Sunday, December 04, 2005

Pulau Pinang

This post is sooo long overdue but i just couldn't bring my lazy butt to start about Penang. In short : Fun .
Ok...lets break it down shall we...

Day 1 (28th Nov two thousand five)
Met the gang in Penang Hill.They reached at bout 7 plus? Stoopid me had to go to sleep after yi jiang called to inform that they'd arrived, safe and sound I might add, that i didn't have time for breakfast and had to grab a char siew pau and packed milo for breakfast on the way there. The weather wasn't too friendly either and it threathened to pour, hard. Ok, it not only threathened, it fulfilled.Funny thing, I was the one who had a bed to sleep on the previous night and yet I was the one with eye bags. Super obvious ones, it seems.
And thank you so much for the “surprise guest”.


The weather gave way to our hopes and the sky opened up to our slow-moving tram. Up, up, up we went. Click, click, click went the cameras and down, down, down we came.



Off we trooped to Kek Lok Si where we dragged our tired feet up, took more pictures and said some prayers. Pretty sure some prayed for 4.0 s. Guilty as charged.


Had lunch and off to the apartment! I kind of liked the place, it's better than i expected and the walk to the beach is Not That far. I can't help being an optimist, sometimes.
The beach was not bad, and us, being the smarty pants (pun intended) wore jeans to the beach knowing fully well that the beach has, well, water. You can guess what happened next.
And then, BBQ !! Kudos to my unc and cuz who recommended the place to moi the day before. I had reservations about the place as I thought that doing it on the beach would be more fun'ner but on second thought, clean water, proper shelter and better security proved too hard to resist.
OMG, cupid was so active that night. Hats off to those who found courage to do what they did and I wish them all the best!
And thank you Mum n Dad for willingly(or not) for getting the food needed and always being there to support and help. And for orbiting. (inside joke)

Day 2 ( 29th Nov two thousand five)
Spent the day traipsing around Penang;
Botanical Gardens – Wished I could spend the whole day there jungle trekking in much more comfortable clothes. Walked a lot though, to see the *ahem waterfall.
Nattukkottai Chettiar temple – Walked some more; it was a Batu Caves-like temple. A total of 254 steps! ( yeah, we counted)
Original Kayu restaurant – Had lunch there, wasn't too hungry but wolfed down the food anyway.
Dunno-wats-the-name store and Him Heang – bought local products. I'm SO proud of myself. Showed the driver the way to Him Heang all by meself!Ok, maybe it's not a big achievement for some one who goes to Penang every year, but still! pats meself on me back
Thai and Burmese temple – threw coins and prayed some more. Seems that i pray a lot.
Gurney Plaza cum Drive – Had such fun in the arcade! Disregarding the fact that the bunch of us are going to be 20 next year, we are still at liberty to act like small kids. And I kicked @$$ in Daytona! The first race lar, the second got hit by dunno who at the last minute and overturned. Crap. Oh, well.


Walked to the Gurney stalls for dinner.
Tiredly, “Where is it?!”
Faking enthusiasm, “Very near only ! There! After the first round-a-bout, after the 2nd, further along the road, See that apartment? Beside it nia”
LW: Which side?”
Me: “Heh heh, the Other side.”
Everyone waited patiently for all the food to arrive, fidgeting and staring. After the pics were taken, the hungry tigers emerged.


Over to Batu Ferringhi for pasar malam. Bought DVDs, got a free necklace LOL and went back just in time before it rained. BUT, as it turned out, some of us got soaked anyways. Loooong story. Ask Li Wei for a replay of it. Or better still,Yi Jiang recorded the whole story telling session, in hilarious Hokkien.
Here's a snippet :

Shin Dhee accidentally droped a key worth 60 bucks in pasar malam– pouring rain- howling winds – Heros and “Heroine” - running in the rain – answering of phone in the rain – digging of key through longkang grills – smart suggestions of opening the grill Before digging – Hero sacrificing his hand – Utterings of pariah – finding of the golden, shiny key – Crazy commotion – more running – impressing one's lady love – of towels and colds - chunted -"SInging In the Rain, just singing in the raiN, oh what a glorious feeling!.."


Day 3 ( 30th Nov two thousand five)
Slept at 5 that night, or rather, that morning; woke up at 8, couldn't take it, plopped on the bed for extra blissful sleep and finally woke up at 10. We walked quite far in search of food and finally found a mamak stall to break fast. After filling out tummies, we dropped by at the beach for one final feel of the water. A few games of Beach Monkey and a few sessions of Dunkin'-People later, we finally went back to pack.
Left and touched down at bout 9 pm? Can't really remember.

I have nothing but praise for the driver. He was quite steady at driving and I'd recommend him to anyone. I mean, anyone who could take my father's incessant questioning and visits, not to mention personal inspection of the bus's condition and cleanliness and yet not feel exasperated is fine in my book! Poor fella, I think he must have like received more then 20 over calls from us. Such a small world, he was my brother's schoolmate. He recognized my bro instantly, it seems, but my blur bro couldn't place him in primary school ke or secondary. Quite young, 24 years of age i think and quite cute lor. Esther commented that maybe some girls are trying to flirt with him and another fella who came along. I think so too!


That's about it i guess...An abridged version, of course. But good enough! Haha..

A huge thanks to my Penang relatives for their help! Fernie, if you read this, relay my thanks to them k! Truly appreciate it.


Couldn't wait for another trip..So people, faster think of somewhere else to leave our footprints!

Enjoy your hols!!

2 comments:

Esther said...

it's wayyy overdued! lol.

eh, never what happened on the bus on the way back?! kekekke ~

amy-da-great said...

Ha Ha..!
Nothing happened la..