Penang -Eat Pray Love Day 3 & 4

Day 3

We went to a tour agency near the hotel as per planned, waiting for the Burmese who was supposed to help us to book the one day trip, we told him up front we did not book in advance (Porky was a bit unwell)and can we still go with the tour group. The illiterate guy may be just really poor in English , he made us waited for almost half an hour to realise that we did not book and wanted to join on the same day , then he only said no way to join on the same day. We stomped off angrily, the guy could have told us earlier. However, Penang is kind to us, we took a bus from Komtar , reached Ke Lok Shi in 45 minutes. Here goes our Prayer part of the trip.


Ke Lok Shi on mountain.
Beautiful decoration on ceiling.

We ate one of the best Penang Laksa down the hill of Ke Lok Shi.

Back to Georgetown, we took another bus from Komtar to Thai and Burmese Temple along off Jalan Burma, Jalan Pulau Tikus, easily access. They are enemies for generations, it s funny that their temples just opposite each other.

Thai temple.

Thai Rojak stall hawker.

Cross the road we reached Burmese Temple.

Guess who is this poor guy carrying all the bags? Perhaps he is praying for a chance to escape the clutches of evil lover. He he he...

Art piece in Burmese Temple.

Return to Jalan Penang , we wanted to visit Khoo Kongsi but it was too late , so we followed the advice of a kind Penang Chinese auntie who speaks English, to visit Baba Nyonya Museum.

Passing by a barber shop that looks really 60's.

A sculpture on Teochew Clan roof top.

Here we go , Baba Nyonya Museum. I took many shots here as it is full of antiques and gold, the Baba and Nyonya were really rich in the past. I would not post all the pictures here as i think it is too many, definitely worth the entrance fee.

We left the museum, time for a good feast, we accidentally bumped into a Hainanese Restaurant , Xin Qiong Ann, which serve good pork chop and chee char and located at Lorong Chulia . It is good and cheap , except the old waiter only speak Hokkien , which i cannot handle.

Blue Mansion at night, a World Heritage site convert to a hotel.

Thats the end of Pray.

Day 4

We have only a few hours in the noon , our flight is at 6 pm. So we can only stroll at nearby area of our hotel.

We decide to see if we can have high tea at Eastern and Oriental Hotel , but unfortunately it s operating hours starts at 2 pm , we could not make it for the airport.

We returned to Xin Qiong Ann for a hearty Chinese meal.

All i can say is Penang is beautiful. It is difficult not to fall in love , with the people , place and the pace of this little town. We will definitely come back to this Island of Love, the only one in Malaysia.

Darby

Penang - Eat Pray Love Day 1 & 2

Finally Porky and i are back. We have spent about 4 days at Penang Island,a lovely place.Both of us have visited the island many years back during a very short trip. This time, it did not disappoint us.

Day 1 Arrival
We were stuck in the Changi airport for 4 hours due to technical problems of the aircraft, luckily it is not A380 ( hehe.. ). We were asked to transfer to a different aircraft after waiting like ages in the check in area. Reached Penang at about 4 pm and fortunately transportation to Hotel in Georgetown was smooth and cheap. Among Malaysia cities, Penang could have the most economical and easily access airport transfer service, Rapid Penang public bus. Less than 3 RM per person and in about 45 minutes, we reached Weld Quay near Georgetown where we took a free shuttle for tourist to our Hotel, it is very convenient. Malaysia public service sector is infamous for bureaucratic and horribly lack of efficiency, but Penang is a good surprise. The counter service is ok not too rude to deal with , the bus is clean and well maintained. We reached Bayview Georgetown Hotel smoothly and ate something before our much needed rest. We both rushed for work the day before the trip, it is good that we booked an afternoon flight so that we can have more rest and less stressful.

Day 2 Eat like a pig

Wake up to the nice sea view in the morning, we can see the Penang Straits from our room. Bayview Georgetown Hotel is just next to Eastern and Oriental Hotel ( Elder sister of Singapore Raffles Hotel , by the same Armenian designer.). Overall, we are pleased with the room and hotel service.

Very 60s buildings can be found everywhere in Georgetown. Nostalgic.



Porky fav Lo Bak from Hai Onn Kopitiam along Jalan Burma. The Lo Bak uncle really photogenic for Wong Kar Wai s film. Also in the picture you can see their famous Kuay Teow Soup, heavenly good too.


Nice coffee from Hai Onn Kopitiam , Penang.


Lunch Bak Ku teh at Komtar , 7 RM per bowl, Left is without wine right hand side is with Wine. Of course i took the one with wine, Porky cannot drink.

We had our massage and haircut, plus a movie in Komtar. Everything is less costly here in Penang.


A Teochew Cendol for dessert, note the size of the coin and you can tell how big is the portion.


Red Garden Hawker for dinner, we had Laksa and Lor Mee.

We reached hotel with a full stomach, and god knows how much we love the Hokkien/ Teochew foods here, let alone the cheaper price for meal, friendly Penang locals. In his dream, Porky smiled contentedly like a baby, he lives for good local Chinese foods and now he can have them all as much as his stomach can take it.

Darby

東主有喜喜, 休息8天

Ok, Porky and i are not getting married. We are going away for a few days short vacation to Penang Island for a short break coming Wednesday, finally after a long and tedious Y2010. We chose a nearer and more familiar place so that we can have less problem doing our free and easy ourselves, plus all the natural disaster in Taiwan , Bangkok , New Zealand, there is really not many favorite places we can chose from. And due to the big investment on our house , we are pretty much dried up in our pocket, we will not have the luxury to go Europe/ Japan this few years.

We just want to enjoy this short trip and time spend together,hopefully come back with recharged body and look. No fighting between fat cat and piggy .. haha...

Darby

The morning benders- Excuses

Yesterday while watching tv with Porky, Sony s 3D tv ad was playing and the background music just caught my attention. After The Submarine s Submarine Symphonika (from Ipod tv ad), i just like pop songs with Symphony ( violins particularly ). I searched from Youtube for the song and god i am glad i did, the male lead singer Chris Chu (should be a chinese) from the band "The morning benders" teamed up with the Echo Symphony just matched perfectly. You can see a shy / humble guy with amazing voice singing live, the male lead is terrific. They sound really Beatles in "Damn It Anna " and "Waiting for a war". With many others songs and mtvs , i just found this group is about music and music, no packaging but only real talents.I am glad there is a band like this in english pop scene nowadays.
Darby

My 36th Birthday

Porky and i had a great day yesterday(Saturday) celebrating for my belated 36th birthday on chinese calendar (supposed to be Thursday). He smsed me before that and said he will be a male slave for me for a day, he planned it thoughtfully as below :

9.30am : Me the lazy fat cat woke up at this hour, after a few long and stressful weeks of hard work , i really need a good long sleep to recover.

10am : Finished breakfast and watching some stupid tv programmes

11am : Doing some house chores

1230am : Left for lunch at Bugis Illuma rooftop, we went to the restaurant namely Chef Daniels Kitchen , it has received good reviews by critics and public, well known for it exquisite western cuisines with mass market pricing. Porky ordered a set Grilled Chicken lunch and me Sirloin Steak. The set lunch comes with soup of the day + breads, main course , dessert, for just 10.50 SGD per person. The ambience is great and classy, meals and desserts are good, i would definitely come back again. I opened the wrappings for my birthday present from Porky , it is a bottle of SKII essence, we are vain, isnt it.

2pm : We lazed a bit after lunch and headed to ION Orchard to do some banking.

3.30pm : Went to Somerset NTUC fairprice Fine for groceries shopping for the dinner. Porky vowed to clear his name of being a big mouth piggy with lots of talk and no action, aka NATO ( No Action Talk Only). He is gonna cook me Mee Suan ( rice vermicelli ) for birthday as a custom for us Chinese.

5pm : We hopped on to a bus from Somerset and going back to our home, a comfortable ride with cosy seats ,I always prefer bus than MRT. When we are home, Porky started to do his cooking.

630 pm: Dinner served by Chef Porky personally, a Chicken Soup Mee Suan with drumstick and eggs / Vege for the birthday boy, me. It was unexpectedly good. Porky has another signature dish again besides his pasta. I truly enjoyed the meal, a sweet, loving, heart warming meal.

8pm: Washed all the dishes , and we are eating again , yogurt with plums prepared by Piggy.

1030 pm : Time to sleep. A contented me hugging porky pig.

Darby.

My first major assignment

After working for 4 months , i got my first major assignment to up rev the company quality system , make or break. I will have to go if i fail , i knew, cause i do not really fit in to the sme working culture after so many months. I am being assigned many funny jobscopes that ppl/ i would not take up as an undergrad. That is SME.
The result will be out by October. I hope to apply PR before i decide my next move.

I believe i can find the next job, as 3 companies have approached me for working as a customer quality again, which i rejected cause i do not want to waste my effort in this company and i am not going to quit if i have not tried.

I think i may need some help. Shld i approach my ex manager from Singapore who is an expert in Quality System cause it is a new job scope for me.Thanks for piggy support all along, i cannot endure this much without him.

Darby

Single and Lonely

Porky and i went to Balestier Rd to buy some sanitory accessories yesterday. We had Ba Kut Teh at one of the stalls before the purchase, and we bought eight pieces of 603 Tau Sar Pia for our snacks later at home.

Porky then asked me. Isnt it very lonely if you are PLU and single at 40 years old? I told him , if you are single at 40 y/o , it is gonna be same kind of feeling whether you are PLU or not. i have ever thot abt this question when i was in my late 20s, that regardless of your sexual orientation , a spouse is not a guaranteed gift from God. Anyone can be single and lonely at 40 yo, no close friends, no family , no lover, everyone else in your life could be busy with their family / kids / boy or girl friends. You could go home to an empty house after work , i experienced that for the last 4 yrs when i was working in China, it is a horrible feeling.

But as a person, he/she must love him/herself enough first , so that he/she is able to love others, love yourself means knowing how to get along with yourself when alone, it's only when you are able to get along with yourself then only are you able to get along with others. A desperate middle age guy who acts like a freak will drive away everyone else around him, and there is definitely no sexiness or maturity in such a person that will make others find him attractive.

Darby