We woke before 0600. The hotel transport took us to the airport but dropped us outside to avoid paying the USD1 entry fee. It is a good reminder that USD1 is a significant sum in this country. We didn’t mind the short walk to the terminal.
The bag-drop and check-in queues weren’t exactly short. There were adequate counters open for the aircraft size but the staff were slow. We went airside and had a light bite and a cuppa before departing some 25 minutes earlier in the usual AirAsia fashion, bound for Kuala Lumpur.
We were parked at one of the furthest gate which required a long walk to immigration. We had to kill an hour before the bag-drop for our flight to Penang opened. The 4+ hours went quickly exploring the ginormous terminal (which was completely new to Kim) with the long walking distances and lunch.
We landed in Penang, once dubbed Pearl of the Orient, on time and was picked up by our hotel transport. Traffic was bad but we made it to Noordin Street House eventually. The place was absolutely delightful. It was a restored Chinese/Nyonya house with eight guest rooms, a restaurant and small swimming pool.
Complimentary afternoon tea was soon after we settled and this would be a continuing feature for the rest of our stay. We grabbed dinner at 1st Avenue mall food court and also explored Prangin Mall.