Thursday 25 June
On our 11am Malaysian Airlines flight to Penang where we arrived just after noon and in time for lunch especially since we hardly touched our nasi goreng airplane food...
... and its not because we didn't dare remove our masks to eat, in case you were wondering. Haha... we look so hilarious! plus Lai Yeow's comment "no need smile cos cannot see" hahahaha...
Lai Yeow's dad picked us up from the airport and stopped by the road along the way to buy some top-notch durians and mangosteens. I didn't think the first of the much-anticipated mouth-watering Penang hawker food i tucked into would be durians but i'm so not complaining. Yum...
Oh wait. I didn't. We stopped for lunch first on the way to Lai Yeow's place at Pulau Tikus. Omg i had the best 3 signature Penang dishes throughout the entire trip here at this seemingly random nondescript coffee-shop. Think it was called Genting Coffee Shop or smtg... We had the yummiest Penang Hokkien Mee, which is basically like our Beach Road prawn mee except that the soup base has chilli and it comes with slices of hard-boiled egg and it's like, um, a hundred times tastier. Don't even get me started on the Penang Char Kway Teow. Or the Penang Asam Laksa we had here.
After stuffing ourselves silly with the durians at Lai Yeow's place, Lilia & me cabbed to our hotel, Paradise Sandy Beach, which was along Tanjung Bunga, the less happening stretch of beach lower down from Batu Ferringhi. Took a short nap then headed out to the pool and beach just outside our hotel.
Sun, sand, sea and book... Perfect!
At night it was a 10 minute drive to the Ferringhi Night Bazaar where we had our dinner at the Long Beach Food Centre, which was pretty touristy but somehow the fried oyster and bbq stingray was disappointing. Other than the couple of dvds we picked up, there wasn't much else to see or buy.
Friday 26 June
Woke up to jaw-dropping CNN news announcing Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson's passing, especially when we were just talking about MJ the night before. After the unending frenzy of news reports and broadcasts (including an sms from dad) and much as we might have liked to sleep in some more, we didn't want to waste the bright sunny morning and quickly got changed and headed out to bake in the glorious sun, sun-tan lotion, sunglasses and book in hand. A supposed company family day telematch event at the beach provided some corny entertainment.
After sweating it out some 2 hours or so on the beach, we showered, got dressed and headed back to town to meet Lai Yeow for lunch and a walk around Georgetown & Chinatown today. Started our mini walkabout at New World Food Centre, where we seemed to never stop eating (kway teow tng, curry mee, mee java, popiah, loh bak, char kway teow, hokkien mee) save for the chendol we were contemplating.
After walking for ages on pavement-less vehicular roads we decided to stop flirting with the traffic and take a bus instead. Funny there is a drop kerb at the bus-stop and it's no wonder it was flooded when we got there after a short downpour.
Alighted at the roundabout and passed the clock tower on the way to Fort Cornwallis.
We saw that the gate to Fort Cornwallis was closed but thank goodness up close the signage directed us to the Main Gate so got to walk some more... we befriended a cat and took some pictures against a textured wall on the way.
Was greeted by a tranquil garden-like setting at the Fort, where we spent some time exploring the place and cooling off with an ice-cream. The Fort was next to the Padang and Esplanade and i think it was the word Esplanade that made me hum this silly "because in singapore, singapore, you'll find happiness, chachacha, for everyone..." sing singapore song in my head the whole time.
Started to rain while we were heading to our next stop, Lai Yeow's old school, Convent Light and E&O Hotel, which were both somewhere in the vicinity. Alas we had to take shelter in this old office building for some half an hour and sadly we didn't make it to those 2 places eventually.
Walked around the streets of Georgetown and arrived at the Blue Mansion, proper name Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion but were told that guided tours run only twice a day, 11am and 3pm. Other than these two time slots, we couldn't enter its premises so the best we could do was a photo from outside.
Couldn't resist checking out this chocolate boutique but it turned out to be one of those places decked with factory produced chocolate and chocolate related products targeted at tourists who would be brought here by the bus loads. And to think we walked right in, self-invited some more!
Some other random streetscenes as we continued our walk about the Heritage district of Penang. Too bad the sky was cloudy and there was little sunshine to bring out the rich colours of the shophouses. There's just something aesthetically pleasing about the proportions here.
Indian mamak shop selling tidbits. Sure brings back childhood memories! Felt sheepish after taking the picture so i bought a packet of twisties from the expressionless indian mama-shop owner.
Finding love in an alleyway haha... there was a little signboard on the wall that provided some historical background. Apparently this was where illicit liaisons between rich tycoons and their mistresses would take place, hence the name.
Couldn't find the Peranakan Musuem and the locals didn't seem to be aware of its existence or point us in the correct direction so we boarded another bus for Komtar, the tallest building in Penang, below which was also the bus terminal. Saw the Menara Umno designed by Ken Yeang nearby, where we helped Nirmal take readings with various instruments for his green design investigations something like 9 years ago. From here we walked to Times Square Penang which was the newest development in town. It was so new that none of the shops were opened for business yet so we settled for some Marrybrown chicken at the open area.
Lai Yeow was having dinner with her family and a family friend tonight so Lilia and me went shopping at Gurney Plaza where 2 whole hours of shopping turned up nothing for the both of us. Amazing haha. More hawker food dinner (char kway teow, penang laksa, apom, rojak, chendol) at Gurney Drive just further up from Gurney Plaza. I imagine evening walks along Gurney Drive right next to the sea where the sun was setting to be rather nice.
Saturday 27 June
View out from our hotel room balcony.
Checked out of our hotel and cabbed back to Lai Yeow's place. Bought our numerous boxes of tau sa piah from the famous original Ghee Hiang, for family & colleagues back home. Her dad then took us to this coffee shop reknowned for orh jian and ordered a big plate with extra oysters for RM20. Excellent stuff!
Spent the afternoon in Gurney Plaza again to escape the heat and satisfy Lilia's craving for A&W's waffle, coney dog and curly fries. It seems like we're eating all the time huh!
Dinner (kway teow tng, hokkien mee, char kway teow, penang laksa, chee cheong chok, chee cheong fan) with Lai Yeow's mom at Macalister Road. Seating area was next to a carpark and the stalls flanked a vehicular road which made ordering food a multi-tasking activity cos you had to watch your toes while you ordered your char kway teow so that they don't get run over by a car.
Back to Lai Yeow's place where we lounged and watched dvd in the spare room at night.
Sunday 28 June
Breakfast (wan tan mee, min jiang kueh) at a coffee shop next to the wet market to soak up some 70s Singapore. I kinda like wet markets and the hustle-bustle of aunties haggling over prices of meats, and chit-chatting over kopi with their fellow market kakis when the week's grocery has been bought.
Malaysia's sidewalk pay as you park coin slots.
Our flight out was at 1pm and we'd pretty much done our share of sightseeing and feasting so we hung around the house and played with Lai Yeow's nephew and dog. On the way to the airport we passed by the Penang Bridge and Queensbay Mall, one of the bigger but far out shopping malls in Penang.
Lai Yeow's cute little nephew, Kai En.
Lai Yeow's cute little family dog, Po-po.
featuring travel buddies: Lai Yeow & Lilia
