Padang Kota

Puan Anita enjoying her lee chee kangI remembered when I was young, I looked forward to have laksa at Padang Kota Lama every time I visit Penang. Laksa, followed by ais kacang. The ais kacang must have a scoop of ice-cream on top! Sometimes we also had some kerang (cockle) or cuttlefish with spinach. A real local delicacy. A must have. Over the years, the beachfront stalls were moved into a more organised food bazaar and to a certain extend, the charm was lost.

Kerang .....For instance, take laksa. The moment you reach the stalls, there will be throng of vendors coming towards you asking what you want. A quick look, you will see at east 4 laksa stalls. You will never know where your order will come from, or more importantly, will in come from the best stall on offer. It can be really intimidating if you were unfamiliar with the place. The second issue was the number of child beggars around. I was sure they were organised in syndicate. The problem was, they kept on coming and pretended that they did not know each other. After giving money to a couple of children, we soon got fed up and ignored the rest. The sad thing was, none of the vendors minded them, much to the annoyance of the visitors.

What to choose?And more ....The squid and cuttlefish I had was really nice, but shame about the laksa. The ais kacang was OK.I guess if I were to go there again, I should bring one of my uncles to take me around. He should know where to order from. Dropping by just like that may not be a good idea after all. If you really wanted to sample good food, get a local fella to come along!

Suffice to say that Idlan did not enjoy the visit since as soon as he arrived, he was swamped by the vendors, and the beggars. We had to finish up fast before the boys kick up an even bigger fuss. After a quick walk along the esplanade, we headed home. The main Padang Kota was transformed into a giant football hall. There was a massive screen beaming the World Cup game live later in the evening, filled with locals. There were also a small fanfare there. Unfortunately, lingering around was a bit too much for the boys.

Gurney Hotel, Penang

World Cup Dude!I had to leave early, and had breakfast at the main restaurant as my transport to G was at about 8.30 am. The boys were still fast asleep then - they had only slept after midnight. I later found out that after breakfast, Puan Anita and the boys spent a couple of hours in the pool! As the lunch break for my talks were a couple of hours, I walked back to Gurney Hotel to surprise the boys. They have just returned from the pool, Idlan was enjoying his ice-cream, while Puan Anita was getting ready to take them down for lunch.

I decided to take my camera out while walking back to G. The weather was really sunny on the afternoon, but the cool sea breeze kept things comfortable. I soon realised that the sea front along Gurney Drive had at least seven Bak Kut Teh restaurant - even more than the whole of Klang I thought! While waiting for the afternoon session to start, I had the chance to have a look around G. It certainly was very chic. The main lobby was expansive and open from one end to the next, giving the impression that it was more of a long corridor rather than a hotel lobby. Right next door was Gurney Plaza, an upscale mall by Penang standard, complete with multiplex cinemas. The banquet and conference service there were definitely state-of-the-art. It was a popular venue for weddings amongst the local upper middle-class.

The main lobby at Gurney HotelThe boys enjoying Shaun the Sheep! My favourite as well.Time for the pool. Nice slides but believe it or not, there was no wading pool.The infinity pool for adultsGym next to the pool, with beach sand of courseHmm! Let's work this one outThe session I had after lunch was quite long. I only arrived back to my room around 7 pm. After a quick wash, we headed for a drive around Georgetown, stopping for dinner at Padang Kota - more about that in the next entry. After dinner, me and the boys had another jacuzzi session before putting them to bed. The next morning, I woke up early in the hope of a quick photowalk around the Masjid Kapitan Keling area. Unfortunately the weather was gloomy. I skipped that instead.

After breakfast, they boys insisted on a session at the pool. Another quick dip, then it was time to pack up and check out. On the way back to KL, we stopped at KFC for lunch, then stopped by at Pahang Road to visit my grandmother. We finally reached Gombak just before 6 in the afternoon.

Penang Ahoy!

Idlan getting settled inEverytime I was invited to Penang for a talk, either as a speaker or just sitting in to listen, it was an opportunity to balik kampung - return home. Such opportunity came last weekend. One of the pharmaceutical company invited me to Penang, and I decided to drive the troupe along.

Morning sunrise from our roomThe main bathroom complete with jacuzzi, attached to the master bedroomI left work right after clinic last Friday, leaving KL just after 3.30 pm. Everybody was already full, so we drove on none-stop. We reached Prai at about 6.45 , crossed the Penang Bridge but only arrived at the hotel to check in just after 8, such was the traffic in Penang. It seemed that everybody was rushing around, either for food, or to reach home as on the night, Brazil were playing the Dutch - Dutch won despite Brazil dominating the first half.

The main living and dining area - I was about to unpack the WiiThe room we checked in was a two-bedroom suite, and the boys were really excited. The attached bathroom had a jacuzzi and a separate shower, hence the first order of business was a quick dip in the tub, while Puan Anita putting the room service order in. The boys were still running around until the end of the football match - which was around midnight. They were full of beans. It was not helped by the fact that the boys were asleep in the car on the drive up.

The suite we stayed in. Up on the 29th floor!We stayed at Gurney Hotel. The room was spacious. It has a main bedroom, with the jacuzzi. The other room was for the maid. She has another bathroom to use. There was a combined dining and living area, plus a small kitchenette. This was the second time we stayed here, the first being a couple of years ago. We specifically asked for this room even though the talk was actually held at the much newer and chic G Hotel, 15 minutes walk away. The round-the-clock room service was good. The best thing was the in-room breakfast. The boys just woke up, ran around and was ready for breakfast. No need to head for shower first. The added bonus was, football was shown live in the rooms.

I will talk about the hotel, and its services and swimming pool on a later entry. The slideshow of the photos taken during the trip can be seen here.

Novel Introduction

Team 1 - obviously ....Sorry about harping on with my recent trip to Damai Laut. But I promise that this will be the last installment. I wanted to touch a bit about the activity we had on the second day. We doctors have this often uneasy relationship with the Pharmaceutical companies. We depended on them for perks and in my case help for research. Over the years, I have been asked to attend their meetings, sponsored to travel to conferences and lately to be speakers in their medical meet-ups. I supposed, part of being an academician is to provide teaching talents, and I had made it known that it was something I loved to do. I went a step further a couple of years back when, during a chance meeting with an old friend - who studied in Sheffield with me, and was then working for a Pharmaceutical company - we discussed the possibility of organising sessions clearly targeted at up and coming doctors other support parties - Pharmacists an Dietitians. The doctors invited were mainly Medical Officers and the aim of the talks were to demystify come of the concepts that they see in their day to day practice, but may not have been thought well as they were having their training.

Desmond giving instructions at the beginningFirst task - make 9 nails stand on one!After 10 minutes of trying, the Pfizer rep took pity on us and showed how it was doneThe ‘Masterclass’ was born and in 2008, we had the first installment at Avilion Admiral Cove, Port Dickson. Last year it was held in Penang, and Damai Laut was the third. Obviously the program had evolve, and will continue to do so. I was proud to be involved at the planning stage, but due to my work commitment, the Pharmaceuticals provided the logistics and support. The target audience stayed the same. We managed to extend the invitation to almost 100 delegates. What the organiser cleverly did was outsourcing the event management to a third party. They also organised what I thought was a novel paperchase events, akin to the amazing race without the race - and some might say the amazing bit as well. What they did was organised the participants into groups, and they were given some tasks to do, similar to teambuilding exercise while having the chance to explore the resort. The exercises and tasks were centered around the products that the sponsor wanted to sell to the participants. We had the chance to mingle and network, while exploring the resort. The sponsors got the chance to introduce their products without essentially nailing it to the participants’ head. A win-win situation.

Heading to the first stationFlurry of activitiesPuzzle to be solved after the third stationThe fifth task - hit some targets with the bow and arrowYup! Our Dr Harre Haren is no Robin HoodThe Mohd Noor sisters doing some Charlie's Angel pose for the last taskYes! My team came last … and as the old adage said - it was not about the winning, but the taking part. Loser! And another thing. The event organiser I thought was very good. In the odd chance that you need an event sorted out, do give apxara a shout. The team leader for the event was a gentleman called Desmond. Do contact him through email here for more info.

Teluk Intan

I left Damai Laut just after lunch, after my friend KT Chua, got his pick-up. The weather was gorgeous, so I decided to take my time driving home. I wanted to sample the mee rebus in Teluk Intan while havong a look at the famous menara condong (leaning tower). Left the hotel at 1.45, and reached Teluk Intan ‘City’ - yes, it has city status for a few years now - just before 3 pm. Parked my car right in front of the stalls overlooking the tower. Unfortunately I cant find any stall selling mee rebus there. The one with the signs were closed at the time. Too early I guessed. I settled for some mee hailam instead. Just taking my time.

Walked across the road into the tower. It was smaller than I thought. The surrounding building forming a barrack surrounding the plaza where the tower stood did not help matters when it came to scale. Weather was gorgeous, quick snaps, then I stepped into the tower building.

Kudos to the City Council for putting effort into both preserving the building and making it accessible to the public. There were a few buses taking local an foreign visitors arriving at the plaza at the time I stepped in. All with their cameras, standing a distant away to have their pictures taken with the leaning tower behind them. Really happy to see that some of them were Malaysians. Honestly, this is the first time I have been to Teluk Intan as far as I can remember.

In the belly of the tower - where the main entrance lead to. The lady was leaning to peek into the well located right in the middle.A look into the wishing wellThe tower was opened to the general public. Entrance was free, and there was a visitor’s book for you to sign in as a token for the visit. Although 7 stories high, only the bottom three were opened. The upper floor housed what used to be a water tank - for the town - that was now emptied. There was also a clock which still belled every 15 minutes. I can see the pulleys and ropes everywhere, well greased to show it was still in great working order.

Close look at the motif of the pagoda-like roofThe exhibit on the wall in the towerAccording to Wikipedia, the tower was built in 1885 by a local Chinese entrepreneur. It was meant to serve as a water reservoir, a clock tower and a site where the whole town folks congregate. The tower were also lit for ships entering from the sea - Teluk Anson as it used to be called used to be a useful port town for tin and petroleum - to navigate. Over the years the erosion and silt made the river mouth shallower and Teluk Intan lost much of its business to Lumut, to its north. A few years, it was discovered that the tower was built on an underground river, causing one side of the tower to lower, causing it to tilt. It was not exactly the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but the tilt was quite obvious.

There are small walkways on the balcony of each of the tower floors. You can see the flags adorning the sides - it's World Cup fever baby!View from the balconyThe pulleys on the still working clock. It chimed every 15 minutes.So what was there inside the tower? Old pictures and writings about the history of the town. It still need a bit of curation but the fact that the place was preserved in the first place spoke volumes. Maybe in the coming years, there will be more exhibits on the tower floors. I spent some time looking around the building itself. The World Cup fever had definitely hit the tower. Flags adorned the side of the tower and there was a small football fiesta going on on the plaza next door. I wished that I did not have a time limit as I would have loved to explore more of the local building. There were a nice mixed of colonial, Malay and Chinese architecture in the town shophouses. Would love to go there again one day for a photography day trip. It was pretty scenic if you know what you were looking for.