Penangites make Malaysians proud by delivering 9th Gold

Congratulations! Penangites Datuk Nicol David and Low Wee Wern made the whole nation proud by delivering the 9th Gold in the recent Asian Games in Guangzhou. The fighting spirit and resilience of these girls is something to be emulated.

The future of squash looks bright for Penang and Malaysia! Malaysia Boleh!!!

7th Penang Island Jazz Festival

The Seventh Edition of The Penang Island Jazz Festival will this year be held from the 2nd to 5th of December 2010 and feature more than 190 musicians on one (1) Main Stage, four (4) Fringe Stages and the Big Band programme.

As in past years, the “Jazz By The Beach” Stage (Main Stage) programmes a variety of groups with different styles and this year is no different with varied musical styles being performed from a thirty five (35) piece Philharmonic to World Renowned Solo Guitar Players to Standard Jazz Trio / Quartet to an Aca Pella group to Funk / Fusion Bands to Experimental / Nu jazz / Ethnic jazz groups in an idyllic open air setting beneath the stars by the side of a beach.

Keeping in line with past editions, the performers for the main stage programme this year are a mixture of local Malaysian and International acts. They are Penang Philharmonic featuring Ray Rozells and James Boyle, Celso Machado (Brazil), SC Yun Trio (South Korea), Electric Barbarian (Netherlands/USA/Brazil), Stouxingers (Germany), Carefree (Malaysia), Roger Wang Trio (Malaysia), Boi Akih (Netherlands), Rain Sultanov Quartet (Azerbaijan), PELbO (Norway), Tommy Emmanuel (Australia) and ZHAN (Malaysia / Japan / Australia).

More info at http://www.penangjazz.com

Loy Krathong Festival on 21 Nov 2010

Date: 21st Nov 2010
Time: 7pm to 11pm
Location: Wat Chaiya Mangalaram Buddhist Temple (also known as the Reclining Buddha Temple)
Contact: 016-4105115

The festival is celebrated on the full moon of the 12th Lunar month in which devotees pray to the Water Goddess as well as repent for what they have done.
One can let go of their troubles as they released their lotus vessels into the sea.
Tiny paper flags were placed in the vessels which were sold for between RM8 and RM180 each.

This year's the temple is campaigning for an Eco-friendly  Krathong.  The public is invited to participate. The main criterion is the krathong must be made of degradable materials.

Source: http://visitpenang.gov.my

Penang vs Malacca: Who Has More Tourists?

Lately there has been some dispute between Penang and Melaka over who has more tourists. Both states received the Unesco World Heritage Site awards in 2008. If we refer to the statistics of hotel guests by state published by the Tourism of Malaysia website, Penang has 5.96mil tourists as compared to Melaka's 3.76mil tourists in year 2009. Interesting to know the top 8 states as below.


1. Kuala Lumpur - 15.74mil
2. Pahang - 9.65mil
3. Penang - 5.96mil
4. Sabah - 5.36mil
5. Sarawak - 3.98mil
6. Kedah - 3.85mil

7. Melaka - 3.76mil
8. Johor - 3.53mil

Reference: http://www.tourism.gov.my

Malacca did not have more tourists, says Penang from The Star Online: Metro: North

No Plastic Bags from 2011 Onwards?

First it was Monday, then Mon-Wed and now it is permanently implemented. Kudos to Penang for being the first state in Malaysia to successfully implement the banning of plastics for all business sectors. So what is your opinion of this move? Have you gotten used to living without plastic bags? Yes it is very inconvenient and troublesome to carry your own bags. What will be the repercussions? More good than bad? Only time can tell.

Read the full article from TheStar