nat-xo.blogspot.com 🖤

We got up early and went down to Ayer Itam market for breakfast. And a large one at that. First we had some asam laksa ! :D Boyfie said there was a better one, but this tasted pretty good as well. My mouth is watering just thinking about Penang food again. Weehoo. 

After lunch, we hopped on a bus and headed towards our next destination. The Penang Water Sports Recreation Centre. We told the bus driver the wrong destination so we ended up paying twice as much. But oh well. I guess having a few bumps along the way is normal for a trip heheh. We came here to kayak !! I've never tried it, so doing it for the first time felt really refreshing.

Above photo from PKSA facebook page, which is over HERE . You can go check it out if you want to ! It was almost high tide when we went for kayak. So the waves were a little bit rough. I think an hour would be fine already. We got tired pretty fast just moving here and there, and playing bumper kayak ! HAHAH. We also kayaked to the Floating Mosque located not too far away ! 

Group photo credits to PKSA as well ! hehe ! It was so sunny that it was hard to keep a straight face while taking the picture. Wearing sunglasses and closing eyes until it was done really helped. A LOT. Heheheh. Learnt a few things though.

1. Your arms will die.

2. A kayak boat is so heavy.

3. Let water into your kayak and you're gonna regret it.

4. Getting hit from a paddle hurts.

5. The sun bakes you.

Kay that doesn't help much does it ? HAHAHAH

Definately a place I'd remember in Penang. We spent so long just to come here, but we only kayak for an hour cause we got so tired. Hahah !! Kayaking consumes so muched of my energy I was famished by the time we reached home. I didn't even bother taking pictures of food and I just vacuumed everything. Oopsie. Heh.

Like every other forest, garden or park, this place was just stunning. Breathtaking scenery at every corner, it makes me wonder why they trek so fast. I kept stopping to take pictures until I had to worry about my camera battery lifespan. Not kidding. It's a ridiculously beautiful place. It's not often you get to trek and at the same, be near the beach. Heh. This is one feature unique to Penang I guess.

There was a mixture of paved cement trails, wooden planks, small bridges, ropes to hold and bare earth while trekking. I guess it's more like a walk and trek at the same time. I still feel unsatisfied that I couldn't enjoy the whole trek. I think I got annoyed halfway through. Maybe I'm too used to people knowing how to offer help or give warnings at dangerous or slippery areas. And also knowing how to check if the person behind you is doing fine. 

And I think I need a reminder to not wear my Nike sportshoes for trekking. This would be the second time I kept slipping almost everywhere. Sigh. Branded shoes not meant for treks. I think even my slipper would have been better. (but I'll take that back). And oh, this is one place where I wished my legs weren't so short. I had to climb over a lot of things and slow down cause my legs aren't long enough. Sigh.

On the other hand, the boat ride made everything better ! Maybe not if you have motion sickness. The boat was so worth the money heheh ! And see the coconut above ? We got cheated by the seller. Someone asked them how much it was, and their reply was "Satu lima". And we automatically assumed one coconut was RM1.50, which was too cheap to say NO. 

Jeng jeng jeng !!!

Turns out it was "Satu, Lima". Meaning ONE coconut for RM5. Wow. And it was because of that coconut that we kept the boat man waiting. He was probably pissed at us oops.

I think the most of the day was just spent being immersed with grenery. We dropped by the Botanical Garden in the evening. I got lazy of trying to keep up with the rest of them so I just split from the group. Well at least Jason and I were the only ones who drifted from the group hahaha. There's also a buggy ride for RM2. It just takes you on a short round, if you want to explore further, you'd have to walk.

But beware of monkeys !

This is like a flower haven, a garden haven. We walked past this garden when we first came in. If it wasn't for the buggy ride stopping us directly at the gate, I think I wouldn't have realized it's existence ! It's called the formal garden, but really, I'd call it a fairytale garden. It looked like it just came right out of a Disney movie !

There was a water fountain in the center, and a small building at the very end. I think this would be a marvelous place for an outdoor wedding or occasion. Even Jason agrees that it's a very gorgeous place.

There was supposed to be a Youth Park nearby, but we had no idea where it was so we didn't go for it. It felt incomplete. You can also trek up Penang Hill from Botanical Gardens, but it was too late and some of us (like the lazy me), who would rather call the van and go elsewhere instead of hiking again.

We went around Georgetown to look at the street art ! There was a lot of hype for this last year right I believe. It's great, but maybe not up to my expectations. All the previous hype made me expect so much more than this. There weren't that many murals on the walls. Though the cats were just cute hehehe.

With love ♥ credits to Hsuen :D

And oh. Jason's uncle came and brought some of us who could still eat around for some food ! We had more fried oyster and (finally) nice char kuey teow !! I'm sorry for the lack of food pictures. The day's activities took it's tool on my tummy I ate before I even managed to take pictures AHAHAHHA well the food's gotta go where it's gotta go.

Two more posts on Penang coming soon

:)

Upon arrival in Butterworth, we had to take a ferry to the island. And oh, we had to pay RM1.20 fully in coins HAHAH. That was hard. Please bring LOTS OF SMALL CHANGE when travelling to Penang. Buses there don't give you change for your ticket. And the ferry view in the early morning ! The breeze was just great. Although the sea water appeared like slimy black goo moving doesn't look very scenic. The city lights were very nice to look at.

We arrived at the apartment about 7AM I think. Rested up and headed out for breakfast! What's the point if you don't eat in Penang ? HAHAH. I gained about 2kg while I was there. Weehoo. Our breakfast wasn't the best place to eat in Penang, but I guess as a 'starter' it was okay. Besides, food in Penang tastes better for a cheaper price. Yum yummm.

Had to walk around to get house necessities like water and other stuff. There's so many places along the roadside screaming for pictures to be taken. If you don't trust me then walk by yourself hahah ! You'll notice more. People these days just walk and rush to their destination. Like hey ! Stop for awhile and look around you.

Credits to boyfie :D Personal photographer there HAHAHAH

Our first stop of the day would the the 3D Interactive Art Musuem ! We didn't have much time before it closed but managed to explore every inch of the place ! I think the one in Korea had more art, but nevertheless, the ones here were pretty amazing as well ! And oh, yet another place which makes me wonder why I did not make a student card at school. 

And oh. 3D Jelly ! The taste was so-so, but isn't the duck adorable ?

After the museum, we ended up walking A LOT, just to look for street food. The weather was just as hot, if not hotter, than KL. It was a somewhat pleasant walk amidst all the honking (seems normal to all cars and motors here) and sweat. Every turn here and there you could easily spot a temple, and every row of shophouses just reminds me why it's a heritage site. Not as modern as KL or Subang, but worth the change of view even for a few days.

And this is something we practically ate every day during our stay in Penang. Fried Oyster ! :D You can hardly find any here. I've only ate this once prior to Penang, but besides that ? Absolute zero. Already missing this dish. Can't anyone open up a shop for this dish here @.@

I believe Chark took this hahah ! I think our day ended after a little more walking and bus back home. We didn't do much on the first day. But they played cards the whole night hahah ! Feels like one of the first trips where I didn't play lolololololol. Sharpening skills before CNY HAHAHAH.

Was this post too long ? 

HAHAHHA

:)