My Trip - Part 2 - Penang Island

16 November 2007, Friday
The ferry was delayed for ½ hour and only departed at 3.00 p.m. We were queued at the front row in order to avoid the long queue as there were many people in the ferry point. We were sit at the third row which was near to the television and I sit near the window. They played a movie cum documentary which was about the Orang Utan in Sarawak, Borneo Island and the actress was Julia Roberts. It was an interesting documentary but half way through I was so tired and fall asleep.

When I woke up at 5.30 p.m., I can see Penang Island from the window and it took about ½ hour to reach the jetty point. It was raining outside but luckily not that heavy. All the passengers were asked to wait outside while the crews took out our luggage from the ferry. After we took our luggage, we have to rush quickly to the waiting area of the building which was about 5 minutes away as it started raining heavily.

The driver of the tour agency was waiting for us there and he took us to our hotel, City Bayview Hotel to check in. He left us there and will pick us up the next morning at 8.30 a.m.

We checked in our room and took shower before we heading to Komtar, the highest shopping centre in Penang by taxis. Komtar is quite an old shopping centre and it is the centre point of the express buses from all the major cities of West Malaysia and Singapore. This area was so familiar to me as it was still the same as before. When was the last time I come here? I think sometime in 1996. Wow, 11 years already…. That long!!!

We were having our dinner in the shopping centre and window shopping until 10.00 p.m. After that we went to our hotel and rest. That night I can’t sleep, so I called up my friend in Penang but unfortunately he was unable to make it as his auntie passed away yesterday. So I walked down the hotel and there were a few stalls outside the hotel. I ordered a burger and teh-c-peng. I enjoyed my burger while seeing the passer-by as there was a disco cum pub in the hotel. I went to sleep at around 1.00 a.m.

17 November 2007, Saturday

I woke up around 7.30 a.m. and was a bit tired. After breakfast, we went down to lobby and the driver was there already. We took off on time and heading to our first destination, Penang State Museum. It’s just a small building in the town and mostly we could see the ancient Chinese clothing, culture, tools etc. I think our Sarawak Museum is still the best in Malaysia.
Our second destination was Fort Cornwallis where Francis Light and his crews first landed in 1786 to take possession of Penang Island. Inside there we could see the statue of Francis Light, an old Christian chapel, a gunpowder magazine, harbor light & flagstaff, Seri Rambal Cannon, gunpowder barrel etc. It is the best preserved fort in West Malaysia.
After that we were brought to see the temples like Sleeping Buddha and Burmese Temple. I just sat outside waiting for them and didn’t go in. The weather was very hot as it’s around 12.00 noon already and I started to feel hungry. Finally they came out and the driver brought us to visit the Batik processing shop and White Coffee shop. The restaurant was just next to the Batik shop. Thank God…… I was so hungry…

The food were simple but delicious, maybe because I was hungry and any food were tasted good to me..hehehe… After lunch, Botanical Garden was our next destination. I was lazy to walk in the park as probably the weather was very hot and also I have been here many years ago and were nothing much to see, so I sat outside and enjoyed ice-cream while waiting for them.
Our last destination was the Toy Museum and this museum claimed to be the best and biggest in term of toys collection in Malaysia and South East Asia. The entrance fee per person is RM10.00 and there were a lot of toys in the pyramid shape of building. This building used to be a discotheque as I still remembered I was here many years back. After that we went back to hotel at around 4.30 p.m. to rest. He will pick us up again at 6.30 p.m. for dinner and night sight-seeing.

The driver was really punctured and we left our hotel at 6.30 p.m. He informed us in the car that he will only bring us to see the Penang Bridge but not drive through as it was not in the itinerary of our package and furthermore, that time was the peak hour and the bridge was very jammed. My friend’s wife was not happy with the arrangement of not driving pass through Penang Bridge.

The driver kept on driving towards Batu Ferringhi as we were supposed to experience the night market and have our dinner there. Upon arriving at the hawker stalls, my friend was asking the driver whether he could bring us to drive through Penang Bridge and cancelled the night market trip. The driver insisted that it was not in the package and yet too far from here. I do agree with him but my friend’s wife insisted of going to Penang Bridge. So we have to follow her and some of us were not happy of cancelling the night market trip. What to do?

We have a quick dinner and proceeded to Penang Bridge. All the way, we keep silent and ‘enjoy’ the journey from Batu Ferringhi - Penang Bridge – Butterworth – Ferry – Georgetown – City Bayview Hotel. Imagine, it took us about 1 ½ hours!! What a waste!
After I reached hotel at around 10.00 p.m, I called up my friend to pick me for supper. We went to play a few rounds snooker before having our supper at Gurney Drive. We were chit-chatting until 2.00 a.m. in the morning.

18 November 2007, Sunday
Today is the final day of our trip. We were brought to visit Penang Hill and Kek Lok Si Temple in the morning. To me, there were nothing much to see for both places.
We finished at 12.00 noon and there were still plenty of time as our flight was at 5.00 p.m. The driver dropped us at Penang largest, longest and most packed shopping centre, Queensbay Mall at Bayan lepas which is near to Penang International Airport. We were having our lunch at the food court inside and after that I was sitting at the long chair as very tired of late night yesterday.

The driver came to pick us to airport at around 3.30 p.m. Our flight was on schedule and I was sleeping in the flight throughout the journey.

That’s the end of my trip to Penang.