bakedbean

Yes of course you can though, I agree, you may not look good in one

A bit orf topic here but Penang is actually majority Chinese and the State Governor is Chinese Malaysian (opposition party). Sure, you can wear bikinis if you want, you can drink alcohol, everyone speaks English (or something like English), and there's probably more churches than mosques here (though quite a mixture actually).

I'm not absolutely sure as I haven't been there, but I would imagine it wouldn't be polite to wear bikinis in some of the more Malay majority regions eg up near the Thai border near Pattani. Just commonsense really.

The Malays here in Penang are just fine IMO. A couple of Christmases ago, I went into a pharmacy and there was a Malay young lady wearing the traditional Islamic garb plus reindeer antlers on top She was grinning - she knew just how funny it looked. Great sense of humour.

Endeth Malaysia cultural lesson.


Anyways Phuket island has some fab beaches actually. It's not all sleezy bars y'know.