On this day we will be visiting Penang island's George Town. The last time I visited Penang island's George Town was 6 years back during a backpacking trip. Before this trip, I managed to dig up the map which was used the last time. Time really flies and this time round I am back there again.
My local colleague has kindly volunteered to bring us round for shopping and sightseeing. And here we go. Since the place I stay is pretty close to the Butterworth ferry terminal, we will be taking the ferry across instead of via the bridge. Here we are making a turn up a bridge and towards the ferry. Notice the towering cranes just next to the port.
We queued up for around 15mins before it is our turn to move up into the ferry. There is very good coordination between the different lanes.
Here is a ferry returning back from George Town. The ferry reminds me of the Star Ferry servicing Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour.
I find the sea separating Butterworth and Penang island to be very calm and quiet. The rays from the sun cast an illuminating blanket onto the peaceful sea.
After we have parked our car in the ferry, we moved updeck with to the passengers' floor. We observed the ferry slowly making its way across the narrow strait. Here I am posing with George Town in the horizon.
Penang bridge is here in the distant.
Once we reach Penang island, we are off onto the streets. We turned from there into Chulia Street. This street sounds very familiar and it is here where I stayed for a couple of days when I was in Penang. I noticed there are tram lines on the streets. In the past, trams used to be the mode of transportation. In the background we have a towering skyscraper known as the Komtar.
While waiting for the traffic light to turn, I came upon my favourite Malaysia stationary brand - CAMPAP. I know this company pretty well.
First thing first, we have to get Penang's specialty - Ghee Hiang biscuits. It is along Macalister Street and just at the junction with Chulia Street. The small pack of Tao Sha Pia cost RM$5.50 for a pack of 12. I bought 3 packs while my colleague bought a bag full of it.
Thereafter we proceeded off to Kek Lok Si (极乐寺). KL brought along a GPS so we can use it for navigation instead of tracing via map. We arrived at the monastery close to 6pm. In the distant we already notice the large compound and structure.
The path up to the main gates passes by many shops.
And also a lovely pavilion.
On the way up, there is this large rock with chinese words written on it. I guess it comes from a Buddhist sutra.
Here is the Great Hall with a magnificant Pagoda in the background.
From here, we can catch a great view of Penang hill.
While walking up the steps to the pagoda, we took a glimpse back and is presented with a picturesque and paranomic sight of Penang.
At another angle is a view of the monastery.
Written on one of the large gates are the words "Path to enlightenment".
A temple shrine area.
After the visit to the monastery and a bit of adventure downhill, we are back to urbanization at the upmarket living of Gurney Plaza. Notice the 'CapitalRetail' mark at the top.
The streets of Gurney Plaza has a very posh ambience to it.
Penang's evening sky is really stunning. Every evening, the sky gets lighted up in a plethora of colours before the darkness descends. The clouds come in the play too with varied styles decorating up the beautiful sky. While at Gurney Place on this day, the combination of sea and sky gives it a great montage.
This is a upmarket living place so condos line up the coast line.
Actually this area reminds me of Nice in France. Also a lovely seaside town.
Here I am~
The cloud in its full splendour.
Let's take a look at the seaside condos from a full angle view.
A round-about with a rotating display.
There is a large al fresco dining market just next to Gurney Plaza. We settle our dinner here.
Thereafter we drove through the financial district of George Town and past all the buildings since colonial times. The ferry back to Butterworth is free of charge from Penang. While on the ferry, I took a shot of the night view of Penang from the sea.
On the early morning of April Fools' Day, I am at Changi airport, observing the eastern rising sun. In front of me is the Singapore Airlines flight to Penang. In this economic crisis, I have to play my part to keep Singapore's carrier afloat, as such I have to board the plane and experience the great way to fly.
The flight time is only 1.5 hours and before I can tune in to the in-flight entertainment, I have arrived at Penang International Airport. It feels I have just alighted from a time machine, to an island like Singapore several decades ago. I was brought to my hotel after some work. The lobby design indeed looks remarkable. It is located on the 6th floor of a large shopping-mall like building.
Let's take a sneak peek into my room. Ok. There are no mineral bottles to be found.
Penang is a place notable for its variety of cuisines. During the first day I had their local Kway Teow (soup), which is pretty good. The next day we went for their Bak Kut Teh which is also nice. Their Kway Teow is somewhat different from Singapore's one in which they are Ipoh style (reference below). The dark drink next to it is their Ipoh White Coffee. The guys here prefer to have green chilli instead of red chilli padi. Since I am not here on their culinary tour, so I will only put a single photo here.
The hotel environs. There are many shops around the place. I only visit the convenient stalls, laundry shop, breadshop and the food shops in this area.
For breakfast, it is normally buffet-style in the hotel. They have al fresco dining which give a paranomic view of the surroundings.
My breakfast normally come in huge portions, like the one below.
Close to where I have my meals regularly is this fascinating doll shops. All the dolls are placed prominently at the shop's window pane, attracting passer-bys.
Here is the night market near my hotel. It takes 5mins to walk from one end to another and has lots of food stalls selling a great variety of food.
On the saturday evening, a friend keep mentioning Penang laksa to me until I decided to just go for it. Laksa in Penang is prepared using the Asam gravy instead of curry (commonly found in Singapore).
Another distinctive trait to the food in this area is they like green chillis and balachan. The green chillis are not really spicy as compared to Singapore's red chilli padis. But the balachan is just fabulous. The hot pot below has the fish head curry, chicken hot pot and some fried vegetables.
I'm also into their economy rice (经济饭). Their economy rice is basically self service. They will pass you a plate of rice and you just take whichever you want and the quantity you like. It is good. But there is a danger to it that you may have a tendency to overeat. It basically range from RM$3 to RM$5.
Just next to the Lor Mee photo below is a distinctive dessert call Qing Bu Liang (清蒲凉). It tastes like chinese tea with fruits in it. My colleague keep recommending me to try it and I finally gave it a shot.
During lunch time, we are also able to visit the hundreds of food choices in the area. In one of the afternoon lunch, we pass by this interesting shop selling buns.
11th April (Saturday)
There is a slight drizzle during on the saturday evening. The sky is stunning. So I just went to take a photo of the sunset sky. The tall building next to it is my hotel.
Notice the distinctive contrast of the bridge against the twilight sky.
12th April (Sunday)
The Pinang Megamall is a 10mins walk away from my hotel. This is where I hang out during the slow weekends. Coincidentally on this day, there seems to be some promotional event going on for a drama.
Here are the actor and actress for the drama.
18th April (Sunday)
In the Pinang Megamall, there is an Old Town cafeteria. The cafeteria serve a variety of food such as Nasi Lemak, Kway Teow, etc. During the first weekend, I had my lunch here. When Kent came over on this weekend again, we had our meals here.
Here I am chilling out on the Saturday afternoon...
24th April (Friday)
On this day, a few of my local colleagues decide to bring us to a place south of Butterworth call Tambun. It is a 15mins car ride away. There are many seafood restaurants in the area and this place is actually a fishing village next to a river.
The place where we dine is actually on a floating platform.
They ordered a lot of seafood variety. Though I only sampled a few here and there.
Here is our group photo. From left is Pan, Me and Pong.
Here is Bao and Kent.
While having a meal on the Saturday afternoon, I chance upon this interesting advertisement below. Penang's Chinese actually trace its ancestry to the Fujian province in China. Try to answer the questions below. The answer is provided below.
Answer: B, C, A
While walking back from lunch on the Sunday afternoon, Kent notice this car with a unique number plate. So we took a photo shot of it.
