Once you’re done with Kuala Lumpur’s phallic
tourist attractions, there’s a peninsula to explore,
and most of if it is accessible at prices for any budget.
The island of Penang, just off the peninsula, is a good choice,
not least because an overnight train ride provides travel
and accommodation at costs comparable to one night in a medium-priced
hotel in KL.
Travelers in pairs can get a two-berth cabin for 162 Malaysian
ringgit (about US$44), which is at the top end of the medium
range for a KL hotel that doesn’t go anywhere. Solitary
travelers can take their chances and book a single cabin berth
(85 MYR for lower berth, 77 MYR for upper), or take the whole
cabin. There’s nothing wrong either with the tiered
sleeping bunks that line the standard sleeping cars. A lower
bunk runs 44 MYR and an upper 38 MYR. Those are budget inn
prices. A word of caution – upper bunks are not for
the claustrophobic. No windows.
Being rocked to sleep by the clickety-clack of the rails isn’t
all it’s cracked up to be, so I recommend traveling
with a companion and taking a cabin. Young children will find
it adventurous, so it’s also a good travel option for
families. Don’t count, though, on the train’s
‘dining car’ to fuel any all night gab sessions
— even if you have to settle for fast-food purchased
in KL Sentral. One offering from the dining car is paperboard
chicken sandwiches; another is something they call an omelet,
although I’ve never before seen anyone make eggs look
like that.
If you plan to consume alcohol, buy it before you get to KL
Sentral for departure. None of the convenience stores in the
station carry beer. In a pinch, over-priced wines are available
at the Hilton Hotel gift shop across the street. Alcohol of
any type isn’t served on the peninsula trains until
you cross into Thailand, at which point, the food service
improves, too.
Penang itself has the feeling of Singapore stuck in the 1970s
— no longer a colonial trading hub and not yet anything
else. It’s hard to believe the 65-storied Komtar Tower
was once the tallest building in Malaysia (still listed as
such in a taxi driver’s book of tours). Someone must
have thought the island needed only some sprucing up to pull
it out of its post-colonial-era doldrums.
Penang, along with the coastal strip around Butterworth, is
or was part of Malaysia’s push into the electronics
and IT industries. It’s possible to ignore all that
by staying in Georgetown and not venturing south toward the
island’s industrial park and airport, or north to the
five-star hotels and shopping malls. Georgetown has been done
up a bit, but besides the antique and junk stores, the main
business seems to be an especially seedy variety of sex tourism.
However, for viewing Straits Settlement architecture and getting
the feeling of days gone by, it’s better than Singapore
or Malacca. And the food’s not bad either. More in April
on the attractions of Penang.
(Train tickets can be bought electronically on the
www.ktmb.co.my Web site or at the counter in KL Sentral. Just
follow the signs in KL Sentral pointing to the Keretapi Tanah
Melayu, or KTMB. Daily departures for Butterworth from KL
are at 8:45 pm. At Butterworth, it’s a short walk from
the train station to the ferry terminal for the 30 minute
crossing to the island. Once in Penang, keep an eye out for
the KTMB ticket office, where you can buy your return ticket.
It will be on your left as you leave the ferry terminal. Nightly
runs to KL from Butterworth leave at 9:30 pm.)
