My trip to Penang - 1

Aug 14 2009 - The day I went to Penang with 2 of my colleagues A and E, together with 41 students and teachers of one school in KL.

We departed around 1030 after all the briefing with the students. The journey to Penang was quite smooth with no heavy traffic.

Our first stop was Tapah. We had our lunch there. It was not appetizing due to many flies there lingering around the food. I had my nasi lemak but I didn't eat much because it was very spicy to my liking.. So, with a still half fulled stomach, we continued our journey to Penang. Our next stop is Gunung Semanggol a.k.a. Bukit Merah.

What did I do here??? Oh, yes... I think I had 100 plus and egg sandwich which was quite spicy... too much of pepper. Anyway, A had mangoes which was quite sour against my taste.

Without wasting much time, we continue our journey to Penang. Aproximately, around 3 pm, we had the first glance of Penang bridge. Since it was not a clear day and a bit hazy, the bridge looked unattractive to me. I wasn't excited to see the bridge at all. Anyway, the bridge reminded me of the one in Hong Kong which connects one island to another. To cross the Penang bridge, we have to pay Rm 12.30 to the toll collector.

Once in the Penang island, we continue our journey to Bukit Feringghi, passing Habour Centre, Georgetown, the pier, the 'padang kota lama', Gurney Drive, Wawasan Open University and the Snake Temple. We stopped for a while at the temples (one burmanese and the other siamese) in Jalan Burmah. I had my first taste of Penang's rojak buah. Again it was spicy for me.

Once finished visiting the temples, we continued our last leg of the journey - Batu Feringghi.
Finally around 5.oo pm we reached our place to stay - Bayu Emas Apartment. E and I shared a room, another room was reserved for the teachers and the last room for the driver and A. A, however prefered to sleep in the hall as it is vast and did not have to share with anybody. By the way, our apartment is at the 6th floor overlooking the ocean. Definitely easy to spot a tsunami if there is any hehehehe......................

Around 730, we made our way to the night market in Batu Feringghi to have our dinner. It was a 10 - 15 minutes walk, passing by Bayview Hotel, Hard Rock Hotel and a mosque. For me, it was a long journey for I am not used to walking so far. At Batu Feringghi, we had our dinner at the beach. The site is secluded but it is known to the locals and it is quite cheap compared to the restaurants at the road site.

The teachers ordered tomyam, mixed vegies and claypot tauhu. Remembering our tight budget, we only ordered mixed vegies and fried rice huhuhu. Again, I ordered 100+, the second one in a day. Once fulled, we started our journey of walking and browsing the night market.
There were many stalls. Most of them sell bags and wallets. There were only 2 selling DVDS. I bought Ghost Whisperer season 4 for only RM 24 for 6 CDs. I wish I had more money to buy Bones and Ghost Whisperer season 3.

The night market is full of westerners and arabs. I am not fond of arabs because those whom I met are rude and they used a lot of perfumes. Anyway, after buying the cds, A and I, spent time in a coffee shop observing people walking to and fro.

At 11.oo we walked backed to our apartment. After taking my bath, i logged into the internet and found out my friend from Langkawi was in Penang and he was staying nearby. I tendered to my farm in facebook and chatted with a few friends before I called in for the night around 3 am. By that time, E was snoring away..... hahahaha