My ex-colleague and old friend Andy Lim Soo Lian invited me and my wife Soh Ai to join him to Penang from Tue. 5/7/2022 till Fri. 8/7/2022 to stay in his time-sharing Hotel Leisure Cove (under Leisure Vacation Management S/B), Jalan Tanjung Bungah, Penang. We have earlier joined him to Greenhill Resort, Cameron Highlands in January 15th to 18th, 2022, and to Desaru Beach Resort, Johor in February 22nd to 25th, 2022 utilizing his penultimate membership of Leisure Holiday.
DAY 1: Tue. July 5, 2022
8.30am Soo Lian punctually arrived at my house at BSL from Seremban. We went to 45 Sky Restaurant at Section 11, BSL for breakfast.
The traffic condition was very bad and it took us 1.5 hour to leave KL city to hit the North-South Highway.
11.05am Stopped at R&R Rawang for a break and refreshment. We took kopi (2xRM1.50 hot, RM1.90 cold) and 3 pcs. of pau (RM9). Left at 11.40am.
1.25pm Stopped at Hentian Rehat / Agro Mall for a break.
3.30pm Stopped at R&R Semanggol and took Mee Bandung Muar (3xRM5). Left at 3.50pm.
5.35pm Reached Hotel Leisure Cove, No. 563, Jln. Wee Hein Tze, Tg. Bungah, Penang and checked into our 2-room apartment (room 508) with a very spacious sitting and dinning place. The hotel is old but clean enough. The sofa chairs are uncomfortable as the seats are too deep/long for leaning. .
8.05pm Visited Coco Island Street Food, Persiaran Gurney (aka Gurney Drive) and savoured hawkers’ food like fried oyster (蚝煎--中RM20）, Dongbei dumplings (东北饺子 6 no. for RM12）, lobak （卤肉 RM13）, fried noodles 炒粿条和炒河粉）.and kek hua hot (菊花热茶) drink (3xRM2.50). The food was tasty.
10.10pm Returned to hotel.
11.00pm Good night.
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| R&R Rawang |
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| R&R Semanggol |
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| Hotel Leisure Cove, Tg. Bungah, Penang |
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| Checking in |
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| Kitchen area |
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| Master bedroom |
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| 2nd room |
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| View from 5th floor balcony |
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| At the balcony |
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| Sitting room |
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| Gurney Drive Street Food |
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| Fried oyster (RM20 plate) |
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| Dong Bei dumplings (RM1.3 each) |
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| Lobak |
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| Fried noodles |
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| Seafood restaurant next to Coco Island |
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| Hotel roof top's swimming pool |
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| Surveyed the swimming pool |
DAY 2: Wed. July 6, 2022
7.30am Left for Penang Hill. This morning’s plan was hiking.
8.10am Breakfast at Kafe Lye Lye, Jln. Bendera. All 3 of us took Penang prawn mee (3xRM5.50) and coffee (each RM1.50).
9.00am Reached Penang Hill’s multi-storey car park building. Lim’s university mate Chan CT came to join us.
Soh Ai took the funicular train (RM12 for return tickets) to go up the hill while we hiked. Lim, Chan and I being senior citizens bought a discounted one-way ticket (express lane) for RM3 each for the return trip.
Both Lim (aged 69) and Chan (aged 65) are seasoned hikers, but I am only a first-timer. So it tuned out to be a horrible hiking experience for me!
Lim had earlier predicted that our planned Heritage Hiking Trail of 4.70km to the peak (735m high) would take about 2.5 hr.
I only realized later that required hiking time can only be achieved by seasoned hikers like Lim and Chan. On the other hand, I was so inexperienced and unprepared that I didn’t carry any bottle of water during the hiking, while both my companions carried a haversack..
The trail is all the way quite steep and strenuous to walk. Shortly after 10 minutes of walk, I already found myself heavily panting. My friends had purposely slowed down their pace so as to let me catch up, but I still lagged behind them most of the time. I sweated so profusely that my entire shirt and pants were soaking wet.
Midway along the trail, I was so dehydrated that Lim offered mineral water for me to drink and let me eat some rambutan plucked from the spot to gain energy.
Towards the last 1.2km trail, both my left and right calves cramped. Luckily Lim helped massage and relieved my pains to a great extent. Chan then suggested for us to walk out (another 100m away) to the main road and tried catching an electric car to bring us up to the peak. I seriously thought I couldn’t make it to the top by walking anymore.
We were lucky to hitch a ride from an electric car for free and reached the peak at 12.45pm with Soh Ai waiting there.
I was so exhausted that I drank 2 bottles of 100 Plus to quench my thirst and had very little mood to enjoy the scenic views on the hill top.
1.35pm We took the funicular train to go down Penang Hill and parted way with Chan.
We stopped by Air Itam to buy/take-away asam laksa and koay teow soup to bring back to our hotel. I had been driving all day long but I was so tired due to hiking that I asked Soo Lian to take the wheel for the rest of the journey.
2.20pm Returned to hotel. After taking bath and eating the koay teow soup, I took a nap on the couch from 3.15pm till 4.45pm. What a sweet nap it was!
Later I penned down a brief narrative in Chinese to share with some friends and posted in my FB as follows: .
其实我从没真正爬过山（hill hiking). 今早随旅伴Lim SL (69岁）和他的大学同学（槟城人）Chan CT （65岁）一起爬槟城升旗山（Penang). 他俩都是登山常客（hikathon members),带着内有必需品的背包登山,我却毫无经验,空手而上.
我们早上9点出发,沿着某一小径前往海拔735公尺的升旗山山顶（我太太则坐缆车）.据知徒步距离只有4.7公里,但倾斜的羊肠小径对我非常吃力,不到半路我已气喘如牛,全身湿透,同伴们已放慢脚步让我拾级跟上,同时提供矿泉水给我喝,以及採摘路边红毛丹给我食用以补充体内盐量,我还是举步维艰！
走到最后1.2公里路时,我的左右小腿终于抽筋了.幸得Lim替我按摩舒筋,Chan则建议乘坐电动车代步,中午12点45分终于抵达山顶,我已全身乏力,马上喝了两瓶100 Plus解渴,已无心浏览山上风景了,过后我们都坐缆车下山.
回到酒店洗过澡后,从下午3点15分睡到4点45分,总算稍为解除过度的疲劳.
今日一之役后,我对爬山已小生怕怕了!
7.15pm Left hotel.
7.35pm Dinner at Tg. Bungah Hawkers’ Center. I took braised duck rice (卤鸭饭 RM7）, pig intestine (猪大肠 RM4）. Soh Ai ordered lobak (RM14.50). A glass of barley drink cost RM1.80.
8.10pm Visited Lotus’s Mall and later Plaza Gurney. Window-shopping only.
9.30pm Back to hotel. I took a bit of the Air Itam (bisu) Asam Laksa.
11.10pn Hit the sack.
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| View from 5th floor balcony |
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| Jalan Bendera (leading to Penang Hill) |
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| Breakfast before hiking |
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| Penang prawn mee stall |
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| Penang prawn mee (RM5.50) |
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| Penang Hill carpark complex |
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| At the car park |
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| Penang Hill funicular train station |
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| Ticket fares for funicular trains |
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| At the start of Heritage Trail Hike |
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| The sloping trail |
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| Lim and Chan had no problem in hiking |
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| View from part of the trail |
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| I could hardly catch up with the pace of my friends |
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| One of the temple places along the trail. I was then dead tired. |
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| The place where we hitched a ride from an electric car |
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| Finally reached the peak of Penang Hill |
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| First train cabin in Penang |
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| Refreshment at hill top cafeteria. |
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| Funicular train arriving |
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| Incoming passengers alighting from the train |
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| Lim and Chan in the front coach |
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| Tg. Bungah Hawkers' Centre |
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| My braised duck rice + pig intestine dinner |
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| Soh Ai's favorite food - lobak |
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| Plaza Gurney |
DAY 3: Thu. July 7, 2022
Today happens to be a public holiday in Penang in conjunction with George Town UNESCO World Heritage Day :
8.40am Breakfast at Long Sheong Kopitiam near our hotel. Savoured Penang white curry mee（白咖喱面 RM6) and Jawi chai kuay (爪夷菜粿 RM1.30 each). Coffee was RM1.80 per cup.
After breakfast, we walked to the nearby Tg. Bungah Market & Food Complex where I bought some fruits (RM10 for 3 packets of mango, guava and dragon ball fruit and a pair of sandals.(RM15).
9.20am Back to hotel.
I had an appointment to meet ex-journalist/chat group friend Chiew Mui Kheng (周美馨) and her hubby Mr. Lee 李荣白 for the first time at New World Park Food City (新世界美食城) , 102, Jln. Burma. George Town at 12.00pm.
10.30am Left hotel to go to George Town where we stopped by Ghee Hiang ( 义香饼家) at Jln. Burma to buy a few types of tau sar pneah (豆沙饼) amounting to RM62.60. The next-door popular tau sar biscuit shop of Him Heang (馨香饼家) was full of customers queuing in front of the door and that discouraged us from patronizing.
11.15am We arrived at New World Park Food City (open space parking RM5 per entry) and ordered NWP signature ice cendol (RM4.50 per bowl) while Soh Ai ordered ice kacang + mango (RM9.50). The cendol was not that nice but Soh Ai’s drink seemed better.
12.00pm Chiew MK and Mr. Lee arrived on time. They came from Butterworth.
We had a very pleasant long chit-chat that lasted almost 4 hours (the initial plan was only 1 hour). A lot of life experiences and stories were exchanged among us and it was indeed a great meetup!
3.55pm After bidding farewell to Chiew and Lee, we proceeded to visit Chew Jetty (open space parking RM6 per entry) and had a coffee break (RM2 per cup) at a coffee shop along the main road.
4.55pm Left for Komtar, George Town.
5.15pm Reached Komtar. Walked to Jln. Penang and savoured the famous Teochew Cendol (RM4.40 per bowl) before buying a variety of local products at a road-side stall (total RM77).
6.40pm Visited Straits Quay Marina Mall (as recommended by Chiew MK) at Tg. Tokong, Penang’s seafronting retial mall sitting on reclaimed land. The sight of many small vessels in the water was indeed mesmerizing!
7.45pm Dinner at GOODGOODAY Restaurant, Jln. Lembah Pernai near our hotel. The cost of 3 dishes of special seafood (mantis prawn) RM16, vegetable RM12 and beancurd RM15, rice RM3.60, drinks RM2.10. Total RM48.70..
8.20pm Returned to hotel.
10.10pm Hit the sack.
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| Shops near our hotel |
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| Coffee shop for our breakfast |
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| White curry mee |
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| Jawi cai kuay |
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| Market & Food Complex |
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| Inside the market & food complex |
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| Ghee Heang biscuit shop |
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| Tambun biscuits |
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| Him Heang with queue of customers at the entrance |
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| Walking to the New World Park Food City |
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| Cendol - taste so-so only |
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| Ice kacang with mango and ice-cream |
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| Chiew Mui Kheng and her hubby Mr. Lee |
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| A group photo for commemoration |
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| Lim (pic left) and Lee engaging in interesting conversation |
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| A wefie with Chiew |
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| Temple near Chew Jetty at Weld Quay |
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| Chew Jetty |
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Monkey God
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| Prangin Mall, Komtar |
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| Penang Road famous Teochew Chendul |
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| Teochew Chendul (RM4.40 per bowl) |
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| Penang Road stalls |
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| Local products bought |
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| Straits Quay, Tanjung Tokong |
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| Straits Quay Marina Mall |
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| Our dinner at Goodgooday Restaurant |
DAY 4: Fri. July 8, 2022
8.00am Breakfast at Tg. Bungah Market & Food Complex where the first thing I did was to buy a copy of NYSP which published my column article today. I took yong-tau-foo mee (RM10.40).
8.40am Soo Lian and I walked to the beach behind our hotel to take a look at the Straits of Malacca.
9.35am Soo Lian and I went for a swim on the hotel’s roof top swimming pool till 10.15am.
10.50am Checked out from hotel and left Penang.
The northward bound traffic condition along the entire N-S Highway was seen to be very heavy with cars stranded for many kilometers, probably due to the upcoming long weekend holidays (i.e. Sunday and Monday are the first two days of Hari Raya Haji)..
2.25pm Late lunch at Restoran Jin Cheng, Tapah where we had Teochew-steamed talapia fish (潮州蒸金凤鱼 RM32), black vinegar pork trotters (猪脚醋 RM14), stir-fried saplings (清炒树苗 RM8), Chinese Pur-er teapot RM2.50 and rice (2 big) RM2.60. Total RM59.10. We also bought some local products (RM49.38) there.
3.10pm Left Tapah.
6.05pm Returned home at BSL. Soo Lian picked up his car and returned to Seremban.
That concluded our memorable vacation to Penang. My total expenditure for the 4D3N trip was RM618.00 excluding petrol and tolls.
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| Loading some of our luggage in the car prior to checkout |
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| A final view of Hotel Leisure Cove main entrance |
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| Tg. Bungah Market & Food Complex |
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| My breakfast at a glance |
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| Floating mosque at the seaside behind our hotel |
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| A selfie with Soo Lianat the beach |
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| Roof top swimming pool's notice |
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| Going for a swim before checkout |
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| Ready to depart from the hotel and farewell to Penang |
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| Tapah |
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| Lunch at Tapah restaurant |
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| Delicious Teochew-steamed talapia |
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| Local products bought from Tapah |
Labels: Travelogue
