Our first trip overseas with 2 kids was to Penang when Bella was 3 months old and Jah was just shy of 2 years old. Looking back I’m not too sure why we chose Penang except for the fact that maybe I was feeling deprived after confinement and really just wanted to have all the good hawker food I could get my hands on. That being said, the flight to Penang is approximately 2 hours (which is short enough for a first trip), we also stayed at a hotel which I was familiar with from one of my work trips and the hotel location was central enough for us to be self-sufficient over the few days.

We stayed at the G Hotel along Gurney Drive which is about 20 minutes away from the airport. We booked a two bedroom suite at the hotel which included two spacious bedrooms, a kitchenette (with a full sized fridge, microwave, sink and kettle) and a living area with a sofa and dining table (perfect for eating in). The suite was clean, spacious, bright and super comfortable. Have I ever mentioned that Jah strangely loves hotel rooms. Maybe it’s the exciting thought that he is on holiday but he goes absolutely crazy when he enters a nice hotel room and he was really excited to enter this room 🙂

Living and dining area at G Hotel

One of the bedroom at our G hotel Suite

We did not really venture out much for this trip, after all it was more of a trip to satisfy my food cravings and also for us to get used to travelling with two kids. Days were spent at the hotel’s pool which had really nice cabanas for lounging however I have to be honest that the pool was not exactly child-friendly (pretty slippery and lots of sharp corners). I had several heart stopping moments when our little toddler was speeding up and down and in and out of the pool. But of course it was our responsibility to make sure he didn’t fall and hurt himself and thankfully that turned out fine.

Peanuts at our Cabana

Our hotel was also conveniently connected to Gurney Plaza and also a 3-5 minutes walk away from the swanky new Gurney Paragon Mall. We spent most of our remaining/ non-pool time, just window shopping and having our lunches at the malls.  Nights were spent exploring the length of Gurney Drive from Gurney Drive Hawker Centre to Bali Hai for seafood and a rustic charming little hut (Crepe Cottage) selling cheap yummy crepes for dessert. Jah was extremely entertained by the live seafood at Bali Hai and because it rained quite abit while we were there (especially in the evenings), the dining area in our room came in very useful when we had to take away our hawker food from Gurney Hawker Centre (3 minutes away from our hotel) and enjoy it in the comforts of our hotel room.

Watching the live seafood at Bali Hai was good entertainment/ distraction for Jah

Hawker food in the comforts of our own room

Dessert!!!

Honestly I would love to stay at Gurney Drive again, given its proximity to food, shopping and ‘civilization’. But with the changing needs of the kids, we will be trying out Batu Ferringghi (beach location) for our next Penang trip.

Stay tuned for our next Penang trip review!

Hard Rock Penang, see you in 2 weeks!!

JahBella’s Mummy