3D2N Penang Trip - Day Three

It's the last day of our 3D2N trip in Penang now. Feeling sad that our holiday is coming to an end soon but yet happy too because we finally went on a trip by plane together and we have been together for 2 years ^_^

Woke up in the morning to head down for our breakfast but who would have expect that even dear is down with diarrhea after we had our breakfast. This prove one thing, which is the reason why I am down with food poisoning was not from the outside food but rather the food we consume at the Hard Rock Hotel Penang :(

Although we are basically left in pain from the constant visit to the toilet, we decided to head down for a swim again since we are only heading out in the afternoon. I really love to see how happy dear looks when she can get to swim ^_^

- Dear just have to head down to the pool after seeing what was set up in the morning -

Loving my girlfriend hehe ^_^

The woman behind the successful man lalala

And so we have come to the end of our 3D2N stay here at Hard Rock Hotel Penang. Although I am really upset by the fact that the reason that cause my food poisoning was due to the food from the Hotel but I really love the stay here with the girlfriend. Well, I guess it is goodbye for now and see you again soooooooon...

My beautiful girlfriend :)

And so we set off on our road trip again from the hotel to George Town. I can't wait to go there since I was down with food poisoning yesterday. 

First stop: Penang Fort Cornwallis

 Location: Lebuh Light / Light Street

Operating Hours: 9am to 6.30pm

Our first stop of the day will be the Penang Fort Cornwallis since it is along the way as we head over to George Town. Do you know that the Penang Fort Cornwallis was built by the British East India Company in the 1700s. Although it was built for the British military to protect Penang from the pirates but yet it has never once engaged in any battle. Well, I guess no war is good :)

So we continue on our road trip to the George Town to do what I wanted to do since yesterday, which is to locate the Street Art that are distributed across the entire George Town. 

Second Stop: Street Art @ George Town

Location: George Town

It's such a hot weather today and we are literally melting away as we first start our journey on foot. Trust me when I say it's way better to go around the area by renting bicycles from the shops that can basically be found at every corner you turn. Lucky the bicycle rental is not at all expensive here in Penang. So we rented one bicycle that can sit 2 person and the best part was that it is sheltered. But still, my girlfriend is suffering from the heat that seems to be increasing every minute. 

Last Stop: Queensbay Mall

Location: Bayan Lepas

We are so dehydrated from the heat after taking multiple photos of the street art over at George Town that we are calling it a day for now. Drove to the Queensbay Mall which is the largest shopping mall in Penang. Guess what, naughty boy me already did my research before I even got to Penang that I know that there is a Lego shop that just opened its door here :p Lalala I can't wait.

Lalala and so I left Queensbay Mall as a very very happy man today :p

Hehe I am so happy today because dear buy some more of my favourite Lego Starwars toys for me lalala. Hope dear enjoy herself for the past 3 days here in Penang although we were both sick from the food poisoning here. Happy Anniversary to us soon ^_^ love love.

3D2N Penang Trip - Day Two

It's the second day of our trip here in Penang and we are up early today for the breakfast which starts from 6.30am onwards. Loving the breakfast here as the chefs will heat up the food regularly to ensure that diners are served with hot and quality food. Yummy Yummy ^_^

After our breakfast, we went for a walk at the swimming pool and the beach just infront of the Hard Rock Hotel. Hehe I love holding dear's hand when we are taking a stroll along the beach here. I feel so blissful to have her by my side all the time.

First Stop: Kek Lok Si Temple

Location: Jalan Balik Pulau (Air Itam)

Operating Hours: 9am to 6pm

Our first stop of our itinerary for the day will be the Kek Lok Si Temple which is about a 40 minutes car journey from the hotel. I really like going to the temple with the girlfriend as we pray for our loved ones. Got a little pink bracelet for my mum, and dear also got some bracelets back for mei mei and her mum too. ^_^ Felt so calm to be here praying and walking around. 

Afterwhich we took the lift to head up to see the magnificent Guan Yin statue that is so huge and tall when you see it from the start of the Kek Lok Si temple. We even went to see the Pagoda too which is really beautiful and I love the little turtle statues at the ground level of the Pagoda hehe ^_^ 

Second Stop: Tea Break @ Jalan Penang Chendol

Location: 475 Jalan Penang; Joo Hooi Cafe 

Operating Hours: 11.30am o 5pm

It's time for a little tea break after a long walk under the scorching sun and sudden rain along the way. Lalala I am so happy that I managed to found a public carpark area just right beside the place that we want to go for our dessert. Beware of parking illegally along the road in Penang as the authorities will not hesitate to call upon the tow truck to tow your only mode of transport away. 

So we ordered two bowls of Chendol, two plates of Fried Kway Teow and Lor Bak. Hmm... I think I prefer the Chendol over at Melaka because the taste is way stronger, as for the Fried Kway Teow, well... my vote still goes towards the kind of cooking style in Singapore :p Lastly, as for the "Lor Bak", initially I thought it is some kind of meat cooked in some dark soy sauce, but then in Penang, it seems the "Wu Xiang" that we had in Singapore is addressed as "Lor Bak" so it didn't really give me a wow feeling towards it :)

 

Start of the disastrous journey...

Right after our lunch here, I began to feel a sharp pain in my stomach and began to feel really nauseous. And it is till the extend that I am unable to drive anymore and have to get dear to drive us to our next destination, but who knows halfway through, I began vomiting and the pain in my stomach is just so unbearable and it made me want to black out. Lucky dear was around to take care of me and rushing everywhere to get the medicated oil to apply on. However, I really want our vacation to go as what was planned. 

Third Stop: Wat Chaiya Mangkalaram Temple

Location: Lorong Burma, Pulau Tikus. 

Operating hours: 10am to 6pm

Finally made our way here after all the delay due to me falling sick all of a sudden. Although I managed to take some photos here and "bai bai" here, it is also the start of my long diarrhea journey that will soon befall on me. 

Stayed in the car for hours before dear drive me back to the hotel to rest since I am no longer able to continue on the rest of the itinerary :( I was feeling so sad and uncomfortable throughout the journey as the pain keep on kicking in. I can't believe that I had to be put on the wheel chair just to get me from the carpark back to our hotel room after I can't move due to giddiness. I am really lucky that dear is there to take care of me and drive us back to the hotel.

And so, I stayed in bed and dear apply the warm towels to my stomach and constantly apply the medicated oil for me. I was so in pain and kept on going to the toilet as the diarrhea is just way too unbearable. It was really a living hell experience for me. 

In the end, the only thing we could do for the rest of the second day was to stay in the hotel as I can't stand up for too long as I would just get so giddy after awhile :( What is wrong with me? Food poisoning?

Me and my dear dear ^_^

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.