back from penang part 3

Day 3
the last day of our stay in Penang le... after this, will be reporting to work in GSK and yan back to work too...sigh...sianz.... but it's a good thing we chose to go back on a sat so tat we still haf a sunday to rest and buffer... bus rite home at 10pm.

hmm....oh yah we went Batu Ferringhi, highlight of the day. it is one of the popular place to visit especially by the westerners... it's nothin much realli...mayb coz im not much of a beach person.. the beach is quite a popular place for it watersports...like jet-skiing, parasailing, banana boats...there's even horse-riding available! but we juz settled for a slow walk by the sea...with feet dipped inside the unexpectantly cooling water...hehee... at 1st we expected the beach to be populated by angmohs.... but there're more malays there! so happen that there's this family event i think... hmm....how i wish i can juz spend money without so much restraint...sigh....i haven tried parasail b4!!

actually b4 we even stepped into the sandy beach, we went for lunch 1st...weird eh? since we juz had breakfast (lor mee and roti canai with super sweet teh and coffee) like an hour ago...haha...think we realli over-eating le...actully was already feeling slightly uncomfortable in the stomach since the previous nite le....it's worse for yan.. even need to take medicine... anyway....lunch was lorbah ("lor" as in those black black mucus-like gravy, and "bah" as in meat).. it's actually like ngorhiang of singapore, but the ngorhiang has chunkier meat pieces and also using "lor" as dip... tat wasn't enough for yan' insatiable taste buds (oops!! hehe..).. we ordered another serving of bah kuteh... it's nice! not excellent...but it's good....
on our way back to Georgetown, the bus passed by this "toy museum"..and i saw a human-size Ninje Turtle! haha... soneday when i go penang again night wanna drop-by and take a look..? but i haf my doubts with malaysian's tourist attractions... (oops again!!)

on our way back... we stopped for a short break by the famous penang chendul and penang laksa! but we cant sit inside the laksa shop... uncle says we need to pay table charges if we bring the chendul in..*shrugz* but like the girl who did my haircut in Komtar said "sit by the stall and eat also got its own taste mah.." and the penang laksa is waaaaay better than the one we had near Kek Lok Si.....

we were actually held in a situation there...coz the check out time was 6pm (halfday's charge) and the bus will leave at 10pm... so in that 4 hours r we going to juz walk ard with our luggages? not very safe i think... so, we asked again lor! guesthouse uncle suggested us to go find the georgetown branch of the bus company coz usually they provide shuttle to NiBong terminal where we would board our bus.. and we decided that we can leave our luggages with them while we go for dinner....smart eh...?

last stop: Newland Food Centre. this place is famous for it's roadside stalls, with lotsa variety as usual... char kuay teow... chendul... beef noodle.. satay...aiyah u get it... actually we've been here last nite, without knowing that this is the infamous Newland Food Centre... anyway today we came for chee cheong fun and char kuay teow... both were good.... but we din stop there...haha!! had the local version of popiah and kuay teow soup... kaoz...now come to think of it...our stomach r bottomless.... OMG...
and u think it's the end....? u r wrong....we got ourselves a colonel hotdog from A&W! haha....who can resist that....and the curly fries..and the root beer.... awww..... we got to meet this old indonesian couple who's going to be on the same bus back to Singapore with us... we acutally met them on this van (holding 9 ppl including driver and all luggages). they were actually going back to indonesia via plane ride from singapore....strange thou that they din fly direct...much more convenient.. they were worrying coz they "bought" their bus tickets from the hotel room, so it's not the actualy ticket...they still need to go to the counter to get confirm them and get the seat & berth no... anyway it was all settled..

the bus was a good one... Gunung Raya...surprisingly we got it for only RM$50... it can bring us back in Singapore but we chose to stop at larkin instead...it's much more convenient for us, plus we can haf breakfast there.. the wanton mee there is gd. I've nv ever in my life sleep thru a long-distance bus journey in malaysia b4....this is 1st...the ride was so smooth and quiet....*shhh*

urgh i had hard time typing this thing...watching tv and bro/mum/aunt talking in the background in chinese.... hard time trying to switch language mode up there... anyway...it's done =)

back from penang, part 2

Day 2
forced oursleves to wake up at 8....urgh and i told myself i can at last rest and slp till late late after all the early mornings during exams... but yea, we were greeted by the nice morning sun, the morning rustlings, the morning market.... hey!! morning market! when was the last time i've seen a morning market along the streets! cool! ppl peddling by the roadside.. uncles on their tricycles selling soy bean milk, some indian uncle selling roti canai.. got one even surrounding by uncles and aunties sitting at the stall eating porridge...hehe...how cool is that??

the buzzling morning market!

like those japanese ramen stalls hor? ppl juz eat there while the auntie prepares..(porridge?)

we shall not lose our focus.. Hong Kong style Dimsum! do u know that Penang is largely populated by hokkiens? (and did u know that penang is actually an island?? yea i did mention the 14 km bridge...) and they sells hk dimsum in hokkien lehz...hehe.. RM$21 for breakfast... the chinese tea wasn't that good thou....melaka still better...

this is juz our 1st order....

next! rush back hotel to shit....morning shit....

managed to find out how to go to this big big chinese temple, "Kek Lok Si" chinese called "Ji Le Si", literally means "Temple of Happines"(?) the impression of the place was that it's very much being exploited... a lot of beggers and "pasar malam" along the road up to the temple.... why din the temple do anything abt the beggers...? like...taking them in? giving them some errands to run...make themselves useful? anyway i bought this pearly pearly bracelet for my grandma...yan chosed it...it's supposed to bring health and all the things nice lah... ya she's better in such things....to buy old folks' favour....hehe... anyway my grandma absolutely loves it! (she wanted to hit my aunt when she teasingly wanted to removed it from her wrist) and i bought these golden tags/pendents for my family too... bohpi bohpi....

see the GuanYin statue there? it's big!!

lunch we had penang laksa and prawn mee.... wasn't that excellent... mayb its not the rite place to eat these things la...and wasn't very cheap neither... afterall it's a tourist attraction... lots of touting too... dun like...

next on the itinerary Penang Hill Railway tram..... we gave that up.....tired from so much walking le.... Penang ppl walk damn much! everywhere thewy say walkable de.....they say near, 5 min...but it's like damn 30 min and our destination's still not in sight... dun ever trust their judgement in time/dist next time u go ok....NEXT!

Gurney Drive is well-known for it's variety of good food and with pricely tags too....we've heard that they do tend to over-charge their customers, esp at nite... so we were very cautious.. asking for price b4 we actually order... wad was nice there...? hmm....nth much...we weren't in very appetising node lehz...and the food there....was juz ok lah....we had prawn mee (again coz i thought it's the one like we had in SG), chendul again and fried chicken skin with sotong....hehe...sinful stuffs...
oh yah... on our way to Gurney, we overslept and missed our stop! we din even realised it until yan decided to ask this little boy (i call him mr. chicken little coz he's like a slightly big-headed pri sch kid wearing glasses....u get the idea) when yan asked if we can juz drop from where we were then and cross the road to take bus back, he looked stunned..."no need la....u can juz walk!" =\

we spent the evening shoping in Gurney Plaza, oh this reminds me...we went to this 2-storey pet shophouse! the puppies that were cute! there's one....dunno wad breed....TzeTsu? very energetic running and hopping ard playing with me! ahah..... dogs love me.... got chased a few times i went cycling in fact... anyway.... bought a pair of leather shoes...RM$152... supposed to be quite cheap la...but im a poor student.... =(

we finally dragged our way back to the hotel.... tired from all the walking in the day.... planned to bathe and rest for a while b4 going down for some fruit juice by the side of the road....but we overslept... till morning came....

end of day 2

back from penang!

was indeed devastated by my very last paper...essentially half of it was crapped thru! brooded over it for some time... even had McDonald's with the sbs girls in attempt to cheer myself up with fast food...well...it juz got worse...with all 5 of us hanging onto the possibility of failing that subj... but eventually i got over it, especially after i boarded my nite bus to Penang that very nite!!

it was a torturous 10 hr bus ride man.. wanted to get some sleep after much lack of sleep over the 1 mth of exams... did finally fell aslp but was woken up by the bloody music blasting from the stop-over food centre... eventually did manage to get abt 4 hours of slp b4 we reach Butterworth.. another 14km over the famous Penang Bridge, and we're there..

Day 1
it was the wrong terminal!! NOT the one we expected to find ourselves to be at! apparently they've moved most of the long-distance buses to this newer bus terminal... there's a chinese saying "lu4 zai4 jui3 bian1" literally means that the road is juz beside ur mouth.... juz ask lor! hehe....we managed to find out how to get to Komtar with juz RM$1 per person! forget abt RM$20 for cab lah...

next, our 1st choice of accomodation: Swiss Hotel..... SUX!! forgot why leh...but it juz suck! think it look quite torn down ah...or sth like tat...

next down (across) the road, "E&A Hotel"
"Eh...does this look like a chicken house...?" yan asked
yes inded it looked like one.... with slim slim aunties walking ard...and old old ah bei sitting by and topless guys walking ard and no one attending to us.... NeXt!!

"Olivia" (i think...) hmm....the nice angmo atmosphere... bread aroma in the air.... but it's all full...too bad... tough luck!
"oh, u can try the one that's 4 shophouses down this side of the road", the nice auntie of Olivia told us...

and yes, a nice clean guesthouse with a tint of backpackers' attitude... having a common batheroom and lavatory... best of all....it's darn clean! "Crystal Hotel's" the name... the bedsheet smells new too! apparently they've juz opened not too long ago....juz a few months in fact...and we managed to find out from the managment uncle quite a few places to eat all the local foodfares and of course the all-famous penang laksa and chendul (yes it's called chendul there)!! lunch was settled at this chicken rice stall near 7-eleven, the soup there is simply the best.. i won't say it's the best chicken rice i've had (Meleka still wins), but it's good enough, above average.

the rest of the day was juz walking ard, getting familiar with the area and shopping... ooh i got myself 2 polo tee for RM66 and a haircut for RM$15... then wad else did we do next...? i forgot... ok fast fwd... know wad...? the buzzling nite foodstreet is juz outside our guesthouse! had curry noodles and wanton mee... the curry noodle nice lehz...at 1st i tot nth much of it...juz curry mee wad... but when it was served....fwaaah... got cockles and sambal shrimp paste de lehz... and somehow, it's juz nice.... the wanton mee also...the wanton very tender and fresh...... mee very "Q"! got the smell of sesame de.... ok tat's supper! eh? wad abt dinner...? wad did we haf huh.....? urgh! i can't remember!

roadside stall juz outside our guesthouse

we had these for supper!

end of Day 1.

it sux to be poor...

being a student is the poorest time in my life.... i've nv felt to pathetic before...
so restricted by my purse strings... so many things i want to get... but cant.... though they're realli not NEEDS... and im not those who spend on impulse.... i've given my serious thoughts into things i buy.... but still... mayb i shall stop habouring desires like these and juz accept the fact that im a poor student...

perhaps i've grumbled on this b4....cant realli remember but i think i've said b4... that u can say tt i can choose to work parttime if i wan...but i chose not to... haf some reasons/excuses.... not enough time... blah blah... mayb u can juz say tat i need to arrange my time properly.... sometimes it's realli not up to me to choose to say i want to focus or what...

how i wish FYP ppl can pay me...