Penang Trip 18th Dec 2008

On the 18th of Dec me myself, raj, viki and mein headed for a trip to Penang. It was suppose to be 6 of us, but vilves couldn’t make it last min because of work and novin couldn’t make it as well because of.. well I don’t know why. Anyway, the trip was something we were all greatly looking for and everything turned out well and we had a great great time.


Wednesday 17th
We started our trip on Wednesday itself. We all were suppose to meet up after work, and we had to meet a bit later as viki was doing a photo shoot for an Indian cultural nite at the TAR college in Setapak. We all met each other there at about 9pm and from there we had dinner, and headed straight to teluk intan in raj father's car. It was a Mahindra Scorpio and it was just nice for the 4 of us. There we stayed a nite at Raj's grandfathers house. We actually planned this so that we can save some hours traveling from KL, and of course we wanted to try Teluk Intan's breakfast. We reached Teluk Intan about 1.30 and by the time we settled down after chit chatting was about 3+. Woke up at 7, and we straight away headed for breakfast. We enjoyed the famous char koey teow, and wantan mee. and a good cup of Chinese kopi. From there we left about 9ish 10 straight to Penang.





Thursday 18th
Reached Penang’s ferry terminal about 1, and as we reached the island we went straight to Batu ferringhi where we were to stay. As we were on the way to ferringi from the jetty, we passed by this ancient cemetery that caught our eyes which was just by the road side. We parked at the side of it for a while, and viki to some shots there. Actually many people were walking at the cemetery. Perhaps they were checking if their grandparents were there :p hehe. So, after that welcoming site of the cemetery, we headed to our condo, the Eden Fairview Condominium. At the 10th floor the Condo was really nice and to our surprise was very very clean, and of course not forgetting the cekap view we had of the shores of Batu ferringhi and the nite market.

After settling down, we were all freaking hungry, and it was almost 3+. Our hunger dint encourage us to move far, so we went to the nearest nasi kandar "The khaleel", and to our disappointment, the food was just bad. I mean bad as in I could only take in 3 mouths, and that’s it. With a bad start on food, we decided to go for some good food later that nite at gurney. After that disappointing lunch, we went back to our condo for a short break and to freshen up.





At about 6, we left and went for some rounding around the town side, and when hunger called us, we went straight to Gurney drive and ordered oyster egg, ikan bakar, some fried items and more. After a good meal and some discussion on the pricy food of penang, we went for a walk along the pedestrian walk of Gurney. It was so lively and bright. Lots of people.. hmm.. I am missing that place now actually.. Well, as we were hanging out, me and mein were singing some songs... haha.. people who were walking pass us would think we are nuts.. ofcouse raj and viki were as usual busy with viki's cam. Soon after a while, viki's old house mate Lambotharan who is a penangite came to see us. Such a humble boy he was. He was just to appavi to hang out with us.. hmm :).. Anyway, after lambo came, he took us the Jetty as we wanted to go and look around. The jetty was so beautiful at nite. And it was only about 10pm then. After hanging out there, we went for a drive an checked out Little India and China Town.. most of the shops were closed actually. So after cruising around. We wanted to go for supper, and lambo took us to Yusof. As we were on the way to Yusof, lambo was telling us about penang, and to our surprise only then we realized, that none of the old building are allowed to be demolished, and if there is a new building to be built, they old/existing frontier of the building must remain and the new building can then be build from that. Only after that we realized most of the building were as such, and honestly the architecture was mesmerizing. Fantastic concepts and creativity was seen in each building.. After looking around, we were in Yusof, just thirsty and tired. At about 12+ we decided to go back, as we had a long day and wanted to have an early start the next day. And the best part was (it was only Thursday).. yuhooo 2 more days in Penang!!




Friday 19th.
After a good sleep, we left the condo at about 9 and headed straight to the famous nasi lemak daun pisang. Trust me i don’t know what the name of the road is, but mein guided us as she had been there before. It was like a food court, and they had piles of nasi lemak. After having that with a good cup of coffee, we headed straight to fort Cornwallis. Okay let me be straightforward, that place is just soo boring. There is nothing there! and to make things worst, they had canopies because of some event, and that kinda spoilt the mood of that place. But then we spent about 2 hours there. Hmm.. well, we were just taking shots after shots and that was the interesting part. We really had a good time, and yes thanks viki for teaching us lots of stuffs about photography. Viki was so kind enough to let us use his cam and test out and learn from it. We had lots of fun from there. After leaving fort Cornwallis with some unexpected remarks by viki on the guest book.. hehe, we were so thirsty that we started hunting for the best ice kacang and cendol. As we were clueless, viki got down and asked around, and we headed to Macalister road (i hope i typed it right :s). We had some good ice kacang and cendol there. (Oh ya forgot to mention.. the parking there was a freaking 50cent! I mean.. after all 50cent seem still usable in penang.. awesome). So after that we went to the Kek Lok Si Temple (Pagoda). Opps sorry, we headed straight to the Air Hitam Dam first actually, and that place was like one of the best places I’ve ever been. What a breath taking view it was. I just cant describe how it was. Even the pictures cant say much. Just feel thankful for being there at that moment. That will be a place always fresh in my mind. After taking some shots there, we went to the Kek Lok Si temple. Spent some time there. After that it was about 4 something and we were already hungry. Lambo called and told us there is this best stall nasi kandar in jelutong, but then they are only open from 6pm onwards. So, went to yusof first and had our nasi kandar there. After that we went to the Burmese temple and hanged out there. Before we could go to the Buddha temple at the opposite, it was already closed. So then we met lambo again and he took us to the famous stall. Hehe.. it was our second round of nasi kandar in less then 2 hours :s. But then we didn’t want to miss it. So after beating the Friday evening traffic jam, we were there right on time. To our amazement as we were queuing up to get our food, we were shocked with the queue after us. It was so long! and yes the nasi kandar was just so tasty... gosh I am feeling hungry now..

It was almost 8pm then, and we were all just tired and stinky. We went back to the condo for a quick shower, and by 10+ we were out again checking out ferringhi’s nite market which was just in front of us. We bought some stuffs there, but then the shops were unanimous. Every shop had the same thing. So, after that we felt like going for supper, so we went around looking for food and kept on driving until we ended up at the end of the world (as they call it) and there was nothing actually. The best part was as were driving around the breeze from the sea along the road was so nice and calm, By then It was almost 12, and we headed back to gurney for some nite supper, and to our disappointment again most of the stalls were closed! Hmm.. then i realized, you just cant beat KL for nite life and nite food. Well, with only about 4 to 5 stalls opened, we packed pasembur and rojak buah, and lambo took us to the beach nearby the Crown princess hotel. It was like a small pathway to the beach, and the view was so beautiful, we could see gurney and ferringhi at our left. We sat there and enjoyed the food and the breeze from the sea. The boys were having another drink.. shaishhh.. We were there till about 3am, and we had a great time chatting about lots of stuffs... After that we headed back to our condo so tired.. and the sad part was (it was Friday) and we have to go back the next day :(






Saturday 20th
After a good sleep, we woke up and left the condo straight at about 10. We went for some horrible cold roti canai for breakfast and headed to Tannermalai temple (Waterfall temple). We were suppose to meet Lambo there. Actually Lambo invited us for lunch at his home and we were so touched with his hospitality despite only knowing us for 2 days. After visiting the chettiar temple which they were just about to close, we went to the Tannermalai temple which was just near by. After that lambo took us around the moon gate, and we thought of seeing the Buddha temple. We then went to the Buddha temple, and bought some souvenirs there as well. After checking out the souvenir, we headed straight to lambo's house in Jelutong. It was a 22 story apartment and the view was amazing. From the kitchen u could see jelutong, from the balcony u could see Mother of Mercy standing high amongst the mountain (Pagoda), and from lambo's room you could see the penang bridge. What a location! that’s what you call a home with a view. There his mother served us fantastic home cooked food. It was motcha kotta kolumbe, thannisar, parepe kari, vanjerai meen sambal, netthili sambal, potato peratal, fried egg and appalam. After all the food we had in penang, nothing can beat that. We actually told lambo earlier, to not cook chicken and all, as it will be just a lot, and troublesome, but this home cooked food was just too good.. Thanks lamboo...


After having a full lunch and a great time with lambo's family and sister who was ever ready to give us some many poses (she was only 1 years old), we left penang with a heavy heart. It was 6pm then. Unfortunately it was raining as we were traveling back, so we were slow on the road. We reached KL about 12 and we had to drop viki at Taman connought. So we dropped by at the nearest Mcd and had our dinner, dropped viki and raj dropped me back home at cuepacs, and raj and his sister mein reached home about 2am. Luckily it was only Sunday morning, hence we had the whole Sunday to just sleep and sleeeeepppp..

Overall, it was an amazingly trip. We were excited and tired most of the time, and we were all glad the trip took place smoothly. Everything was good, we didn’t encounter any problem and mostly we had a great great time there. I still feel sad that vilves couldn’t make. I believe if she had come it would have been more fun. Its ok vil, next trip we will, sorry MUST go together k.

What a trip this was to end the year. Perfect. Cant wait to plan another trip :p