To Penang

Am writing this weblog entry from Penang Island – my backyard and home for six years of my professional life. It was a four-day vacation back to simple and familiar sights and sounds, a chance to escape from Kuala Lumpur for a while.

The traditional gastronomical tour was, of course, mandatory…

Char koay-teow 炒粿條 at the famous Burmah Road coffee shop (still the best!). Note the glass of heng-jin peng 杏仁冰 (iced almond juice) - you can't get it in KL coffee shops!

Quee Mei eating cendol at the Keng Kwee Street coffee shop

Drinking fresh pandan coconut juice at Aboo Siti Lane

Gu-bak koay-teow 牛肉粿條 (beef noodles) at the Beach Street corner coffee shop

Ark-bak kuey-chap 鴨肉粿雜 (duck innards noodles) in Ayer Itam

Frankly, the char koay-teow diet was a bit of an overload, as I had it for three days in a row!

The only disappointment was that Sar Chew Restaurant 沙舟餐室, my favourite Nyonya-style keng-chae pnui 經濟飯 (economy rice) shop in Cantonment Road has now been turned into a roast duck rice shop. They used to serve lovely chicken curry and otak-otak, which goes so well with rice.

Ending a vacation in Penang with a nett increase in calories was not acceptable, so a hike up Penang Hill (via the traditional Moon Gate route) was scheduled in with my ex-housemates. Having not hiked up for years, it was expected that I could not complete the hike to the summit within less than two hours as before. Was quite happy to settle for a 2hr:20min timing… not bad for a guy who weighs 0.1 metric tons! The weather was unusually good at the summit – cool air and nice breeze – probably because we arrived early (before 10am).


Along the Moon Gate trail

The Grace Deu mansion, close to the summit


Ice kacang 紅豆霜 at the summit

View from the summit, with Georgetown and the Penang Bridge in the backdrop

I really miss the convenience of having a hill so accessible for regular hikes… which is, of course, a lame excuse, since a drive from my house to Gasing Hill is not really that far away.

And had I known that my trip up here would coincide with a huge Mini convoy at Penang Island's Gurney Plaza, I would have driven my Mini-Cooper up this time round!