Dave Griffiths

Dave Griffiths has lived in Penang for the last five years. You can catch up with him at Healey Macs at Straits Quay on Monday evenings where
he organises the popular pub quiz (Facebook page Quiznights in Penang). He also supplies boxes giving access to all UK TV Channels and you can find out more at www.simply-satellite.net.

After meeting my partner Josephine Leong and getting to know her in the UK, I started to visit Penang on a regular basis. Five years ago I thought I would go for it and decided to take the plunge and moved out here. We organise the quiz night at Straits Quay every week and a curry night at Ananda Bahwan every six weeks and have met many interesting people. All are welcome so do just come along.

Driving in Penang certainly keeps me alert and awake. I find I have to look in all three mirrors simultaneously to make sure that I don’t have a motorbike with a family on board (maybe not even wearing crash helmets) coming up in the inside or changing lanes without looking. And
it would be great if the sea were a little cleaner so we could swim in it.

In my opinion the best thing for any visitor is to take the railway up Penang Hill and walk around and enjoy the amazing views up there. I also enjoy drive over the hill and the other side of the Island to the Airport via Batu Ferringhi. It’s a quiet, windy road but a lovely drive. And of course they must come down to Straits Quay to Healy Macs on a Monday and join in the pub Quiz that I organise. The food’s good there as well. For a taste of India try Ananda Bahwan in Tanjung Bungah. And if you want to see where the tourists meet the locals, go to Long Beach at Batu Ferringhi. There’s cold beer and a very good assortment of local food.

We are currently renting our apartment and we are looking to buy. We are quite happy with where we are and with the views we have and so we are waiting to see if the landlord will decide to sell it to us. Mind you, if we can find another apartment in the same block we’re in now, we will definitely buy it.

I really enjoy the friends we have made. Josephine is Chinese so we have Chinese friends also Korean, South African, Irish, Welsh, British, American. To be honest we will speak to anyone and love having our friends around us. I miss my two daughters and five grandchildren very much but the wonders of technology mean that we can speak often on Skype or Facetime we do try and visit once a year and we also get visitors from UK visiting us.

You will always find me at Healy Macs on a Monday evening presenting the Pub Quiz. I also enjoyed being an extra in the Channel 4 UK production “Indian Summers” and so spent many days up Penang Hill last year on the film set. I’m delighted that it is has now been confirmed the second series will go ahead later this year.

Read This: An Interview with An English Expat Living in Malaysia

Source: The Expat Magazine April 2015