Tuesday, December 25, 2007

a little different penang


it was the usual year-end ritual - x'mas weekend in penang. things were much the same, yet a little different.

1st, traffic was unbelieveably smooth-flowing all the way up north - no bottleneck throughout, even on penang bridge.

2nd, instead of the usual rendezvous with the malls, we decided to pick up some history with a visit to...

...built shortly after Francis Light secured Penang for the British.

armed with cannons against potential enemies. a nearby lighthouse served also as a look-out.


3rd, instead of dining at a posh thai restaurant, we opted for some place more down-to-earth at sungai dua...

you can tell it's not 4-star by the cutlery...

but it did serve something unique...

would you believe deep-fried kangkong?

4th, they were re-surfacing penang road...

..& i can only imagine the chaos during the festive traffic volume.

5th, we did the hike up penang hill. after the steep climb...

it was a treat to be rewarded with hot green bean soup...


6th, there's a new hang-out place in town with a difference....

..young girls belt out canto-pop songs to drum up support.

appropriately 7th, like the prodigal son, i went back to the church that started it all for me...

..except that, instead of being greeted with a prepared feast.....

..the choir was singing christmas songs.

8th, we had morning dim sum at bali hai along gurney drive....

where it's always crowded....

& the fare was good.

9th, we also tried out corner club, also along gurney drive, for dinner.

no crowd on a friday nite, which seemed strange.....

...because the dishes were well-cooked & the price reasonable.

finally, the girl was ecstatic when we were at queensbay mall, not because there was a contest for...

..high school musical pretenders, but rather by chance, she met her idol in person...

that made her day!

the traffic going south was a little heavier with slight hold-ups at the juru & jelapang tolls, but the kids haven't the slightest worry in the world!

12 comments:

stay-at-home mum said...

Looks like the perfect Christmas break for your family!

iml said...

Read in the papers that most hotels are overbooked due to the flooding in other parts of the states, most local holidaymakers are spending their holiday in Pg. Never, made it to the Pg hill hike during my last trips. No one was interested.

doc said...

SAHM,

close to perfect, except that we were back home on sunday, because i had to work on christmas eve.

doc said...

iml,

i must have just missed the crowd because it just didn't seem like a lot of people when we were there.

you must try the hike starting from youth park. it takes only 20mins to the 1st rest-stop, & a further 15mins to the next. i've blogged about it here:
http://doc1s1n.blogspot.com/2006/12/
should-auld-acquaintance-be-forgot.
html#links

Bengbeng said...

reading yr post abt peang and the food, ah if we could change places for a day :)

Bengbeng

doc said...

beng,

either that, or just wait for air asia to fly direct sibu-penang.

Anonymous said...

I never knew there was more to penang than food, ha ha, jk.

Just the mere thought of Penang makes me salivate. I can almost taste the char kuay teow...

just me said...

Does your wife co-drive?

Or she has the more important task of chatting with you to keep you awake?

doc said...

anastasia,

there's definitely more to penang than just food, but you need to get on the beaten track 1st.

doc said...

just me,

i make it a point to do the driving - it's just the way i am.

her job is to keep the kids occupied.

dobbs said...

We dropped by Penang last Saturday, but unfortunately traffic was bad :( Glad to hear you had a good trip.

Wishing you and your family a Blessed New Year!

doc said...

dobbs,

come to think of it, the traffic is never light in penang - it's either quite crowded or very crowded.

blessed new year to you & your family, too!