I am a huge fan of Penang and all it stands for. I was born
there in a small clinic called Aman Clinic. When I was growing up in Alor Star
(another state that holds a very dear place in my heart) my dad would usually
take me to Penang on my birthdays. We would go to a bird’s park or butterfly
park or just a normal park and just hang there. The must have item in our itinerary
would be pizza hut and dessert at gurney drive. My mom lovessss her pizza,
perhaps as much as African-american loves their fried chicken (no racist intention
here).
Throughout the years, I have made several trips to Penang
either with family or friends. But despite all these trips, Penang never cease
to amaze me as it changes every so often and each time I’m there I get to
discover a few new gems. My previous visit to Penang led me to war museum on
the 16th of Sept 2011 (how patriotic am I!) and hiking through the national
park.
However, this time my trip to Penang is a little more special
than before as the purpose of this visit was to explore the possibilities of
new friendship. No I’m not talking about
pen pal (who does it anymore?!)
My good friend cum uncle recently got married to the love of
his life. She’s a lovely girl with a crazy obsession with shoes. To cut it
short, her friends and our friends met through the wedding and most of us hit
it off. Even though the wedding is over, we are still in constant contact with
them (blessed whatsapp) and one of them happens to work in Penang. Through our
silly whatsapp messages, we somehow ended up with a plan to go Penang together
during the CNY 2014 holiday.
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| Road Trip! |
On the 31st Jan we started our journey at the wee
hour of the morning. The traffic was not as bad as we expected so we manage to
reach there around 11.30 am and met up with our new friends. The first item on
the agenda is coconut drink. They took us to shop with some small chairs and
table scatter around. According to our "tour guide" this place is usually pack
and there would be a long queue but luckily for us they didn’t have a lot of
customer during CNY.
For lunch we had nasi beriani at Ramzan. It’s a small mamak
shop located along Jln Kapitan in Little India. The nasi wasn’t so bad but
their roti canai was really good. Crispy and a little burn but still pretty
fluffy.
The best part of our little “jalan-jalan cari makan” episode
is definitely the Puncak Mutiara Restaurant situated in Seberang Perai. It
specialises in grill food and when I say food I mean a lot of exotic meat. They
have normal ones like chicken, beef, lamb and for the adventurous eater, they
also serves ostrich, deer, rabbits, etc. If you go during the day you get to
see the farm where they produce their product. What’s amazing about this place
is that the compound is so huge and pretty grand but it is located in a middle
of nowhere! Truth be told I was a bit sceptical about it on the way there. The
road was a bit scary as we had to drive through what seems like a jungle! But
in all honestly it is a spectacular place and the price is reasonable.
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| Seriously need to try out this place |
After the success Georgetown Festival brought to Penang, this
town is now known as an art hub. During my trip here I managed to see a few
famous murals by cycling around town. Yup cycling. Another highlight of this
trip. I have been going to Penang at least once in two years, but I have never
been able to explore a city while riding a bike. It was totally wicked. Usually
on Sundays the road is close off so that cyclist get to use the road without
fear for their safety. This gave us a chance to appreciate the beauty of the
mural and recognise the talents in the industry.
Another awesome discovery is the 3D art museum. It was just
launched in November 2013 and all the arts in the museum were done by locals. We
had a really nice time trying to figure out the angle and the pose to bring out
the background.
