It was a really spontaneous trip, and it all started on the day we finished our finals. All the stress dissipated and what was left were crazy ideas. Yep, still remember the moment when we were in the library and were just throwing in fun and exciting activities to do during our break (while all around us were students still studying for their papers) and one of them was to go on a trip! We chose Penang coz we are random like that. And because my high school friends and I did talk about going to Penang as well, I thought maybe we could arrange for the trip to be continuous so that I wouldn't have to go back and forth. And surprisingly most of them could make it!
Spontaneity works. All the time.
We managed to get cheap air tickets from Malindo - only RM45 one way - when we only booked one week earlier. Then it was serious discussion with my uni mates about the itinerary and stuff, researching places to go, where to eat, bus routes etc.
This is a hipster shot by Joelle. We are such hipster-wannabes.
I have been to Penang many, many times but never went around like a real tourist before. This trip consisted of bus rides, walking, taxi rides, and more walking. I have never ever walked so much at one go before in my entire life (I'm talking about walking for an average of 7 hours per day...probably), and I bet my friends too....so we certainly deserve a standing ovation for unlocking this enormous achievement.
We took the earliest flight from Subang on Tuesday and arrived around 8am at Penang International Airport. From there, we took a bus to George Town (the city centre) and walked to the famous Nasi Kandar Line Clear on Penang Road. It was only a 5-10 minutes' walk from Komtar.
After the satisfying (and heavy) breakfast, we walked to Armenian Street. Actually, all places of interest are very nearby each other. Most of them are only a mere 10-15 minutes' walk away, some lesser than that but some more. If you don't mind walking, you can spend one whole day in George Town without taking any form of transport. Believe me, you only get the best experience when you explore a place on foot :)
I absolutely adore the traditional and quaint facade of shophouses like these. They are basically everywhere in Penang.
Esfern and her initials! Haha. Not sure what's that coz we actually saw this sign a few times at various places.
At the famous "Children on Bicycle" mural, painted by Lithuanian street artist Ernest Zacharevic, on Armenian Street.
My adorable dumps HAHAHAHA.
If you want to take pictures of the many steel rod sculptures around George Town, do go early in the morning or in the late evening when there is no sunlight, otherwise they will look like....this.
I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this...
...when it is supposed to look like this (taken early last year!).
Not sure if the mural was gone because the paint came off or because of vandalism. How sad.
"Boy on a Bike" mural on Ah Quee Street.
This is at Lorong Soo Hong, a small lane connecting Armenian Street and Ah Quee Street. From the "Children on Bicycle" mural, walk further up until you come to a T-junction (you should see a stall selling 70's ice balls), then turn to your right and walk straight ahead. Marge Simpson was painted over the minions, which was the original artwork, by Ernest after the paint came off.
70's ice balls! Was finally lucky enough to try it, because the stall is always closed every single time I pass by. I'm not sure if it opens every day, but I know that it only starts to operate at 12 noon. We had sarsi- and rose-flavoured balls, and each ball comes with two pieces of sour plum hidden inside. It is indeed refreshing at first, but after a while I got quite sick of the taste until I felt like vomiting ahaha. Basically it tasted like syrup water - nothing special about it. I guess it's the novelty of eating a dessert which was widely available in the 1970s but is almost extinct now, that keeps people coming.
Got a cute postcard for my lovely ex-tutor!
Nice shot by Esfern :P
Quite funny how we were rushing to take this picture coz we were standing in the middle of the road!
T-shirts hanging in front of Khoo Kongsi. Love the vibrant colours.
Next to the mural is Busy Bodhi, a really cute outdoor café that sells pretty postcards! If you want to get postcards of Ernest's murals for friends or family, I really do recommend that you get them here :D
We went in to take some photos because who can resist these colourful hanging umbrellas?!
A machine for you to crush empty cans.
My favourite childhood biscuits!
Having fun along Acheh Street! HAHAHA.
This basketball mural is located on Chulia Street Ghaut (the road connecting Chulia Street and Weld Quay).
Just opposite the basketball mural, you can find this adorable swing mural! FYI, Step By Step Lane is not the real name of this lane :P
Pub (who would've thought) with such a classy name.
At Chew Jetty (located along Weld Quay)!
We chilled at the jetty for a while, enjoying the cool breeze after a long and tiring morning walk.
Prawn mee for lunch!
Kapitan Keling Mosque, which was built in the 19th century by Indian-Muslims traders. It is located at Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling.
Then we took the bus to Komtar, headed to 1st Avenue Mall to buy some beers (hehe), bought dinner at some restaurant, and went home by bus! But not before walking uphill for a good 15-20 minutes...I have never felt so thankful for a shower because my whole body was sticky with sweat (I can literally feel the stickiness on my skin), resulted mostly from the walk uphill.
Queen of selfies.
Funny thing happened when we wanted to drink the beer and realised that we hadn't bought any beer/can opener (there wasn't any in the house)....so Joelle decided to Google it, but we found that none of the ways are useful either because we lack the resources or they're just plain ridiculous.
Me pretending to open the bottle with another bottle LOL.
Then Esfern and Joelle tried to open it with a curtain clip thingy....and they succeeded!!! After 20 minutes of struggling, WHO KNEW. Hahahaha what an amusing experience :')
Random shot of an insect.
The morning view the next day :'D
Walking towards the bus stop.
We had the best kuey teow soup in the world (no joke!) for breakfast. You can find this at Pulau Tikus market ;)
After that, we took the bus to Penang Road. Woots, finally got the front seat!
From there, we walked to Leith Street to visit the award-winning Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion.
The mansion opens at 11am but we arrived there half an hour earlier, so we went opposite to admire some old abandoned buildings.
The gates opened a few minutes before 11am, to let visitors wander around the grounds and take photos before the tour starts I guess. The first tour starts at 11am and the next at 3pm. It is conducted daily so don't worry if you missed one.
From the outside, it's quite hard to imagine that this mansion houses 38 rooms and 5 courtyards, including 7 staircases and 220 windows. Also known as The Blue Mansion, it was built in the 19th century by Cheong Fatt Tze, a businessman from China. Fun fact: The mansion was the location for the Oscar award-winning film Indochine (made a mental note to myself to watch the film) - how cool is that?!
The entrance hall.
I didn't expect to see so many people at the earliest tour, on a weekday.
We went up to the first floor where there are some items on display, all of which were found in the mansion in 1990 when it was restored to the original form.
These are some architectural materials used in the restoration of the mansion.
Traditional chinese musical instruments.
At the bottom row are traditional chinese pillows made of timber and lacquer, woven straw, or thin rattan. They were used to support the base of the head and neck especially when the person has a coiled hair bun or large braid.
A feng shui compass, abacus, manual typewriters, calculators, and cheque printers.
Traditional chamber pots, commonly used in the 19th century as there was no indoor plumbing at that time.
Traditional mahjong sets. The tiles were made of bamboo and ivory or bone.
These are ceremonial chair and cushion covers for formal chinese-carved chairs, which were brought out for use only during special occasions such as prayer ceremonies, weddings, and Chinese New Year. Red is mandatory as a colour of celebration, and the different symbols that were sewn onto the covers such as dragons and peonies would indicate good luck and fortune.
The many wives of Cheong Fatt Tze....lol.
There is a restaurant on the first floor, where customers could enjoy a touch of traditional meets modern while they dine. The price is ridiculously expensive though. We were told to leave the first floor before noon, so that the dining experience of customers would not be disrupted. But due to it being a weekday, the whole place was empty...
Took some selfies after the (super short) tour, hehe.
Honestly, there wasn't much to see in the mansion. This is because part of the building has been converted into a homestay/bed-and-breakfast with 16 themed bedroom suites, and visitors are not allowed in those areas. I understand the need to protect the privacy of the guests, but I couldn't help feeling disappointed. At RM16 per person (it was RM12 previously!), I feel that it's really not worth the money. I would totally recommend that you go to the Pinang Peranakan Mansion instead (which we went to after that).
I found Murobond Paints! It's the brand that Ernest uses to paint his murals :D
The Pinang Peranakan Mansion is located on Church Street. I first came here two years ago (was so excited because it was one of the filming locations for my favourite Singaporean drama, The Little Nyonya. If you love the Peranakan culture, you MUST watch it. If you don't, watch it too because you'll definitely fall in love with the unique culture after watching it....HERE!). Anyway, the excitement never faded away even after the show ended its broadcast in 2009. After the second time visiting this mansion, I went back and watched The Little Nyonya again hahaha. Of course, other than the Singaporean drama, the mansion was also the filming location for local productions such as Age of Glory and Iron Lady.
So on the brochure it says the admission fee is RM10 per adult, but when we went there, the guy at the counter told us it's RM20. We were shocked and hesitant, debating if that is a reasonable amount of money to pay or not. I was like what? Only two years and they've increased the price to RM20?? The new price wasn't stated in the brochure! Well, the guy must have been scared to lose business (or maybe he's just kind), because after that he quickly told us that we can pay RM10 but there are some sections that we will not be able to access. We gladly obliged. Later, we found out that it's the jewelry and antiques section that was restricted. Well, we aren't interested in them anyway, so luckily we didn't pay that extra RM10 for nothing.
Umm, so I blogged about this mansion two years ago so I won't be saying much here (I'm actually lazy HAHAHA).
My favourite spot in the mansion. It brought back so much memories of The Little Nyonya :')
The nyonya bridal chamber used in the 1930s-1950s.
We had some fun with the antique furniture, LOL :P
Hmm, I smell (pun intended) a reality TV cooking show coming up!
We came to the ancestral temple through a hidden passage (not really).
Looking out the front yard.
Behind the temple lies this elaborate well. They have closed off the opening because of some reasons I'm unaware of... First time coming to this part of the mansion because this whole area was off limits the last time I was here.
An antique cash register...so cute!
After immersing ourselves in history all morning and afternoon, we went for some ice cold desserts. I have never heard of ais tingkap (or window sherbet) until we saw it online in Time Out KL, so we thought we'd give it a try since it sounded like a cool drink :P
We went to this shop (more like a stall, but with a fancy banner) on Tamil Street, which is near Penang Road. Some guy gave us a brochure that explains the origins of ais tingkap and the steps to concoct this unique beverage. Apparently it's a family business, and it has been running for many years. I still can't believe I've never heard of it before; even my parents (who used to live and work in Penang)!
Aww, he smiled when I took this photo! :3
The drink basically consists of coconut water, syrup water, coconut flesh, and basil seeds. There is nothing outstanding about this drink, but the fact that so few people know about its existence kind of makes it special I guess? It's very refreshing, perfect for drinking in the hot Malaysian weather. You can't get this anywhere else, so why not try it when you're there? :)
We joined the queue at the Penang Road famous teochew cendol stall, and got our yummy and authentic cendol fix :D
After that we went to a supermarket at Komtar Walk to get a can opener (HAHA) and some snacks for later, then we took the bus to Tanjung Bungah as we wanted to try the banana leaf rice at the apparently famous Sri Anandha Bahwan restaurant. However, Google Maps showed the wrong location and we ended up getting lost and stranded in the middle of nowhere. We came to a dead-end and since we were so tired of walking, we decided to sit on the grass.....right in front of a high-class condo. Gosh, the random-est things always seem to happen to us HAHAHA :P
And yes, we took a selfie to commemorate this epic moment.
After a few minutes of resting our sore legs and catching our breath, we decided to walk back down the road where we came from and search for the restaurant again. Thanks to Esfern's sharp eyes, we managed to find it! Turns out that the restaurant is situated along the main road and it's actually pretty easy to spot.....I wonder how the heck did we manage to miss it previously.
All of us ordered banana leaf rice, which we had to wait 20 minutes for, because they had just started preparing. No comment (coz I actually haven't tasted legit banana leaf rice), but according to Joelle, it was weird. Well, I don't know if the taste of Penang's banana leaf rice differs from KL's?
We finished our dinner just before 7pm, just in time to catch the sunset. Went to Four Points by Sheraton, which is just a few minutes' drive away from the restaurant, to relax the night away :D The bus doesn't stop in front of Four Points but the kind driver agreed to let us alight there.
I think we were really lucky that evening to catch such a beautiful sunset with a rare mix of purple, pink, blue, and orange :')
...I made sure that the arrow followed the line exactly all the way, but why is this panorama so distorted D:
Hehe I forgot to change the settings of my camera when I asked this random dude to help us take a picture. But it actually has the feels! :3
What I love about Four Points is this outdoor lounge that is just next to the beach. The best part is that the hotel doesn't restrict the public from coming here to chill and relax. So, hands down the perfect spot to enjoy the breeze and amazing sea view!
Went for a short stroll along the beach.....and got my shoes wet coz I didn't expect the waves to come up that high -__- Regretted not bringing slippers.
The lady at the bar was so kind to give us ice (unlike the manager at the hotel's restaurant...) so that we could enjoy our beer :') :') :')
We took a taxi back - first time using the MyTeksi app and it was quite a bad experience. But thank God we managed to reach home safely.
Woke up later than usual the next day and went to Balik Pulau for the best asam laksa in the world. It's at Nan Guang coffee shop, located at the T-junction of Jalan Tun Sardon and Jalan Balik Pulau. It's a bit hard to find on GPS so I shall give you the coordinates: N 5 21.10698 E 100 14.14799
It's quite a distance from George Town; takes about one hour by bus, and probably 40 minutes (?) by car. But I assure you, you will NOT regret the journey there. In fact, you will definitely want to come back again after the first time!
After that, we took the bus straight to the airport and chilled at McCafé until it was time for my friends' flight. I didn't know McCafé makes (pretty) coffee art! I mean, since the coffee is served in paper cups...
Andddd....the pleasant and enjoyable trip with my dumps came to an end :'(
(Some of the photos are by Joelle and Esfern.)
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