Penang 14-16 May 2010

Day 1 (ETA Singapore 7am ETD Penang 825am)

Landed in Penang ~ Beng Lay and CW welcomed us ~ snap-snap ~ Headed to a Hawker Centre (not sure the name) for our breakfast, Curry Mee, Prawn Noodles, Lor Mee, Singapore Popiah, Ja Wa Noodle ~ Next stop, Beng Lay's cosy place, before heading up, we checked out the fifth floor where the recreational area is, with BBQ pits, gym, cosy seating area, playground with SWINGS (my fav but didn't get to play.. sobs..), headed up and sat ourselves down on her cosy sofa, we chit-chatted, watched their wedding videos, took photos and drank homemade red bean soup brewed by Beng Lay then it was time for lunch (not that we are hungry but there's just lots of eating places to check out) ~ Went for famous Char Kway Tiao at Lorong Selamat which is a bit pricey than other stalls ~ Checked into our apartment ~ settled down for a while, freshened up and went to the Toy Museum, love the cool cool toys but we think it is high time they do some maintenance ~ Next, Hard Rock Cafe Hotel Penang ~ snap-snap ~ Went to try famous Teochew Chendol ~ Visiting of temples followed by dinner at the area near to Sunway Hotel, we had satay (oh it was damn good!), char-kuay-gak (aka carrot cake with bean sprouts), lor-bah (similar to ngoh hiang but much simpler and better), prawn mee, chee cheong fan with three types of sauce, fried oysters, roast duck, pig intestine porridge ~ Not knowing where else to go after we were all so full, we suddenly decided to go sing KTV and so we did, at Guerney Plaza... we took the opportunity to celebrate WJ's birthday and he received a tall yellow hat, courtesy of Redbox KTV ~ Last stop for the day, Guerney Hawker Centre for rojak and "ah pong" (like love letters) and headed back to our apartment to shower and sleep ~ WJ, Candy and I sat at the dining table and chatted for an hour before finally turning in ~ nice feel sitting there laughing and talking about anything, everything.. ;)

Day 2

Dim Sum breakfast at this red teahouse (Shiok and cheap! RM 10 for that spread) ~ Went to Kek-Lok-Si ~ Had Penang Laksa for lunch, very different taste, you can add prawn paste to the gravy, CW said that the gravy was prepared with kum-mong fish which is supposedly "poisonous" for peeps recovering from wounds etc ~ As we walked to the car after our laksa lunch, we passed by the sugar cane stall and to our horror, there were countless houseflies crowding around the sugar canes, luckily I didn't order the drink.. hehe... ~ Next stop, yummy Lor-bah @ Kimberly Street (this one is really good!) and went to buy our must buy dao-sa-pia etc ~ The next place on our itinerary is the Peranakan Mansion, it was informative and the guide told us about the history, the purpose of the many rooms in the mansion and showed us the difference in the many generations I'm so sure, he lost some of us along the way *switched off* ~ Had Ice-Kacang with ice-cream, Cai-Kueh (aka soon-kueh) and durian mian-jian-kueh (darn good! it curbed Candy's and my craving for durians!) at New World Park ~ KLKK at New World Park for a while before heading off to our ferry ride to the Mainland, this ride was interesting as it was my first ride where we drove directly on board the ferry ~ we alighted once the car came to a stop, ferry started to disembark and sail away... we stood on the deck to enjoy the sea breeze and take in all the view and took a number of group photos, the bridge linking the Mainland to Penang was really long, 13.5km ~ Climbed onto the upper deck also, still as nice! ~ Reached the Mainland for Seafood dinner, was again "surprised" to see many houseflies flying around ~ As we walked into the eating place, we saw a plate of oysters with scotchtape on it and many houseflies r.i.p...OMG! oh well... we decided on a seat which seemed to attract less "friends" to share our food ~ The seafood was really fresh and cheap ~ Went to Auto City @ Butterworth to KLKK before driving back via the bridge to Penang Island, played "hide-and-seek" with WJ as we lost him for a while ~ Last stop for the second day, Almond tea drink with youtiao and four fruits tea (aka cheng-teng) ~ Back to our apartment to shower, rest and pack ~ Before we turned in, we popped the sparkling grape juice we brought back from the KTV and cheers to the end of the trip!

Day 3

Had brunch at Old Town White Coffee, the price is the same in Singapore but with the different currency exchange, it's cheap ~ 3-4 hours shopping at Queensbay Mall, the biggest shopping mall in Penang ~ arrived at the Penang airport, checked in and we were on our way back ~ Yes, yes, so happy we are coming back! (I just lied) ~ Before we know it....."Hi! Singapore!"..

Interesting facts.. the purchase price of an apartment will include the cost of an assigned carpark lot, which means you do not need to pay monthly season parking.. My friends' 7 seater which brought us everywhere costs RM50K, gosh! What a big difference! Apart from the hot and humid weather, the entire experience was wonderful! Really fortunate to have friends there, local knowledge is very important...;p.. I think it would be great to make this a yearly affair.. hehehe...