The Light Penang

Light literally translated as “lampu” in Malay. And one of the famous British Captain who had ruled Penang in the past was Sir Francis Light. I was struggling to figure out if the hotel we stayed when we were in Seberang Jaya the other weekend was named after the famous captain.

But instead it was because the hotel was owned by the Pelita Group, a famous nasi kandar chain. And “pelita” could also be translated as “light”.

Enough about the name, the hotel proved to be better than I expected. Despite being three years old, everything felt brand new. The room service we ordered as well as the breakfast selection was also delightful. The hotel had full range of services including gym, pool and spa. There was also a convention taking place the morning we were there, and I was sure they had a good confererence package to go along with it as well.

We stayed on the 15th floor, a nice room, great shower and confortable bed. The breakfast was also better than I expected with selection of local and international food. We ended up spending almost an hour an a half killing time that morning, checking on the news and just browsing the net.

We would definitely recommend this hotel and would plan to stay here again should we need to come back to Seberang Perai. Unfortunately, we had already made plans for our Raya trip to Penang and would be staying across on the island side.

A Day Off

Ramadhan starts tomorrow. As customary, I try to take the Eve and the first day of Ramadhan off, basically just to hang around with the family or do some shopping.

I started off the day ferrying the boys to school before touching base to do my ward round. It finished later than expected and I had to rush to join my Mum and Sister at IOI Mall for lunch. Anita was in IJN with her brother who was having an angiogram done today.

At IOI Mall waiting for my mother. I never actually explored this place. Looked huge!The decorations at KLCC being builtI joined Anita and visited her brother after I had my meal. This followed by a spot of shopping at KLCC - I ended up buying more than I originally planned. And that took the whole afternoon, followed by sorting out the boys for early bed as we would be waking up early for sahur tomorrow.

Traffic building up in front of the apartmentWaiting for the sun to set ...Another day off tomorrow, and very likely I would be breaking my fast in Gombak after of course a quick trip to Pasar Ramadhan!

Back to Business

Things were slowly picking up after almost the whole of KL stood still following a super-long weekend post-election. The road were pretty empty in the morning and I did not have to make any school runs. On the domestic front, my father-in-law had also been discharged.

Anita had been busy sorting him out in Gombak and she was clearly tired in the evening. I had taken a couple of days off to celebrate the start of Ramadhan, although I still do my morning rounds.

I had some paperwork to complete during those days off, rounding off my stuff for the MSH Meeting. I also had to do some shopping and sorting out the bills. I wouldn’t mind doing some shopping for Raya as well while I was at that!

A Quick Trip to Penang

Traditionally, I would make a trip up to Penang each year before Ramadhan. To visit relatives or at least sample the food. This year I had another excuse, as one of my cousins was getting married.

We only stayed one night, with only Anita and I travelling. We stayed in Seberang Perai where the wedding was held. I only left KL after work, managing to reach the hotel before 10 pm.

I had a relaxing evening, enjoying a long breakfast the next morning as the wedding started only at noon. My Mum, sister and Aunt came to join us at the wedding hall soon after as they were staying in Sungai Petani and travelled separately.

My Mum coming with my brother-in-lawThe pelaminBunga telurThe wedding was nice and I got to meat plenty of my relatives. The topic of conversation was definitely politics. In fact, one of the local candidate turned up as he was a friend of my Uncle. After lunch and the bersanding, we decided to cross to Penang for some laksa and “sotong kangkung”.

Traffic was surprisingly light. Enjoued the food, brought some for my mother-in-law in KL as we would be leaving straight from Penang. We stayed at Padang Kota for the food, before setting of, reaching KL at around 9 pm.

One of my AuntExchanging contactsThe happy coupleWe decided to take the small Perodua instead as the MPV’s battery went dead before we left. The car was surprisingly light and relaxing to drive and despite taking our time and making a few stops, we still got back to KL in plenty of time.

We planned to spend Hari Raya in Penang, so staying just a single night was not a big deal. We got to meet everybody at the wedding anyway.

Fading

It had been three days. And I had been seeing many patients, using the alcohol handrub after most of the encounters.

Clearly it did something to the ink on my finger. It had flaked off and fading away even at the nails.

I doubt that the drama would have finished when the ink was gone. Ramadhan coming, but that won’t stop me from having some popcorns in the evenings ...