3D2N Penang Trip - Day One

It's the start of our 3 days 2 nights short getaway trip to Penang over the weekends as our 2 years anniversary is coming soon in a couple of days. Feeling so happy in the morning as this is the first time that we are going on a trip together by taking a flight and not the usual coach buses. I've been wanting to book a trip for us on our anniversary so that we can be away from the city life in Singapore. 

And so I was browsing through all the airlines websites before our trip and find AirAsia to be rather user-friendly as compared to others and decided to book the hotel and our flight together. What's amazing was that we even get to save about $100 plus for booking both the accommodation and flight together ^_^

Arrived at the Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 1 early in the morning to grab our breakfast before we check-in to our flight at 10am ^_^ Feeling so happy today to be traveling with the girlfriend again lalala.

- The Itinerary that was done by myself -

Lalala our flight to Penang is finally here loz ^_^ Feeling so excited as we are about to board our AirAsia flight. Although the journey from Singapore to Penang is only about 1 hour plus but I can't wait to arrive at Penang and collect the car that we have rented from Big Thumb Car Rental for the next 3 days.

Our flight to Penang is here ^_^

Loving the beautiful skies as we took off

Yeah we finally touch down to Penang International Airport safely after a hour of journey from Singapore ^_^ As we are living in a world of IT and social media these days, it's hard not to have access to our Facebook accounts or remain contactable right? Fret not as there are many shops that offers data plan sim cards for purchase right after we alight from the plane, and it's even cheaper than what was offered from the inflight purchase too.

Time for us to collect our Viva Elite Auto car from Big Thumb Car Rental before making our way to the first location of our itinerary. I highly recommend Big Thumb Car Rental should anyone plan to visit Penang anytime soon not just for their cheapest rate in the market, but their friendly staffs and hassle free process in taking over and handling over of the cars. Guess what, we booked the Viva Elite Auto car for 3 days and it cost us just RM300 which is only about SGD$100 based on the exchange rate of 2.69. So happy since renting a car in Singapore for just one day will cost us a crazy price tag of SGD$80 for the cheapest low budget car.

Lalala and so we set off to our first location of our itinerary by using the app called Waze (GPS) to help us get around the Penang island since our phone have the Malaysia Sim-card now ^_^ It's really enjoyable just driving here as everyone seems to really drive within the road limit stated on the signs along the way, though we can't stop a few of the black sheep to tend to drive recklessly without signalling or waving in and out of traffic.

First Stop: Bak Kut Teh @ Seong Huat Coffee Shop 

Address: No.23 Lintang Merak, 11700 Sungai Dua

Operating Hours: 10.30am to 2pm; 5pm to 9.30pm

Well, to be honest I am really really disappointed when i first tasted the Bak Kut Teh because I would definitely not recommend it to anyone because of the fact that the meat (Pork) is rather too tough and that the soup is lacked of the fragrance that a bowl of Bak Kut Teh should have.

Halfway through our makan session, I suddenly realized that we forgot to take one very important item down from our flight earlier on, and that is my Nikon camera LOL. Imagine driving back to the Airport and asking for directions from the staffs there who clearly have either no sense of directions or pride in the work they are doing that everyone is telling me different information about one single Loss & Found section. Seriously, thumbs down to an "International" airport that is not even a big scale airport in the first place.

Second Stop: Sightseeing of the Penang Bridge

Location: Jeti Jabatan Laut Wilayah Utara Jetty

So we set off to the second part of our itinerary which is to look at the Penang Bridge that joints the Penang island to the mainland of Malaysia. Decided to view the bridge from the above location as I goggled it on the Goggle Map and it seems that this is one of the closest location we can drive to see the Penang Bridge from a good distance. 

Third Stop: Hard Rock Hotel, Penang

Location: Batu Ferringhi Beach, 11100 Penang

And so after abit of drama from searching for my camera, we sort of detour from our itinerary for abit and only reach our hotel at about 4pm plus which is considered late for me since our check-in time was supposed to be at 3pm. Imagine a hour plus of journey on the road to get to our hotel which is at the far side of the island but I know it's all going to be worth it ^_^

I really love Hard Rock Hotel alot. Just look at their room, their swimming pool and the beach that is just a few steps away from us too. I just love the view from our Sea View Deluxe Room ^_^ My girlfriend is just so cute that she always can't resist not heading down for a swim ever since she learn how to swim. Lalala so happy so happy ^_^

We just had to bring along Xiao Xiao Brown, Cony, KeKe & LeLe, YiXin and YiYon with us.

- Hope dear like the little cake by Hard Rock Hotel :) -

Lalala after a hour of swim, we return back to our room and found this cake on our table which really gave us a surprise. Okay it's our fault that we did not set our room "Do Not Disturb" button on before heading out for a swim but then it's still shocking to us that the staff came into our room when we are not in. Okay as much as I really really appreciate the effort by the hotel, but it still gave me quite a shock though ^_^ Okay time for us to we set off to our next itinerary of the day, which is basically to eat again haha. I guess Penang is all about eating and eating and eating. 

Fourth Stop: Mantis Prawn Char Kway Teow

Location: Lebuh Kimberly, stall outside Sin Guat Keong Coffeeshop

Operating hours: 5.30pm to 12am

I think the Char Kway Teow in Penang is really alot different from what I normally eat in Singapore, as they don't use as much dark soy sauce as compared to how the hawkers fry it in Singapore. Their Char Kway Teow definitely deserve a 7/10 rating in terms of taste as it is nicely fried and I love it although my love for Char Kway Teow still falls back to the ones in Singapore :p

I like their Fried Oyster though as it is fried till golden brown and it is really even, and the oysters are pretty fresh too. I think the satay here is pretty good too ^_^ I seriously think that Penang have alot of food stalls all located near to each other that you won't scared that you have nothing to eat or just one type of food available at all.

After our dinner, we decided to make our way back to the night market near our hotel since we will be here in George Town for the whole day the next day. Here we begin on our 40mins drive back to Batu Ferringhi again haha ^_^

Fifth Stop: Batu Ferringhi Night Market

Location: Jalan Batu Ferringhi

Okay it really took us by surprise when we got to Jalan Batu Ferringhi. First of all, it's the parking as you will soon realize that there are alot of people here trying to "extort" some money from you when you park the car on the grass, or beside the road or even a normal legal carpark. Although its just perhaps RM3 to RM5, I personally still think that it is not right at all. Why else would I buy the parking coupon for then? Secondly, it's a Saturday night and to be honest, I am taken by surprise that there are not many people and you know why? That is because there are not much shops or rather stalls open along the road side too. Commonly found stalls are those selling souvenirs such as magnets, postcards, or t shirts. Not much if you ask me considering the fact that if you compare it with the Jonker Street at Melaka or even the night market at Kuala Lumpur. #Disappointed.

Final Stop: Hard Rock Hotel

And so having nothing much to see or buy from the Ferringhi Night Market, we decide to head back to the hotel to rest instead. I can't believe that the Ferringhi Night Market is being define as the Tourist night market then.