In Penang, family history made room for the pool

An Australian-born writer returned to Penang in July 2026 with her children, hoping to bring family stories to life. She had left the island at six and had not visited for 13 years. Her children, who speak only English, were seeing it for the first time.

In George Town, their grandfather, known as Gong Gong, recalled once believing he could not enter the grand hotel where the family was staying. The writer also took the children to places tied to his childhood, including a small house in Tanjung Bungah where he said 14 relatives had lived together.

The planned heritage visits met with limited enthusiasm. The children grew tired of walking in the heat and wanted to shop or return to the hotel pool. At the childhood home, one child was struck by its size; the youngest asked to go swimming.

Rather than press the children to feel gratitude or understand their grandfather’s early hardships, the writer followed his suggestion and took them to the pool. The family spent its final days swimming, shopping and eating local food.

The trip did not bring the hoped-for realisations about heritage or poverty, the writer says. But her children shared experiences that echoed her own early memories: tropical heat, noodles eaten on red plastic stools and a goodbye hug from their grandfather. The account was published by The Guardian Travel.