Gaudy Lights & Jetty Feasts: Chinese New Year in Penang

Incense, oranges, fireworks.

Temples gaudy with sparkling lights.

Quiet days. Mad red nights.

I didn’t know I would find these things when I went to Penang. I didn’t realize I’d be in Malaysia for Chinese New Year when I booked my trip, so I didn’t quite know what to expect.

Penang was a mixed blessing for Chinese New Year– the island has the largest Chinese population in Malaysia, which means there are many temples and everyone celebrates. However, that also means that most shops close and traffic to the island becomes completely snagged as people return home to their families. Days were calm, hot, unhurried. Red lanterns were strewn everywhere– streets were strung with them, shops spilled over with them.

The days leading up to Chinese New Year were ripe with anticipation.

The night before it began, I went to explore the Kek Lok Si Temple on a tip that it would be lit up… which was an understatement.

Walking up the curving dark road, there was no indication of what was waiting… until I turned a corner, and BAM.

This was the Disneyland of Buddhist temples. The whole place was flashing like a Vegas casino, all gaudy colors. It was a visual carnival.

(I’d been told that I’d be able to get inside the temple at night, but this turned out to be untrue. It’s still worth going– look at that thing!)

The following night was the beginning of Chinese New Year and the small explosions in the street started early. Chinese New Year is a real family holiday, so I wasn’t sure if there would be much happening; I knew many of my beloved street food stands would likely be closed. Regardless, I gathered some girls from my hostel to explore the night streets of Penang. (Interestingly, I was staying in a dorm room of all solo female travelers!)

Except for the occasional pop of street-lit fireworks, George Town was quiet. We wandered down towards the jetty, not really expecting much.

It turns out we couldn’t have chosen a better place to be.

An off-hand conversation with a woman lingering under the lanterns on the jetty led her to invite us into her family’s massive Chinese New Year feast. Chopsticks were distributed, introductions were made, and before long we were comfortably chatting away with this gracious family who had lived on the jetty for generations.

They fed us so much food, so much coffee, so much hospitality. I was overwhelmed by our good fortune— somehow, we’d just stumbled into a perfectly authentic way to celebrate Chinese New Year.

While attempting to leave the jetty after departing from the family’s home, ANOTHER family invited us to join then for drinks on the slice of the jetty in front of their house. How could we resist?

After all the food, all the coffee and beer, all the joyous conversations, we lit sparklers in the street. I was buzzing, glowing.

George Town was mostly quiet for the day following– my last in Penang– but I did explore some of the temples. People waved incense sticks and tables were piled with candles and flowers and oranges; everyone wore red and pressed tight together. It was an intense sensory experience.

Should you go to Penang for Chinese New Year?

I had an amazing experience, but the island is undoubtedly slow at the beginning of Chinese New Year– and if I hadn’t arrived days before, getting to the island would have taken hours extra. I was hoping for dragon dances, parades, excessive fireworks… Perhaps that happened later, but I didn’t experience it in George Town. The famous food stands close and the town gets quiet– this is a family holiday.

BUT.

There is something special about being in a place where the holiday permeates nearly every aspect of life, where life gets slow and joyful, where you can be invited to a family’s feast and see manically lit temples and light sparklers in the street. Penang is not the wildest place to experience Chinese New Year, but it’s certainly exceptional in its own way.