A random shot of my sister's skinny legs while waiting for our flight at the airport.
It was night time when we arrived, so we went straight for dinner at a seafood restaurant (yay!). It was located by the beach - so cool right - and it even has a "play area".
After dinner, we went for a leisurely drive around the city. I've never seen any of Ernest Zacharevic's mural at night, and whoaaa it looks pretty cool actually :)
When we were passing by the clan jetties in Weld Quay (one of the attractions in Penang), the lights from Lee Jetty caught my eye. If I'm not mistaken, it's the brightest and prettiest among the clan jetties. Thus, I went down and snapped a few pictures. It would feel surreal to actually live here - and how cool it is to be living on a jetty!
The view at the end of the jetty.
A door and letterbox painted in vibrant colours.
In the morning, we joined the throngs of tourists in Acheh Street, Chulia Street, Armenian Street...
There's a vintage toy museum along Acheh Street, which I didn't know about it previously. At first I thought it was a shop selling vintage toys so I thought it would be nice to have a look inside, but you have to pay a few ringgit once you enter the shop, so.. nah. I'll just admire some of the toys displayed outside haha.
It has two storeys so it looks like it has an impressive collection of vintage toys. I wonder where do they get all these toys from. But do go in if you have the chance - I'm sure it would be interesting (and eye-opening) to see toys you'd never thought existed.
It's a common sight to see tourists on bicycles. Those twin bikes are really cute!
I was attracted by those colourful cloths. 14 Living Story is a shop that sells all kinds of quaint local souvenirs.
If you didn't notice, those colourful piles by the cute "road signs" are actually chairs! Not sure if they can be seated on though..
The beautiful interior of the shop.
The back part of the shop is a mini exhibition that displays items from decades ago. The Chinese words 大人的儿童世界 roughly translate to "the adults' childhood world".
Some of the collection..
I used to play this when I was much younger! :') It's kinda noob lah but it's sad that children nowadays no longer play with physical toys/dolls.
This stall sells muachi of ALL kinds of flavour, of which you would never ever imagine can be paired with muachi. Flavours include coconut, chicken floss, black sugar, pandan, cheese, cuttlefish, chocolate sauce, oat, and prawn paste. Ermagerdddd.
Hokkien 101 - Lu ai ki to lok? means "where are you going?"; um zai means "don't know".
Someday I'll be jonker walk! I don't know what it means actually hahaha but it sounds cool. More hokkien words are imprinted on those slabs. To lok ci peng means "where" and pa thor el means "hungry".
That stall on the right sells shaved ice balls but unfortunately it wasn't operating that day :( I didn't know there are still stalls selling ice balls which were popular back in the '70s when my parents were kids. Maaan I want to try it after my mom told me how fun it was to suck the syrup on the ice ball!
These row of refurbished houses are situated on Cannon Square on the way to Khoo Kongsi.
There's some attraction inside there or something, because you have to purchase tickets to go in.
Teatime by the roadside at Weld Quay - ice kacang and cendol.
Loh bak (minced meat wrapped in thin soybean sheets) and fried prawn fritters.
Char Kuey Teow.
After eating, we crossed the road - to where the car was parked - and saw this truck selling aiyu jelly ice. The greedy pig in me wanted to eat so....
Hehe it was really thirst-quenching on a hot day!
Then someone came and set up a stall next to the truck, selling assam laksa. I only have faith in the assam laksa from Balik Pulau, but the aroma was too tempting for my parents so we got a bowl. Well, I guess you could say it's good, but if you have tried the one from Balik Pulau, you'd understand that nowhere else in Penang has assam laksa up to that standard (yeah, I'm a real critic when it comes to food) - suggestions are welcome though.
The most beautiful Christmas tree I have ever seen.. in G Hotel.
At Gurney Paragon. I have been there two years ago but there was nothing much that time. Now it has a shopping mall :O
Small boutiques at the top floor of Gurney Paragon.
Tomyam meehoon for dinner during one of the nights.
I love spicy food and usually I'm the one who asks in disbelief, 'spicy meh?' whenever my family members said a dish was spicy. But this was too much for me to handle.. It's those kind of spiciness where it feels like there's a dragon constantly blowing fire in your mouth. It's those kind of spiciness where tears keep coming out of your eyes (I don't think I experienced that though) and you can't stop dabbing at your nose. And of course taking huge sips of your cold drink.
Had white curry mee, which is something new to me - for breakfast. It is only white before you mix the chili paste. After that, it looks and tastes like any other curry mee.
Right after I had it, I got to know about MyKuali's white curry instant noodles (manufactured in Penang) that has taken the world by storm last year. Everyone was talking about it, and even supermarkets in Penang faced a shortage. I have yet to try the instant noodles, but I heard that it's the curry that makes all the difference.
At Straits Quay. It's always quiet when there are no events going on.
Sand art.
Heh, a Christmas tree made of donated books :P Cute!
Teatime at Chocolate Passion, Penang's first all chocolate café. We ordered their Passion Molten Cake. The chocolate lava cake was very rich in chocolate as expected, although I would prefer they serve vanilla ice-cream to sort of neutralise the chocolate-y taste instead of another chocolate ice-cream. The strawberries are a great way to finish off the dessert.
Drawings along Nagore Road.
The chairs are 3D if you don't know :P
I actually went to Nagore Road because I wanted to look for Ernest Zacharevic's art installation - a square frame over a hole which previously had a fire hydrant. I had no luck. However, I managed to find it when I went back again during Chinese New Year :D (Story in another post!)
At Beach Blanket Babylon, located just nearby E&O Hotel.
I love the outdoor location.
What a perfect dining place, where you can enjoy the view of the ocean, the cool sea breeze, and the sounds of waves rolling ashore.
Heart shape, hehe.
We ordered a mixed tropical fruit drink of some sort.
Their special gula melaka ice-cream. Not bad I think, can compete with The Last Polka :P
Hoegaarden beer, the only beer that I like.
Huge macarons at Shangri-La's Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa :O
Kuey Teow soup with duck meat for breakfast.
Prawn mee, one of my favourites. Yum!
We went to Marshall's Burger one afternoon for lunch. The reason we went there is because my dad's friend introduced it to him; said his son loves the burgers so I thought I'd give it a try. I also wanted to find out if they taste almost as great as myBurgerLab's burgers.
It has a couple of branches all over Penang and we decided to go to the one in Tanjung Bungah, away from the city centre so it's less crowded. It's at one of the houses that has been converted into a restaurant. Outside the house, there's only a small sign that points to Marshall's (other than the signboard on the wall) so it's kinda easy to miss the place.
The menu on chalkboards hung along the wall. The options seem pretty limited. I went for the beef because it's my favourite patty of all time. And I think we ordered a pork burger too.. I can't remember :/
The design of the interior is kept to a minimum, but it felt quite homely to me (okay probably it's because I'm in an actual house).
One thing I didn't like about the beef burger is that the patty has some kind of smell in it. Unlike the beef from myBurgerLab that emits a strong aroma when bitten.
The burgers were just meh. Sorry for being harsh, but I think I wouldn't visit Marshall's again.
We went to one of the food courts near Tanjung Bungah for dinner. I don't know about others, but Tanjung Bungah food courts have one of the best hawker fare in my opinion. Mmm mmhm grilled fish, I like!
Beef satay.
Squid!
After dinner we went to the new Four Points by Sheraton to just chill by the seaside. The hotel has only a few stories, thus the number of guests that it can accommodate is limited. Well, the advantage is that you can have your quiet time sitting in huge comfortable chairs by the ocean, and not need to worry about sharing your moment with too many tourists.
I have only one photo of the beach, but trust me, do check the place out!
One day before we left for KL, mom bought some pastries from Ming Xiang Tai Pastry Shop (名香泰饼家) as souvenirs for our friends. Apparently it's quite famous but I have no idea why we have never been there before, since it was five years ago when it was first set up in Penang.
The business actually started with selling egg tarts using a trishaw in Kampar in 1979, and then in 2002 it became Teck Kee Dim Sum Tea House in Teluk Intan, which is currently still operating. The first outlet of Ming Xiang Tai is in Jalan Burmah, now the head office. We went to the Armenian Street branch.
Their pastries are really a must-try! They sell egg tarts (original and durian flavour), salted egg pastry, pineapple pastry, glutinous coconut puff, chicken pie, sesame rice ball, wedding pastry, and a whole lot of other pastries. Besides that, they also have homemade bean curd and soya bean drink. My favourites are the salted egg pastry and pandan salted egg pastry - lol yes I love anything with salted egg.
There's a small area for customers to eat there, but usually people buy in boxes and take home.
On the flight home. I love looking at lights from above - they are always so pretty and magical :)
