A Day in Penang

Everyone got up earlier on the Saturday after having a nice rest at the hotel the night before. We were up in plenty of time for breakfast before joining my Mum and Aunt again at her place. Then came the plan to head to Penang Island to visit more relatives. My Aunt tagged along as well.

We arrived at my other Aunt's place well before lunch - there was hardly any traffic getting there. We decided to have lunch at one of the nasi kandar shop near my Aunt's apartment and it was a delight. Irfan especially felt sleepy after the curry and ended up on the sofa while we were waiting for Zohor prayers.

Irfan contemplating what to try next ...Then came the sotong kangkung ...Making acquaintance with the local wildlife ...Next stop .... Padang Kota. As per custom, we would order pasembor, laksa, sotong bakar, sotong kangkung and ais kacang; not necessarily in that order. It was gorgeous although the laksa could have been better - it didn't come with shrimp paste.

We just sat at the esplanade after the meal with the boys playing with bubbles and running around the place.

Nah! We stick to the bubbles ...That's Butterworth at the far end ...Let's start ...

Next stop was at another Aunt's place in Kepala Batas. They had recently moved there from Butterworth and this was the first time I came over to visit them at their new place. More food and by this time, the boys were already getting grumpy. When we finally dropped my Mum and Aunt, it was already past sunset. Another early for the long journey tomorrow ...

Morning Walk Part 2

Halfway down the street, I took a right turn at Love Street, seeing the many colourful hotels and hostels there. A backpacker's paradise, and more snaps. Next was Lebuh Muntri. A misspelling of the Malay word Menteri, it used to host dignitaries from out of town. Many old building still stood, some being turned into museums and some into guest houses. A few nice modern cafes as well had mushroomed up, balancing the old and the new.

There were street markets and vendor but at that time, the number of cars were already building up. I wished that the whole place was turned into a car-free zone ....

I also noticed that there were plenty of bicycles and moppet for hire available at the area. Expensive and they mainly targeted the tourists. If you knew the route, you could cover the town centre and experience the charm in double quick time.

After I was done with Lebuh Muntri, another turn took me back to my hotel within 10 minutes. Which was just as well since the boys were already up and they were ready for their breakfast. I stayed back to have a shower before joining them.

The walk lasted almost a couple of hours, and my GPS recorded the distance I covered to be just below 5 kilometres. A nice morning work-out. And an enjoyable one as well. And the photos? I just uploaded 210 snaps onto Flickr just then. Not bad .....

More stories from this trip here.

Morning Walk Part 1

It was too early for the boys, and Anita was still asleep. A quick peek out the window and as predicted by the weatherman, the morning would be overcast. No chance of setting up the GoPro for the sunrise capture.

So, I bide my time and once the morning broke, I took my camera gear out and headed towards Lebuh Armenian. Nice breeze, although a blue sky would have been great. Due to the cloud cover, I decided to go telephoto. I attached the 56mm on the X-T1, switched on my GPS and started walking.

I walked from the hotel towards Penang Road via Lebuh Leith, reaching the intersection with Lebuh Chulia. Walked further down taking a left along Lebuh Kimberley, later turning north at Lebuh Carnavon to join Armenian Street.

There was plenty to concentrate on on this walk. With the lens, I mainly did close-up of the windows and building facade. Colourful, gorgeous architecture, a mix of the later 19th Century Chinese influence and a later Art Deco styling. Eclectic mix to be quite honest, wishing that I was better versed in the arts.

It was still early in the day and being Saturday, there was hardly many cars. Plenty of tourists though with their cameras on tow. Some of them already settled for breakfast at the cafe alongside the streets, outnumbering the locals.

At the end of Armenian Street I took a left turn up Lebuh Pantai and another left at Lebuh Ah Quee. Plenty more subjects and mural here.

More stories from this trip here.

Heritage House?

The Pahang Road house in Penang had formally changed ownership as of last month. It felt kind of weird not be able to visit the house this Raya. It seemed to be our usual congregation point.

One of my cousins alerted me that the house was being renovated and would be changed into some sort of heritage house. I had to go and check it out if that was for real. And it was.

The old verandahStill, I was not really sure about what the new owner had in mind. But they seemed to be putting a lot of effort and money into the project. And the signs on the wall - quite literally on the wall - was pretty interesting. The sign said "Rumah Kampung Mohamed Hj Md Ariff", which was my late Grandfather.

Should be interesting to find out what would come out of this ....

A Full Day

Since I was only in Penang overnight, I had to cram as many visits as I could today. And I did just that.

I went straight to my Grandmother's house in Georgetown. My parents and sister soon joined me. Before long, my eldest Uncle and his daughters and grandchildren also arrived. We hang around for a bit, before leaving for lunch.

As usual, it had to be nasi kandar. We went to Kassim, right opposite Komtar. It was only half open from the looks of things. But, it was still authentic stuff. Two servings of rice and a few scoops of fish curry later, we were ready to hit Seberang.

My Grandmother in the middle, with her two eldest sons, my Dad on the left most, and my Uncle, second from the right.

First stop, my Auntie's place in Seberang Jaya. One of their daughters - my cousin - will be getting married in October and they were busy making preparations. It looked like it would be another trip up North next month. Then we went to Kepala Batas, and stopped at a couple of houses - both were my Uncles - and was joined by another Auntie. And tonight, I would be spending the evening at another Auntie's house in Sungai Petani. Now that was a full day if you asked me.

Lunch was almost served.The damage in the endOne of my handsome nephews.My sister, Julia.My Uncle, Basir, at my late Grandfather's house.

It was nice catching up with the family although most of them were asking where Anita and my boys were. Had to leave them behind, for efficiency you see.

We just had a hefty dinner and would sure be having coffee and a chat after that. I was sure I would be sleeping like a baby. Had to start the journey early tomorrow. I was sure the traffic would be heavy if we left late. Here are the photos from the trip.