Weekend Trip: Hidden gems in plain sight in Penang

PENANG – The term “hidden gem” is oft-abused. For every TikTok clip about a cafe or beach unmarred by the masses, there is one comment or 10, yelling something like “Hidden gem, my foot!”

Insider secrets are not likely to be spilled online.

But consider your neighbourhood bak chor mee stall. Sometimes, vinegary noodles savoured alone at night, while scrolling through your phone, is all you want.

The hidden gem in plain sight offers something the latest Michelin lollapalooza cannot: No pressure.

There is freedom from crowds, freedom from credit card overload and even freedom from Fomo (fear of missing out) because, hey, you have missed out on the hot ticket already, you might as well enjoy the party you have going on.

Even in Penang, known to generations of Singaporeans on a short break, there are attractions that deserve wider attention. A secluded waterfall, a narrow runway on the sea and a market for heritage buffs are among these quiet pleasures.

Waterfall oasis

A waterfall burbles near the tourist-friendly beaches of Batu Ferringhi. This suburb in northern Penang is less than 15 minutes by car from my hotel – the

newly opened M Social Resort Penang

, part of the M Social hotel chain by Millennium Hotels & Resorts, a global Singapore brand.

I take a Grab private-hire vehicle, the preferred way of taxiing around the Malaysian island, to the standalone Kafe Vsassy Enterprise in Jalan Batu Ferringhi, which serves hearty Indian food.

Fortified with teh tarik and thosai, I walk an easy half-hour into the nearby forest to reach Batu Ferringhi Iron Waterfall. The barking of dogs unseen, likely feral ones, fades as the path gives way to a gentle slope.

The waterfall, said to be named for the reddish colour of the surrounding rocks, stains some stones liver-red. It is small but vivifying. Tiny fish dart in finger-deep pools, improbably birthed on this broiling hill.

Someone else is here. He lies on one of the large stone slabs, a sun-worshipper. He wakes when I leave and we nod hello. The peace is preserved.

The sunset and fire show

On most nights at Batu Ferringhi, there is a 45-minute fire show at the beach. To get a front-row seat, I make a reservation at Ferringhi Heart Beach Club in Ferringhi Bay, a boulevard that offers food, drinks and entertainment.

Local talent group Fire Phantom, formed in recent years, deserves more hype. They set ropes and sticks alight, twirling and throwing them up in the air. They chomp fire like cotton candy; a pillar of flames shoots from a performer’s mouth. They dance in fiery rain and sling fire like mediaeval archers. The performers include a seven-year-old boy making his debut.

There are two shows a night. Come for the sunset before the earlier performance at around 7.45pm. The yellows and bronzes of golden hour melt into the lilac clouds and the lilting sea.

A Coke Zero at Ferringhi Heart Beach Club costs RM8.90 (S$2.70). I down two drinks and French fries. A small price to pay for this two-in-one bounty.

Murals and hidden figures

Penang’s capital, George Town, is known for its murals. Yet, its street art has more private aspects.

Children On A Bicycle, painted by Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic in 2012, is among the most viewed. People queue patiently to take pictures, striking poses to look like they are pushing the bike. Motorbikes try not to knock them down as they crisscross Lebuh Armenian (Armenian Street).

High on the wall opposite the artwork is a 20cm-tall figurine – visible only if you are looking for it – of a tiny man wearing headphones and a depressed expression.

In a project for the 2024 George Town Festival titled Cement Eclipses, “sad” figurines were placed on ledges, window nooks and electrical boxes, sparking a low-key treasure hunt.

Few visitors cluster around the wire sculptures that also adorn the walls of George Town. Officially commissioned in 2009, they have comic book-style characters and cursive lettering, painstakingly bent from steel. Their brief is history, from tok-tok noodles to colonialism to rickshaw pullers.

My favourite Penang mural is enclosed in a garden.

Visitors pay a small admission fee to enter Seh Tek Tong Cheah Kongsi, one of the oldest Hokkien clan associations in Penang, to learn about its history.

The Seh Tek Tong Cheah Kongsi Chingay Procession Mural on one side of the lawn depicts clan members bearing emblems of their deities aloft. Malaysian artist Tang Yeok Khang recreated the 1940s scene in 2022 from oral recordings. This weathered wall looks like a watercolour painting.

Sea settlements

The Clan Jetties of Penang, a tourist attraction with Chinese surnames, jut out near Pengkalan Weld or Weld Quay.

From the end of the 19th century, wooden houses were built on stilts at sea when immigrants from southern China started docking. Jetty living, even metres away from land, also exempted them from property tax.

Bustling Chew Jetty, which has its own iconic hammock mural, is the most famous. It is heaving with stalls selling snacks, coconut water, handheld fans and tote bags with images of murals.

Try Tan Jetty instead. Perhaps it is more quiet because of how narrow it is, which I realise only when I step on it. The jetty has a long wooden pathway just five planks wide, which ends abruptly – all the easier to walk into the sea, I suppose.

Like at other jetties, there are no rails and the tide is high. I clutch my mobile phone as I photograph the panorama of sea and sky.

At the end of Tan Jetty, a fisherman has been nursing his fishing rod for seven hours. A garoupa he caught swims restlessly in a net he has secured. Why does he fish here? It is peaceful, he says.

Eclectic marketplace

Do not miss Jetty 35 (35 Pengkalan Weld, or Weld Quay;

@Jetty35

on Instagram) nearby, a cavernous warehouse that has been transformed into a marketplace and event space. Quiet on a Saturday, it is a kind of hipster emporium.

You can buy teapots, crocheted hair clips, beaded coasters, curvaceous “body positivity” candles, minimalist clothes, arrowhead plants, handmade jewellery, wooden utensils, pre-owned bric-a-brac and antique lamps. It is a mash-up of millennial do-gooder-ism and everything vintage.

For all the vibes at Jetty 35, there is an attractive seam of no-chill earnestness.

A sign at a postcard shop urges visitors to buy something if they want to take photos because the owners “have to pay rental and utility bills”.

A note exhorts visitors to “leave us some beautiful message” at a book corner, where passers-by can pick up any book they want (donations are welcome).

Someone has penned her thanks, saying: “My anxiety was fixed.”