Penang 2007

October 25, 2007 at 12:48 pm

Yes, we went to Penang! Most people got it right. 🙂 Why so soon after the previous? We had to do it before the girls’ birthdays, and I didn’t want to wait till school holiday starts.

We make a trip to Penang yearly before Zara’s birthday. In 2003, I was really worried about history repeating itself when I was pregnant with Zara; my dad suggested that we asked for St Anne’s blessing and protection, and since 2003, we’d been going to St Anne to give thanks yearly.

First stop was of course St Anne. It’s really a nice and tranquil church. Zara had so much fun splashing water from the water tap (St Anne’s water) and fountain, and running around. Girls in St Anne

We had the bestest dinner in Bukit Tambun. Daddy wasn’t convinced when I showed him Michelle’s post. After much persuation (another Penang colleague also highly recommended this place), he drove us there after our visit to St Anne. For RM70+, we had baked crabs (just seasoned with salt, but so delicious, fragrant or ‘hiong’), fried ‘red lion’ fish, poached ‘spikey clams’, honey baby octupus and a vege. Seriously, that was the best crabs we’d eaten in our lives!

We brought along Tuyam this round. Booked a big family room (1 super King + 2 single beds) in Bayview Beach Resort. A hotel with worn out furniture, and stained toilet! I didn’t dare to have Zaria crawled on the carpet; and when I bathed her, I let her sit on my lap instead of the tub. Blech! We chose this hotel for the price, the pool, and the big L shaped room; another reason was for the beach where Zara could do horse riding. Zara even remembered the name of the horse she rode on last year(Ima), and asked to ride on the same horse.

Girls with horses

My girls just love horses!

Everyday, we spent 1st part of the day in the hotel, have long breakfast, let the girls do a bit of horse riding and swimming; and then it was off finding a good place for lunch (we arrrived town at 2pm daily, good food was all sold out!! Hmmph!), and exploring Penang.
Girls in Hotel

Zara befriended an older Australian girl in the hotel, and spent quite a while chatting to the girl. I wonder if they understood each other. Zaria happy to be eating fruits from the breakfast buffet and playing with things on the table

We went to Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion on the 2nd day, but too bad we missed the 2nd tour by 1 hour, so we couldn’t visit the mansion but could only see from the outside. Then it was off to Penang Botanic Gardens.
Girls around Penang

Zaria dozing at Cheong Fatt Tze; Girls love the monkeys, the stream, the trees and the stroll in the Botanic Gardens

On the 3rd day, we were off to Penang Hill. It was raining cats and dogs once we boarded the tram. Dang! They allowed too many passangers in, so it was very crammed, and most people had to stand. 2 nice local young men gave up their seats to the girls. Half an hour later, we were up the hill, but since it was pouring, we couldn’t walk about and just waited for the next tram down. What a waste of time.

We met 3 Arab men who were really male chauvinists. They pushed passed us to get into the tram first, sat on the seat, and even though I was carrying Zaria who was sleeping in my arms, they didn’t offer me their seat. What more, 1 of them suddenly grabbed Zara, and placed her seated next to him with his arms around her. Zara was in shock, and Daddy quickly picked Zara up and carried her in his arms for almost the whole 30mins journey down.

Girls in Penang Hill

A glimpse of us in Penang Hill; the girls waiting for the next tram down.

Dining in Penag was really good. We were in Pang Hainanese Seafood Restaurant, along Tanjung Bunga, on the 2nd night. The food was cheaper and better quality than KL restaurants. 3rd night, with DR‘s map, we managed to find the relocated Nonya Breeze and had a good dinner there. This place never dissapointed us, 3 years in a row in Penang, they served us the best nonya food which is value for money. But the best is still the crabs in Bukit Tambun! *drool*

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Tags: