma and walk to wat buppharam temple jalan perak
- wat buppharam temple is kind of thai temple and some called it "lifting buddha temple". because inside the temple there are a room for pray and ask the God if their wish will come true or not by lifting the small buddha statue. quiet interesting.
c. Penang times square mall
- Hired online taxi again to go to penang times square mall, cost RM 6. penang times square mall together with M-mall are pretty quiet on weekdays. we just window shopping and take some photos at each level with a different theme decorations. pretty cool...
- Walk to new lane hawker again to take our dinner there, buy a famous penang's biscuit called "ban heang" and "Seng Seng Heang" located on new lane , then back to the hotel
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| Wat Chaiyamangkalaram Buddist Temple |
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| Inside M-Mall - Thailand's Theme |
Day 5 : Kek Lok Si Temple - Komtar - Airport
a. Kek Lok Si Temple
- wake up at 06.00 am , no bath anymore :) as we must go to airport this day at 02.00 pm . walk from trang road to dato keramat road infront of gama department store, waiting bus number 201(jeti-paya terubong) 203 (jeti - air itam) 204 (jeti - bukit bendera) or 502 (p.weld-pekan genting) heading to kek lok si temple
- bus 204 come first, we get in, and pay RM 2. it took 30 minutes drive to get to jalan balik pulau 607 bus stop, where we get off the bus and walk up hill to kek lok si temple
- the temple opening hour is 08.30 am, we come too early, escalator was not open yet, so we walk up hill to the top of the temple where Guan yin Statue is located. huff.. im quiet draining. The goddess statue stands majestically and the view on this hill was very beautiful.
- from this site we walk down from the street to ten thousand buddhas pagoda. it cost RM2 per person to enter this pagoda
- from this area we walk shortcut going out to air item market
- we walk back to the first place we getting off the bus, jalan balik pulau, and wait to bus 502 (pekan - p.weld) or 201 (paya terubong - jeti)
- bus 502 come first, we get in, and pay RM2
- bus stop at opp. times square and we walk across dato keramat street back to our hotel and prepare to check out
b. Komtar - Airport
- check out hotel at 01.00 pm, walk to komtar (300 meters from trang road) for lunch then wait for bus 401E (jeti - balik pulau) to go to the airport (line 5)
- after waiting about 15minutes, 401E bus is coming, we get in, after 45minutes drive, we arrive at the airport
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| Kek lok si Temple - air Item |
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| Scenery from Kek Lok Si Temple |
Tips :
* Need about 2 hours to walk around kek lok si temple
* Free Rapid Bus (CAT or displayed 1 / CT5 or displayed 5 / CT7 or displayed 7 ) and Paid Rapid's bus stop at different line at Komtar bus terminal and Pangkalan Weld bus terminal.
Bye bye Penang - See you again
