Going to HK/Penang
 

1st time to HK & Penang in July. Any advice & suggestions?

It will be HOT!

Can you give us a bit more details? What kind of "advice & suggestions" are you looking for? Is it advice on finding a good-priced plane ticket? Advice on hotels & restaurants? Advice on places for sightseeing? Advice on shopping? Advice on transportation at the 2 places? Advice on how many days you should spend at each place?

It will be very difficult for anyone to give you advice & suggestions without knowing more about you & your plans & your interests & your budget & who's going with you (is it your 85yr old mom or your 7yr old child).

Please post back with more details and I'm sure someone will be able to offer some advice & suggestions.
Welcome to fodors!

Mid 40's couple traveling w/13 yr old son. (hubby business) Penang 1 wk/HK 3 days. Looking for advice on sightseeing, shopping, restaurants, transportation, "do not miss" things, & any other pearls of wisdom. Specifics for Penang: Is it difficult to get around without a car? Is language a problem (we're english speaking only)....

Hi crzemom:

Regarding HK:
If you haven't read this recent post yet, it will give you some good ideas for sightseeing:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34481367

Language will not be a problem in HK. Here is HK's tourist board's website:
http://www.discoverhongkong.com/usa/

Penang is easy to get around, plenty of taxis, most everyone speaks English.
One tip I would give, if your husband is on business if he can get any 'influence' on hotels try and push to get a beach hotel at Batu Ferringhi, it will be a bit of a journey for him to/from Georgetown or Bayan Lapas ( where quite a few foreign business are located ) but it will make a great deal of difference for you and your son being able to enjoy a beach hotel as opposed to a Georgetown Hotel. If it is down to the company he should ask if they have any objections to him using a hotel at the beach as long as it's no more than where they plan to put him. Most companies 'should be' quite reasonable on such a request.
Alhtough a very safe place do be a little 'wary' in, I think if my memory serves me right 'Kompas Shopping Mall' in Goergetown, nothing serious, but just watch your bag and stuff. Tends to have a lot of 'hangers around' down there.

Thanks for the great responses. I've never been to a predominantly Muslim country. Is it okay to wear shorts? Keep 'em coming.

While Malaysia is a Muslim country, Penang is actually predominantly Buddhists with many ethnic Chinese.

In all of SE Asia, Muslim or Buddhist, shorts should be reserved for beach or resort wear. Wearing shorts in town is considered disrespectful.

penangis a wonderful place to wander round for a few days. great food, especially indian. georgetownhas an interesting old town area which isworth a good walk round.