Penang in a day

Until last Saturday, never occured in my mind to make a day trip to my hubby's home town, Penang, The Pearl Of The Orient. About 350 km up north of Peninsular Malaysia, its an island with area about 293km square. We drove 5 hours from Kuala Lumpur to reach there. That was including rest area stop and fruit bazaar roaming. The rest area are clean and convenient. The sceenic greenery along the way were eye-soothing, passing by the Oil Palm plantation, the hills and highlands and waterfall too, if your driving are not too rush. Crossing over the ocean serves beautifull oceanic view especially as you're reaching the bridge, connecting Butterworth to the Penang Island. I perceived the high rise buildings and the marina expanding ahead.

We took a quick tour to my hubby's few nostalgic places, including the address where my hubby grew up, which is currently being renovated extensively by the new owner. The hawker selling banana fritters is still there.

My parents inlaw sold the valuable property and moved to KL to be near us, the children, 2 years ago. In this state, I could see an interesting mixture of Indian, Malay and Chinese culture. The temples and the mosques were not too far from each other. I called this, a real 1Malaysia way of living.

Life are busy downtown. Business, business, business...... I couldn't get enough enjoying the colorful bangles, glittering 'Saree' materials (for Indian costume) and lots of ornaments. There, my hubby and I spent a few hours walking around looking for many long acquired food and delicacies. Its a hawker stall food paradise, really. Should you think of delicacy soups, This is the place. Oxtail soup, Ox tendon soup, Ox tongue soup just say it. I have yet to break the obscenity to try 'torpedo' soup, the cow's testicle. Hush..hush.. I will wisper my order for this on my next trip. Oh yes! you can find it in Penang. Unlike my many-many visits to Penang (Pulau Pinang), this was my first ever downtown stroll. I enjoyed the havoc, the sound of the indian music, the chanting from the budist temple, Hindu temple, the Chinese Opera. The roads are narrow. How wide of a road would you expect from the small island? My hubby pointed the oldest mosque at a quick glance, as he had to focus on the traffic. I captured the tricycle passing by. Mr. Mohammed Ali had fun watching me enjoying his green peas porridge (bubur kacang) by the road side. Not discriminating, somehow the 'Tosai'( the Indian pancake-like cuisine) here is tastier than other places. I came across a pity old lady selling young coconut, and not too far from her, another hawker selling sea coconut. I tried the sea coconut. Its jelly good. 'OK' parrot, may be I will get you to predict my luck, next time around. The KOMTAR (Tunku Abdul Rahman) building is still holding to its status as the tallest building in the island. Along the way, we passed by the Clock Tower, a special gift for Queen Victoria, according to my Tour Guide, who happens to be a husband of mine. I read a bit about it. Sad that the queen did not live long enough to see its completion. We stepped along from the bright alley to the dark alley. I love seeing the structure of many old colonial buildings, left over from the British era. Some are refurbished, some are yet to. They remain as tourists attraction. Oh No..!! 'CLOSED' .Frustrated with the sign at the restaurant where I was suppose to find my favorite stew , The stew of goat's feet (including the hooves). Yeah, 'yew!' but its yummy. 'Nasi Baryani' is a must and dont leave Penang without it. What a great trip! PENANG- from dawn to dusk. We reached KL safe and sound before midnight.