2 weeks..
Its been 2 weeks since I last blogged. What can happen in 2 weeks?
I'm back in KL. Hehhe that was a totally last-minute decision. Made the booking on Monday evening and was on the plane on Wed morning. The flight was pretty uneventful, managed to finally watch "Love Actually" while sipping some niceee wine =)
About the last minute dash back home. It was either Wed's flight, or only in January. Everything else was fully booked. EVERYTHING!!
Hmm..and everyone seems to think I've been mamak-ing aka yamcha-ing every night since I've gotten back. But nothing is further from that. I've actually only gone thrice. But it feels good to be back. The cheap thrill of ordering *neslo ais* etc at mamak..something I've missed over the last half year or so..
ohdear, when we get on the topic of food..
The past weekend was spent on a trip up Penang with LiKai, Samuel and HauWei. Essentially it turned into a *makan* trip. We did the usual, and stopped by Foh San in Ipoh for dimsum..Fortunately LiKai booked a room this time around, cos we heard most hotels are fully occupied due to the school holidays. Stayed at the Tanjung Bungah Beach Hotel. Yupp it was full too, cos we wanted an extra room but none were available.
Friday was all about the rain..Rained all day, from KL to Ipoh and all the way to Penang, even till dinner time.. We had dinner at an interesting place - Teluk Tempoyak. Location-wise, look at the Penang island map, locate the Bayan Lepas International Airport, the move your eyes to the right to Batu Maung, and further down. Right at the bottom you'd see Kg Teluk Tempoyak. Yupp thats where we were. If Phillip didn't bring us there, we'd def miss out. Had ikan bakar, grilled crabs, sotong, nasi lemak, satay and coconut shake (a concoction of fresh coconut, ice cream and corn - interestingly we hardly tasted coconut, but it was very nice nonetheless). Environment wise, there're the few stalls under a covered area, right beside the sea with some fishing boats tethered to some old posts. Typical kampung style..
The next morning, breakfast was another interesting meal. Was supposed to look for the char kuey teow at Macalister Rd but due to the intricacies of Penang's roads, we somehow ended up at Jalan Dato Keramat (or whereabouts there) and spotted the old Kimberley St char kuey teow at the corner of Lorong Selamat. Exactly 2 years ago during our roadtrip up, parking was scarce at that area and we had to ta-pau back to the hotel. This time around, we were more fortunate, though parking space is still as limited. A normal plate would only set you back ringgit 4 but of course we had to try their special 加料 version. HauWei has documented what their RM7 char-kuey-teow looks like =)
Unfinished business (Sat):
Prangin Mall : fulfilling Sam's unfinished business - somewhat related to dubious "copy" stuff. Actually that's Sam's main purpose to Penang ahhha. Interesting to note the high quality of the "copy" in terms of packaging.
Penang Botanical Garden : A short stop there, just sitting on the lawn, watching monkeys lead their monkey life, plus some photo opps (Ours have almost becomed a photography trip by then)
Penang Hill : fulfilling HauWei and LiKai's unfinished business - night photography / shots of Georgetown. Temperature from the lookout points is just like Melbourne's. Gets abit chilly without a jacket though..
As for my unfinished business - kite flying. It remains unfinished. The next time perhaps..
And of course, the food.
Lunch at some stalls near Penang Hill, location which I've no idea how to describe, cept the char-kuey teow stalls (yupp 2 of 'em) has signs saying "Penang Rd char-kuey-teow" and "Shell Station char-kuey-teow" (go figure where's that). They even sell candy floss!
Dinner at the Sunway Hotel stretch of hawker stalls - be forewarned - never try the o-chien there. terrible, more than half of what was delivered to us turned out to be starch - looked like we were trying to eat clumps of glue =(
Some things about Penang:
- At night if you happen to be at Gurney Drive, they collect parking fees till at least 10pm. Its amusing just sit there beside the shore for awhile. You get illegal peddlars selling stuff from jeruk (more on that later), bubble blowers (?), mini kites, ice-cream and fireworks! (incl live demos of course). Seems like CNY there each night..plus the peddlars scrambling to remove their wares at the shouts of *ang-chia* (red car in hokkien) which just means the municipal authorities have turned up on their "enforcement" rounds.
- Penang drivers & Penang motorcyclists & Penang pedestrians - A scary lot. The one who holds the record for our awe-inspiring wonder was "The Auntie" - who crossed a busy road without even looking, taking her own sweet time walking seemingly without even noticing us about to bang into her. Slumber-nya!
- Food. Everywhere one turns, it seems there's food. Read this quote from a tourist guide somewhere "At all times it seems as though half of Penang is cooking for the other half" and its oh-so-true as we once again realised hehhe
Some things about Sam the Man:
- The TV. Sam loves his tv. Especially in the mornings and nights. Trying to wake him up on Sunday morning by switching on his fave little box, it was a tad unsuccessful. Why? The Man uttered later - "its the wrong channel.." 晕倒!!
- The Man's patience with us - when we're lingering for some shots, which is basically most of the trip. Its either he's gotten used to it over the past trips, or he's simply turned speechless. We ARE trying to convert him though hahha "G5, Sam?"
- His seemingly invulnerability to the potent Happy Fruit!
Discoveries about Penang:
- Happy Fruit!
top of our list definitely! Phillip intro-ed us to this fruit with its potent properties. Aihh should have some pics to better describe it.. This preserved fruit is sold by the jeruk sellers at Gurney Drive (2 vans along the roadside) alongside the usual preserved mango, papaya etc..
- Round the island off we go..
Before we left Penang yesterday, we took a drive around the island. Starting off from the Batu Ferringhi stretch, we turned south to Balik Pulau. That stretch of road goes round and round so be prepared for a mildly head-spinning ride. First time we travelled on that route, and though we got glimpses of the sea, its not exactly a coastal road. Scenery's great at one point, where we were overlooking the kampungs beneath and the sea from high up.. This's a side of Penang I'd never seen before, and rather eye-opening it was..those places don't look like Penang, resembles the East Coast rather..
And I never knew Penang had a dam - the Teluk Bahang Dam is just a short distance from the Butterfly Farm. We were supposed to return via Bukit Jambul but somehow missed the turning and ended up going all the way down south to Teluk Kumbar, right at the bottom of the map, and taking the turn through villages with interesting names (eg Kg Seronok, Kg Binjai etc) through to Batu Maung (again!). From there was the coastal way up north leading to the Penang Bridge. The coastal road on this side of the island was scenic..seawater's a pretty shade of green, with a deep blue sky for contrast..
And that's the end of a great trip with the buddies. Missed these kind of stuff when I was away, and its good to be back ;)
I'm back in KL. Hehhe that was a totally last-minute decision. Made the booking on Monday evening and was on the plane on Wed morning. The flight was pretty uneventful, managed to finally watch "Love Actually" while sipping some niceee wine =)
About the last minute dash back home. It was either Wed's flight, or only in January. Everything else was fully booked. EVERYTHING!!
Hmm..and everyone seems to think I've been mamak-ing aka yamcha-ing every night since I've gotten back. But nothing is further from that. I've actually only gone thrice. But it feels good to be back. The cheap thrill of ordering *neslo ais* etc at mamak..something I've missed over the last half year or so..
ohdear, when we get on the topic of food..
The past weekend was spent on a trip up Penang with LiKai, Samuel and HauWei. Essentially it turned into a *makan* trip. We did the usual, and stopped by Foh San in Ipoh for dimsum..Fortunately LiKai booked a room this time around, cos we heard most hotels are fully occupied due to the school holidays. Stayed at the Tanjung Bungah Beach Hotel. Yupp it was full too, cos we wanted an extra room but none were available.
Friday was all about the rain..Rained all day, from KL to Ipoh and all the way to Penang, even till dinner time.. We had dinner at an interesting place - Teluk Tempoyak. Location-wise, look at the Penang island map, locate the Bayan Lepas International Airport, the move your eyes to the right to Batu Maung, and further down. Right at the bottom you'd see Kg Teluk Tempoyak. Yupp thats where we were. If Phillip didn't bring us there, we'd def miss out. Had ikan bakar, grilled crabs, sotong, nasi lemak, satay and coconut shake (a concoction of fresh coconut, ice cream and corn - interestingly we hardly tasted coconut, but it was very nice nonetheless). Environment wise, there're the few stalls under a covered area, right beside the sea with some fishing boats tethered to some old posts. Typical kampung style..
The next morning, breakfast was another interesting meal. Was supposed to look for the char kuey teow at Macalister Rd but due to the intricacies of Penang's roads, we somehow ended up at Jalan Dato Keramat (or whereabouts there) and spotted the old Kimberley St char kuey teow at the corner of Lorong Selamat. Exactly 2 years ago during our roadtrip up, parking was scarce at that area and we had to ta-pau back to the hotel. This time around, we were more fortunate, though parking space is still as limited. A normal plate would only set you back ringgit 4 but of course we had to try their special 加料 version. HauWei has documented what their RM7 char-kuey-teow looks like =)
Unfinished business (Sat):
Prangin Mall : fulfilling Sam's unfinished business - somewhat related to dubious "copy" stuff. Actually that's Sam's main purpose to Penang ahhha. Interesting to note the high quality of the "copy" in terms of packaging.
Penang Botanical Garden : A short stop there, just sitting on the lawn, watching monkeys lead their monkey life, plus some photo opps (Ours have almost becomed a photography trip by then)
Penang Hill : fulfilling HauWei and LiKai's unfinished business - night photography / shots of Georgetown. Temperature from the lookout points is just like Melbourne's. Gets abit chilly without a jacket though..
As for my unfinished business - kite flying. It remains unfinished. The next time perhaps..
And of course, the food.
Lunch at some stalls near Penang Hill, location which I've no idea how to describe, cept the char-kuey teow stalls (yupp 2 of 'em) has signs saying "Penang Rd char-kuey-teow" and "Shell Station char-kuey-teow" (go figure where's that). They even sell candy floss!
Dinner at the Sunway Hotel stretch of hawker stalls - be forewarned - never try the o-chien there. terrible, more than half of what was delivered to us turned out to be starch - looked like we were trying to eat clumps of glue =(
Some things about Penang:
- At night if you happen to be at Gurney Drive, they collect parking fees till at least 10pm. Its amusing just sit there beside the shore for awhile. You get illegal peddlars selling stuff from jeruk (more on that later), bubble blowers (?), mini kites, ice-cream and fireworks! (incl live demos of course). Seems like CNY there each night..plus the peddlars scrambling to remove their wares at the shouts of *ang-chia* (red car in hokkien) which just means the municipal authorities have turned up on their "enforcement" rounds.
- Penang drivers & Penang motorcyclists & Penang pedestrians - A scary lot. The one who holds the record for our awe-inspiring wonder was "The Auntie" - who crossed a busy road without even looking, taking her own sweet time walking seemingly without even noticing us about to bang into her. Slumber-nya!
- Food. Everywhere one turns, it seems there's food. Read this quote from a tourist guide somewhere "At all times it seems as though half of Penang is cooking for the other half" and its oh-so-true as we once again realised hehhe
Some things about Sam the Man:
- The TV. Sam loves his tv. Especially in the mornings and nights. Trying to wake him up on Sunday morning by switching on his fave little box, it was a tad unsuccessful. Why? The Man uttered later - "its the wrong channel.." 晕倒!!
- The Man's patience with us - when we're lingering for some shots, which is basically most of the trip. Its either he's gotten used to it over the past trips, or he's simply turned speechless. We ARE trying to convert him though hahha "G5, Sam?"
- His seemingly invulnerability to the potent Happy Fruit!
Discoveries about Penang:
- Happy Fruit!
top of our list definitely! Phillip intro-ed us to this fruit with its potent properties. Aihh should have some pics to better describe it.. This preserved fruit is sold by the jeruk sellers at Gurney Drive (2 vans along the roadside) alongside the usual preserved mango, papaya etc..
- Round the island off we go..
Before we left Penang yesterday, we took a drive around the island. Starting off from the Batu Ferringhi stretch, we turned south to Balik Pulau. That stretch of road goes round and round so be prepared for a mildly head-spinning ride. First time we travelled on that route, and though we got glimpses of the sea, its not exactly a coastal road. Scenery's great at one point, where we were overlooking the kampungs beneath and the sea from high up.. This's a side of Penang I'd never seen before, and rather eye-opening it was..those places don't look like Penang, resembles the East Coast rather..
And I never knew Penang had a dam - the Teluk Bahang Dam is just a short distance from the Butterfly Farm. We were supposed to return via Bukit Jambul but somehow missed the turning and ended up going all the way down south to Teluk Kumbar, right at the bottom of the map, and taking the turn through villages with interesting names (eg Kg Seronok, Kg Binjai etc) through to Batu Maung (again!). From there was the coastal way up north leading to the Penang Bridge. The coastal road on this side of the island was scenic..seawater's a pretty shade of green, with a deep blue sky for contrast..
And that's the end of a great trip with the buddies. Missed these kind of stuff when I was away, and its good to be back ;)
posted by xaverri at 5:54 pm
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