Penang - Day 3

I've come to the last day of our stay in Penang. Although it has been mostly food so far, I don't think I have finished all the must-try food in Penang. It is times like this that I wish I have the stomach of a cow.

I kinda felt guilty that we did not actually take the time to visit all the cultural or heritage sites. Well, apart from Kek Lok Si. And I hope our visit to a well established local food specialty shop in Penang counts as another! (We didn't buy tambun biscuits although it is the specialty there because unless you excrete lots of saliva or drink tea with it, the tambun is probably gonna lodge in your throat) So as penance, we decided to go to Batu Ferringhi and explore the beautiful beaches and also visit their six star hotel - Rasa sayang Shangri la~! (We tried to book a night there but luck was not with us, it was fully booked!!)

So that was how I ended up a camho shot in Rasa Sayang's toilet!

For a 6 star hotel, I was slightly disappointed with the service in their cafe. For a whooping Rm30+ for a plate of char kueh tiaw, I know there won't be lobster but a smile probably won't hurt, right? 

The atmosphere is pretty nice though. Probably explains the next picture... 

Oops?

The main redeeming factor would be the awesome beach! The view was awesome!!

I don't even know why the sand is so spiky. 

.

I took picture of a close up view of their beach, but I am not sure what is it. Calcified mineral thingy?

Having found nothing special to nom here in Batu Ferringhi, we went back to Georgetown. And before we head to the airport, we went on a trishaw ride. I was quite hesitant, once again, because I secretly suspected the trishaws were flea ridden. My fear slowly turned to embarrassment as we crammed into the trishaw driven slowly by an old man. I have clearly forgotten the Malaysian culture, where everybody stares googly-eye at tourists or foreigner. And clearly someone who takes a ride in a trishaw is non-local. 

Actually the seat turned out to be quite clean and the trishaw was decorated with love. I felt bad that the cyclist had to cycle around town with our combined weight of almost 150kg! But old uncle cyclist clearly took it as a bit offensive remark and continued to cycle and educate us about Penang's history and heritage. 

Old uncle cyclist was also very confident in his maneuvering, and only uses his hand to signal in the busy road occasionally tinkling his little bell to other road users. I think I could have died of heart attack once when a car tried to cut to our lane without noticing us, I doubt the car driver could hear the little tinkling bell through the glass. But I live, so maybe the little bell wasn't so useless after all. :P 

Overall, I had great fun in Penang! I am really gonna miss my friends there and the char kueh tiaw (always the char kueh tiaw!!).   

What to eat when you are full in Penang - Day 2

There are so many places to go to in Penang and I was impressed with their tourist friendly guidelines in leaflets and services. One of the place to go would have to be Kek Lok Si! I don't really like temples because I get bothered by the smell of incense but someone managed to convince me by telling me the best laksa in the whole of Penang is the one located outside kek lok si!! 

And that was the reason why I found myself travelling in a bus this fateful morning to Kek Lok Si!! 

After fretting for about 20 minutes whether we missed the stop (because there were fewer and fewer passengers on board), hubby asked the driver on the stop to Kek Lok Si and he very nicely say he will inform us when we get there. I told hubby not to worry because I overheard an old man saying he is going to  Kek Lok Si and he looks local, so I deduce I just need to follow his heed. If he goes down, I go down too. Smart, right? Anyway, the bus driver was very nice, he eventually called us when it was our stop. 

The entrance to the Kek Lok Si's staircase

I guess we were quite early because the staircase should be decorated with merchandise but it was still quite empty as we walked up the stairs. When we were walking down, the staircase was really crowded with merchandise that the sunlight was quite blocked out so feels a bit claustrophobic. Before long we reach the top of the staircase and spotted the hoards of tortoises. 

The lake of longevity, I think. 

I really like the hoards of tortoises, one piled on top of another. So active, wtf! lol.. When I move, their tiny heads also move with me and watched me expectantly as if waiting for some morsel of food. But we are not allowed to feed the tortoises because there is an assigned feeder at appropriate time. 

Kek Lok Si temple view near the prayer hall 

Kek Lok Si temple view 

We eventually took an inclined elevator to the top of the hill to take a look at the huge bronzed Kuan Yin statue. It only costs us about RM4 for the trip up and down! 

The Bronze Kuan Yin statue

My friend later told me that the large Kuan Yin Statue used to be gold plated but hehe... got too attractive that people always come and molest. So they had to change it to bronze instead.  

After visiting the temple, we were famished and rushed to find the famous laksa near kek lok si temple. I heard that you would not miss it near the main entrance of the temple's staircase. We were not in luck because the day we went happened to be some festival of the ninth emperor thingy and most stalls only served vegetarian options and would you guess it, the laksa stall only serve vegetarian option that day!! 

So if you think that looks like squid in the laksa, it is actually slices of raw onions!! Sad!!

After the visit, we waited quite a long time for the bus (so long in fact we were able to buy and eat one toasted char siew bun and a taro puff!). The heat and humidity got the better of me and I got cranky, so we decided to grab something cold and refreshing before dinner so I suggested a Chendol stall near Komtar. Except we didn't know the stop for Komtar and missed it and then we decided wth maybe just go back to the hotel and rest. Except that we weren't familiar with the bus route and we missed the bus stop for that too. (I think there is a lesson to be learnt somewhere...) In the end, I managed to find a stop that looks vaguely familiar and that was how we ended up in Fort Cornwallis! 

City Municipal Hall opposite Fort Cornwallis

Fort Cornwallis

I reckon that it wasn't much to see here except cannons and two or three old buildings (including a small chapel and a weaponry house), so we only had a short stroll before more food!! 

Outside Fort Cornwallis, there is a small food court. There weren't a lot of people there (on a weekday) but the few that were there all crowd around two main stalls (I think operated by the same boss). The main attraction had to be the coconut shake and the mee sotong!! The coconut shake is blended coconut juice and young coconut flesh with a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top, very refreshing. I tried the chendol there but it was horrible, I let the crows finish it up for me. 

Whereas the mee sotong, it smells so nice and spicy but I had to skipped it if I ever want to see my toes again! Because... jeng jeng jeng... for dinner, we went for roasted fresh clams and then back to New Lane for dinner again!! (Nothing special, a bit of recap of last night so I will skip that) For supper, we went to a roadside stall operated by an Indian near our hotel for Roti John. We weren't sure what to order on our Roti John so we said 'semua' (meaning everything), so this was what they served out to us!! 

Taj Mahal Special Roti John

Huge right? It is a roti tisu served up with slices of cheese, raisin, mayo, tomato/chilli sauce, lettuce slices and a cherry on top! After we finished the outer layer, the found the actual roti john nestled inside the cone. 

Again, we were amazed with their generous serving of semua! There were slices of frankfurter, banana, cabbage and lettuce leaves drizzled with mayo and tomato sauce on top of the roti john. Definitely special! Luckily my stomach wasn't making much of an issue digesting the load of food I stuffed in its way. hehe... 

Recalling what I ate in Penang sure makes me grin, but before you think there is nothing else in Penang except food, let me show you the keychain I bought in Queensbay Mall! 

Cute, right? 

:P

Penang, Malaysia's food haven - Day 1

After our wedding, guess what was the first thing we wanted to do?? 

EAT!! 

Omg... I thought we would go somewhere gooey-ly romantic or laid back but then hubby chose food over all the others. No wonder they say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach! 

This is actually my second time to Penang and honestly I was more keen to hop on the next plane to Japan for honeymoon but since it isn't spring yet then Penang it is!

Hubby decided that since it is such a rare occasion, we should spare no empty spaces in our tummy and fill it to the brim with yummy food! The first thing we did after checking into our hotel  ... (isn't the view nice?) 

... is go grab lunch! Since we were staying in Cititel that day, we decided to start lunch with Nasi Kandar at Line Clear Restaurant listed in the tourist-must-try leaflet. Before we depart, we asked the receptionist how to go the restaurant and she gave us direction and estimated our walk to be about 10 minutes. But when we found out the road that she mentioned hardly 5 minutes into our walk, we went into an Indian cinema to confirm our direction. The cashier there was very friendly and since there was no customer that time, she walked out of the counter to give us direction so we thought there was still a distance to travel. But when she came out, she very calmly pointed to a small signboard hidden between the alley opposite the cinema, i.e. Line Clear. Turns out we were just steps away from the 'restaurant'!! *paiseh* It wasn't really a restaurant but an alley converted to accommodate a counter, sinks, stove (also got!!), cabinets, tables and chairs. And just our luck, as we were eating lunch, some tv crew came along and started videoing us!! If you happened to see the footage, we are the ones bowing our head eating our nasi kandar with spoons and forks while others use their hand!! 

Afterwards, we hopped on a free CAT (Central Area Transit) to First Avenue to browse and check out the place. We noted a lot of reflexology shop and don't know why we didn't go and try it out (because the next day when we went to Queen's bay, hubby suddenly wanted to go reflexology and there was only one and we had to wait 30 minutes in queue).   

This is our afternoon snack~! This isn't Penang specialty by the way but I wanted something small for us to nibble as we walk so this had to be the most convenient snack. 

But the potato balls were quite starchy and after having one, honestly do not feel like eating anymore even though it is only mildly sweet and still hot. 

Perhaps I was too busy looking for the next food stall to attack that I didn't notice the beauty of this island. During my first visit, I honestly did not harbor much love for this place. The street side hawker and the old buildings weren't my sort of things. 

But this time, I come to appreciate the rustic feel of the building and the humble quality of penang folks. Even this kind of trishaws are getting rare. 

So cute, right? 

Apparently, the tourism industry in Penang knows what they have can be one of their main attraction, look at how they incorporate their cultures and heritage into a tourist spot! :)

Eastern and Oriental Hotel 

I actually wanted to go for buffet dinner at Eastern and Oriental Hotel's Sarke cafe under the recommendation of a friend but then we were stuffed with potato balls. So, we walked off and waited till our friends finished work to bring us for more food~! wheee.... 

For dinner, we went to a food court/outlet at New lane very close to our hotel! They have so many stalls of good food, I think I could tear in happiness! The Char kueh tiaw may not be the best according to the tourist leaflet but I think it was good enough! The prawns were big, the taugeh were those short and fat kind ( I heard my sister say that it is call Ipoh taugeh and it is slightly juicier than the normal taugeh, that much is true!) and the clams were fresh!! Yummy! I honestly wish I could stomach in another order of this! 

Oyster Omelette or a.k.a OOOOOOOOOOO jien! (Long O because the oysters are so fresh!!) 

Chee Cheung fun! 

By the time we reach hotel, we were stuffed to the brim with food so imagine our surprise and delight at receiving complimentary fruits from the hotel! Omg, it is as if we are compensating for all the exercises and diets we go through before our wedding~! 

And this is just a day out of our three days there... 

Will blog about the rest soon~!