The road and walkway along Batu Ferringi.

Introduction
Batu Ferringhi has a several large resort, like Rasa Sayang, Golden Sands, Park Royal, Bayview etc. It looks like a new village, but it's very old. It used to be a kampong with a little fishing village. If you want to see a part of this old village you have to turn right when you have passed the Park Royal. Here you'll find the backpackers guesthouses of Ah Beng, Baba's, and the best place, Ali's, which has a relaxing open-air cafe and garden, and better rooms than the other ones. The guesthouses are facing the sea.
The main road runs more or less straight along the coast for 3km, on which all the hotels, tourist shop, internet cafe's, motorcycle rental offices and restaurants (House of Kampong, Deep Sea or The Last Drop e.o.), are lined up side by side. In the centre you'll find the Telekom office, post office, police station and clinic.
You can get to Batu Ferringhi by taxi, car or bus. It takes a thirty-minute bus ride west of Georgetown on Transitlink #202 or Transitlink air-con #93.
There is no bus straight from the airport (Bayan Lepas) to Batu Ferringhi. A taxi ride will cost you RM60.- You'll have to buy a coupon for the taxi when leave the arrival hall after collecting your luggage.

The beach itself is quite good, thought not up there with Malaysia's best and the water is not of the tropically clear variety you might expect. The beach is kept clean, even on weekends when hordes of day-trippers visit.
Bathing areas are often cordoned off by floating buoys to protect swimmers from speeding jet-skis and water-skiers. Jellyfish, particularly at rainy times, can be a problem.

Batu Ferringhi can be crowded and much of the greenery has been replaced by concrete, but also the advantages (plenty of restaurants, watering holes and recreation facilities). It has quite a lively resort feel, and there is a good night markets on the main road selling trinkets.
The big hotels offer good deals at times and cheaper accommodation is available if you want a few days by the beach.

Restaurants, shops and KFC...

Batu Ferringhi has a few small shops selling souvenirs and beach necessities, in addition to several money changers and pushy Indian tailors. Stalls selling a variety of goods set up along the road at night. If you're looking for cheap clothes, fabrics, souvenirs, electronic items, watches, DVDs, CDs and more? Then the Pasar Malam along the road is the place for you.
A wider selection of articles and some sophistication at several air-conditioned shopping complexes in George Town. A taxi ride to the centre (Komtar, Pranging Mall - shopping complexes in George Town) will cost you RM25.-. A ticket for the local bus will cost you RM2.-

The Rasa Sayang Garden *****

The Bayview Beach Hotel is the last one in Batu Ferringhi. If you're going out at night, you'll have to walk a while (quarter of an hour) before you're in the centre of the village: the pasar malam. Perhaps that's the reason, why this hotel has great offers!

The Golden Sands is a family hotel. It has a social activity program and several swimming pools. They have a wonderful restaurant ""Sigi's at the sea", but if you don't like a hotel restaurant, there's a hawker centre opposite of the hotel (Global Bay). Beside the hotel is a narrow street, where you can lunch or let yourself a suit fit by a tailor.
The sister hotel Rasa Sayang is under renovation at the moment.

The Buddhist temple of Kek Lok Si is situated in (H)Air Itam, a suburb of Georgetown. You can make that by local bus from the Komtar, but you can also make it by taxi. I prefer taxi, because the taxi takes me up the hill (the Kek Lok Si is halfway on a hill). I like to walk down, but not to walk up the hill in a tropical climate.
Taxi ride from the KOmtar in Georgetown will cost you about RM20.-

The temple was begun in 1890 and, from all appearances, construction really hasn't ever stopped. And it's still going on! The temple is supposedly the largest in Malaysia.
The Kek Lok Si project was inspired by the chief monk of the Goddess of Mercy Temple of Pitt Street. With the support of the consular representative of China in Penang, the project received the sanction of the Manchu Emperor Kuang Hsi, who bestowed a tablet and gift of 70,000 volumes of the Imperial Edition of the Buddhist Sutras.

Without doubt the largest and best known temple in Penang, the Temple of Supreme Bliss, better known as Kek Lok Si, staggered on the hillside overlooking the town of Ayer Itam.
Since the olden days, the hills of Ayer Itam are regarded as important geomantically. Known as He San, or Crane Hill, they are recommended as a retreat for Taoist practitioners striving for immortality.


Construction of the temple started in 1893, but it was only in 1930 that the Pagoda of Rama VI, named after the Thai king who laid the foundation stone, but better known as the Pagoda of 10,000 Buddha's, was completed.
This pagoda combines a Chinese octagonal base with a middle tier of Thai design, and a Burmese crown, reflecting the temple's embrace of both Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism.

The latest addition to the temple complex is the 30.2m bronze statue of the Avalokitesvara - Goddess of Mercy or Kuan Yin - on the hillside above the pagoda.
This statue was completed and open to the public at the end of 2002.

If you want to get a close-up look of the Kuan Yin statue, then go left as you get to the furthest hall, which is also the largest and look for the signs for the 'incline lift' to the goddess.

The incline lift is more of a tram -- an elevator-sized glass box mounted on rails which goes up to the terrace above the existing temple where the goddess stands.
Use of the lift costs RM 2 each way.

The route up to the 'main' prayer hall of the Kek Lok Si and the pagoda is on the other side of the large prayer hall. From the 'incline lift' you need to cross the hall and go through the souvenir stands to find the desk where you must pay a 'voluntary' donation of another RM 2 to go up to the new prayer hall and the pagoda. Don't worry: you'll receive a ticket!

If you haven't visited the "Goddess of Mercy", then this is the moment to do it now!

If you have done some charity, then you may ring the bell.

The Kek Lok Si project was mooted by the chief monk of the Goddess of Mercy Temple of Pitt Street. With the support of the consular representative of China in Penang, the project received the sanction of the Manchu Emperor Kuang Hsi, who bestowed a tablet and gift of 70,000 volumes of the Imperial Edition of the Buddhist Sutras.

Construction of the temple started in 1893, but it was only in 1930 that the Pagoda of Rama VI, named after the Thai king who laid the foundation stone, but better known as the Pagoda of 10,000 Buddhas, was completed. This pagoda combines a Chinese octagonal base with a middle tier of Thai design, and a Burmese crown, reflecting the temple's embrace of both Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism

Reputedly the largest Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia, situated close to the bustling Air Hitam market. The temple's enclave including a pagoda and a huge statue of the Goddess Kuan Yin is prominent. Besides the monastery, a seven-storey pagoda of 10,000 Buddha images displays the essence of an eclectic mix of Chinese, Thai and Burmese architecture. The main hall has colourful souvenir shops. A shrine filled with statues and a courtyard where a large pond full of carp and the tortoises are main attractions. Here a pathway that leads to a stairway will take you to the Pagoda.

the Goddess of Mercy