We Spent Chinese New Year in Penang, Malaysia | Foreigners First Impressions 🇲🇾

For one month of every year Penang plays host to a very special event. An event that culminates in 10,000 lights and lanterns shining against the night sky. But this is just the tip of the iceberg for the whole celebration. Looks like it's all kicking off already. The Lunar New Year is celebrated by over a quarter of the world's population and for a few weeks of every year Penang in Malaysia paints the town red. Quite literally. This is the first time I've properly immersed myself into the Lunar New Year celebrations so I thought it'd be fun to look at some of my first impressions of New Years in Penang. The first thing to appear was the lanterns. Thousands and thousands of them hanging above the streets in all different shapes and sizes. And before we knew it everywhere we went became decked out in the most amazing displays. Inside the shopping malls as well as there being a lot of amazing decorations there's also an abundance of red clothing being sold in all the shops. Traditionally red symbolizes good fortune and joy so you could see why you'd want to wear that in the New Year celebrations. I also have a red shirt that brings me a lot of joy. Well some of the time at least. Penang is an extremely multicultural island and about half of its inhabitants are of Chinese descent so it's safe to say that in these parts the Lunar New Year is a pretty big deal. The management of the apartment building that we're staying in in Penang just dropped off this bag of oranges. It's nice. Oranges are a popular symbol of good luck and it's a common thing to give as a gift at this time of year. We were pretty chuffed to get ours. So armed with our lucky fruits and red clothing we were ready to check out the full extent of Penang's New Year celebrations. So we left our apartment and headed towards the centre of it all. Our taxi ended up following a truck full of people into town who turned out to have a very specific job. In Chinese culture dragons represent wisdom, power and wealth and it's believed that the traditional dragon dance scares away evil spirits and bad luck. These guys will do tons of performances around the city every day and it's a really cool experience to watch them at work. We spent a couple of nights at a hostel in the centre of Georgetown, the capital city of the island. A place that really wears its Chinese roots on its sleeve. You have various Chinese temples and heritage buildings all around the centre of town. The Ku Kong Zi clan houses are a reminder of the long history of Chinese dominance on the island. Where wealthy traders lived and worked in their own self-governed communities. And the grand wooden temple at the centre of it all is well worth taking a look around. And of course the Chinese heritage is strongly represented in the local food scene. Many of the most delicious Penang dishes are also of Chinese descent. I'm just about to try my very first Hokkien meat. Oh that's so good. In the couple of weeks leading up to New Year's the streets of Georgetown are just getting busier and busier every day but now that the New Year has hit it's actually quite chilled out and there's not many people out. There's a good atmosphere but the majority of local businesses are all shut down. Lunar New Year is a time when people close up their shops and spend a few days with friends and family. But don't worry there's still plenty to do. As we walked around Penang we found little city parks decked out with beautiful decorations. These places become hubs of activity throughout the week surrounding the New Year. With lots of live music and arts performances in the afternoons. The narrow historic streets of Georgetown were rammed with people. There are street vendors selling lots of different types of food alongside lots of traditional entertainment for both adults and kids. They were even giving out free massages. The best way to describe the whole atmosphere is like one big street party or carnival. Annoyingly I actually got really ill that night so I had to go back to the hostel. But Emma still went out to do some solo exploring in the evening and the party definitely carried on into the night. Her footage was really good too so thanks Emma. The next evening there was still one place that we wanted to see. OK time to check out the best lights in town. Georgetown's lanterns are very nice at night but to get the best displays on the island you need to head out of town to Kek Lok Si. This giant Buddhist temple is the largest on the whole island. The eclectic architecture is really impressive to see during the day and you can spend hours here looking around all of the different areas. But during the Chinese New Year this place becomes something else altogether. The temple becomes a focal point for the Chinese community during the New Year celebrations. For 30 days the temple stays open at night boasting over 10,000 lanterns and creating an incredible sea of bright colours against the night sky. I'm just going to stop talking and let the montage say it all. This place was incredible. Walking around Kek Lok Si during the lights festival really is an unforgettable experience. If you're in Malaysia when this is going on do everything you can to get here and see it. That evening we went back to our apartment on the edge of Georgetown and watched fireworks go off through the night from our balcony. Nang is definitely a great place to see in the New Year but it's an even better place to live and work. We absolutely loved it here. And I'll be breaking down everything about the living costs and things to do in the next episode. Thank you so much for watching this video. If you liked it make sure you leave it a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel and I'll see you next time.