Penang Trip - Day 1

Last month, Minch, Matt, Mctc and I discussed on visiting the Penang Island. Matt was working there since August last year and he had tendered his resignation letter some time this year. He did extend an invitation to visit him while he was there but we never did go.

Matt's last day was Thursday, 28th of May 2009. We made plans to fly from LCCT-KL to Penang on the 29th of May. We took the first flight out to Penang because we wanted to make the most out of this trip.

Mctc and I went over to Minch's house at 5.15am and from there we took a cab to the LCCT-KL. It cost us RM70. Minch had already checked in for us earlier on so we don't have to be at the airport so early.

We boarded the plane at 6.30am and landed in the Penang International Airport at about 7.30am.

We got some brochures from the airport... just in case we got lost... :)

Matt came to pick us up and took us to our first stop - the famous Chay Kuey Teow located at the corner of Jalan MacAlister and Jalan Perak. He didn''t know where the shop was and we had to rely on the maps we took from the airport.

After a few rounds, we finally located the shop.

Minch ordered yam cake. It was not one of my favourites but since we were on an eating spree, I decided to take a piece of it. The serving was small and it cost a bomb. RM3. Minch "sign- languaged" with a chopstick against her throat (cut-throat).

Our chay kuey teow came.. at RM4 for a small plate, it was very expensive. The serving was even less than what we would have in Seremban. I think Seremban's CKT (Chay Kuey Teow) taste much better. (Probably got more msg in there too, hehe).

Our first tourist stop was the Penang Hill. (read more about it in my previous post).

After that, we went to Gurney Drive to look for food. We weren't hungry but since it was lunch time, we thought we could have something light before going to our next destination.
When we reached Gurney Drive, we saw that the setting was more for foreigners. Feeling a little lazy, we decided to go to a nearby shopping mall for Kim Gary (a Hong Kong Style restaurant).

We went to the Kim Gary's at the Gurney Plaza to have a rather heavy lunch.

This was supposed to be our next destination, located at Batu Ferringhi but we didn't enter because it cost us RM14 per person(pretty expensive just to see herbs and plants).

I wanted to see the Titi Kerawang waterfall, and so Matt drove further towards Balik Pulau. We passed by the Teluk Bahang Dam.

On our map, it was stated that in order to reach the waterfall, we had to pass the Tropical Food Farm. Minch thought it would be interesting to pay this farm a visit. Yes, we did go in, but only at the entrance. A tour round the farm cost RM25 per person inclusive of some fruit and a glass of fruit juice. We didn't take the tour but we paid for our fruit juices.

We didn't get to the waterfall because Matt took the wrong turn and didn't want to u-turned back. :(

We went back to the city to buy the famous Him Hiang Tau Sah Piah (green bean biscuit) located at Jalan Burma.

It was about 5.30pm when Mctc and I decided to check into Tune Hotel. The whole day we were looking out for a reasonable-priced hotel, and yes, we did found some, but it was not near the city. Tune Hotel is a budget hotel which is cheap only if you book 3-4 months ahead. Since we were late, we had to pay about RM85 for a basic room with 12 hours of aircond. More of Tune Hotel in another post.

While we were gallivanting at Batu Ferringi area that afternoon, Minch called her old internet friend and asked if he would like to join us for dinner that night.

They agreed to meet at Queensbay Mall in a Chinese restaurant called Dragon-I. Earlier on, the four of us had decided to go for the famous Penang Nasi Kandar, but Minch friend had already booked a table here at the Dragon-I.

The setting was really. uh.. Chinese, with statues "looking" at us as we had our meal.

We had their famous "xiao loong bao" (dumplings) and I think it's called "la mien" (noodles). The dumplings were very nice, but the noodles weren't that good. Our meal came up to RM140 for 5 of us.

After dinner, we were too full to try the Nasi Kandar. :(. I called Vive, a friend I knew for more than 15 years, to meet up with him. He was studying in Seremban at that time.

We met at a Nasi Kandar restaurant and I had my teh tarik. Too full to eat anything else. Vive brought his wife and 2 other friends. He suggested durians for supper... but not only we were too full to try out the durians here, Minch brains were "shutting down", plus her friend had to drive back to mainland.

Must make a mental note to visit Penang again next May just for the durians.