Custom Search

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Before the Penang Trip...

me and Huai Bin only have about a week's time to look for accommodation. What's better way to do it online. I found this website call HotelsCombined.com. From here, I can find hotels not only in Malaysia but also most city in the world like Bangkok and Singapore. Of course there's hotel in Kuala Lumpur and Penang. Okay, so that's how we got our accomodation and booked a room in Cititel Penang. Internet made travelling so easy nowadays. We can book the flight online from MAS website, made hotel reservation and even book for tour bus if we wanted to.

Long Weekend Penang Trip - Day 3

Continued from the second day of me and Huai Bin in Penang, I wrote that my friend will be driving us around on Day 3 but she'll only be free after 4 p.m. and we have to check out from the hotel at 1p.m. Normally it's 12 p.m., we asked for an extension. So, we kept out luggage at the concierge first as we wanted to go for brunch.

We planned to go to Lorong Seratus Tahun for the curry mee that we missed the first day, char kuey teow by the lady in Lorong Selamat, and ice-kacang in New World Park. This time instead of taking the taxi, we took the thrisaw. We were tourist after all lol.




It's kind of cramp for me and Huai Bin to sit in one trishaw and both our weight added together is about 165 kg. So, you know that the uncle is very strong now to be able to pedal us.



It's quite fun to travel in the trishaw but I also felt it is quite a dangerous ride because every other vehicle around us is bigger and faster, and we're out in the open without any cover. Lucky it's not raining while we're on the ride. Want to take a feel of what it's look like riding a trishaw? You can play the video I took.



We reached safely at our destinaton or should I say the wrong destination. The uncle actually don't know where is Lorong Seratus Tahun, so he asked his friend and was told to go to Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Center but he took us to Sun Yat-Sen Base instead. There's two Sun Yat-Sen attraction in Penang. Luckily we were able to stopped the uncle again and tell him that he took us to the wrong place.



Managed to snap a picture before we go.

So, there we go again on the trishaw. After passing the road and building that we passed by, we made it to Lorong Seratus Tahun. The fee for the ride is RM 10.



Luckily it's still open when we reached. So now I can try the curry mee that I ate in Lorong Seratus Tahun in SS2 from the original stall. The curry mee here is different from the normal curry mee we always see. The soup here uses very little santan (coconut milk). It's not spicy at all if you don't add in their specially made chili paste that is on every table there. You more of it if you like it spicy. I usually put in three full spoons.




We ordered a small bowl with extra prawn that cost RM 5.50 per bowl. Besides fresh prawn, there's also blood cockles, sotong and pig blood (black pudding). Satisfying bowl of curry mee. I found that the taste here is about the same as in SS2. So, next time I can go to SS2 if I'm craving for Lorong Seratus Tahun curry mee and don't have to come to Penang. The quality is almost the same, just the price is different of course.

Rating: 4/5

After eating the curry mee as appetizer, we walked across the road and into Jalan Dato Keramat. I remembered Cheryl told me that Ah Leng char kueh teow is along this road. I called Kah Wheng and got the direction but alas, Ah Leng already closed. So, we took a taxi and go to Lorong Selamat.



Me and Huai Bin shared a plate of char kueh teow that cost us RM 8.50. I think this is the price for extra prawn. I at first mistaken this stall for sister char kueh teow, they put crab meat and prawn in their char kueh teow. While waiting for our char kueh teow (even though there's not many customer, still we have to wait for 30 minutes), a lady in the restaurant let us sample some of her pork floss. I found it to be quite nice, so I bought one.



The char kueh teow here also use some very big prawn. The taste here is a bit saltier than the one that we ate on the first day and the prawn is not as fresh. Ah, such a disappointment.

Rating: 2.75/5



While we were enjoying our char kueh teow, it was raining quite heavily. Luckily, it was only drizzling when we finished, so that we can walk to New World Park which is just a stone throw a way from Lorong Selamat. By the way, Tune Hotel, Penang is just next to New World Park.



I knew about the ice-kacang here after watching Ho Chak! Season 8 Episode 12. We ordered the ice-kacang special, which have 4 fruits and ice-cream. The 4 fruits is mango, banana, papaya and honey dew. On top of that, there's also kidney beans and and very firm jelly like thingy. I can say that this is one of the best ice-kacang that I've ever eaten. A must try if you're here. I also ordered the Tee Nya Kueh that Ah Yoon ate in the show.




The Tye Nyah Kueh don't have taste on it's own, it only have a mild pandan taste. It gets it's taste from the gula melaka. It's quite cooling and the taste is balanced well with the brown sugar.

Tye Nyah Kueh



My lovely bowl of ice-kacang.

After our brunch, we made our way back to the hotel and waited for Valerie to come and pick us up. At about 4.15 p.m. she arrived. Since, there's still time, I ask her to drive us to the Snake Temple which is quite near the Penang International Airport. The snake temple closes at 5 p.m. and we made it before it closes.


Snake Temple

The snakes are not in the temple but a room next to the temple. Due to development, the snakes here are near extinction. Huai Bin paid RM 30 to take picture with the snakes on him. They will print out the picture on the spot and give it to you. I don't think Pinky will ever pay money for this lol.






There's actually a snake farm next to the room. We paid RM 3 each for entrance fee instead of RM 5 by showing my MYKAD. There's about 15 different species of snake in the farm. There's also tortoise and monkey. There's one big tortoise that is already 65 year old, which is still very young for a tortoise. We also able to watch the python feeds on the chicken.







That day must be our lucky day because the person in charge there decided to add an extra snake show for the crowd there. The show was supposed to have ended already. We were shown the handling of Mangrove Snake, Cobra, and King Cobra. The snake handler told us that, the Mangrove is not very poisonous, it's venom will only cause pain within 45 minutes. Huai Bin asked whether he can get bitten by it and take medical leave the next day. Lukily, he was stopped by the lady owner, if not, we might not make it in time for the flight because we have to go to the hospital lol.

Handling the Mangrove Snake.

The King Cobra can grow longer than the Cobra that can only grow until 1 meter long. Hence the name King Cobra. The King Cobra's venom can kill a human within 15 minutes if no anti-venom is injected. Even though there's a nurse with us that day, I don't dare to stay close an get bitten by it.


The King Cobra.

For RM 3 each, we got ourselves quite an entertaining visit to the Snake Temple. Valerie drove us to Queensbay Mall (currently the biggest shopping mall in Penang) to have dinner. There's nothing special to eat, so we chose to eat in Dragon-i.


Xiao Long Bao, Drunken Chicken, Fried Prawn in Bean curd roll, and Crab with egg white.



Me and the Nurse.

After dinner, it's time to go to the airport to check in.


Huai Bin and I at the Penang International Airport showing our MAS boarding pass.


Take one more picture with Valerie before going back to Kuala Lumpur.

It's been a very interesting 3 days 2 nights in Penang, Malaysia. Domestic traveling can actually be fun too if you know what to look for. A long weekend like this is also a good time to grab the Weekend Special package from Malaysia Airlines.


Adios Penang, Hello Kuala Lumpur.


11 comments :

ahlost said...

Gelik lar those snakes...

KOW and OLC said...

nice.....will try the mee curry next time in penang. :-)

Ciki said...

yikes! poor chicken!

That curry mee looks greasy and really delicious!

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

u really ate n travel n took pics to the max eh..

Raymond said...

hey.i 'm a foodie from kuching..wanna exchange link?
i have added you in my friends list..=]love your food post

Sharon said...

hey simon,
the char koay teow you tried the wrong stall dy! I've never tried the one by the aunty but alot said she's arrogant. I tried the one fried by a man with funky looking sunglass and I never look back. It was SO SO GOOD I SWEAR ON MY PET DOG's LIFE (which i dont have one but well trust me)
Extra big plate, extra prawns, extra pork lard, extra chilies, that's how i always order it.
Perfecto!

Tummythoz said...

THAT is my 4evah fav curry mee!!!

Melanie said...

the ais kacang dammmmmmmmmmmmmn good

Simon Seow said...

Rose: Try touching them lol.

Kow: Yah, you should.

Cumi & Cuki: That's the natural order of life. Ya, curry mee is good.

Joe: Ok ok lah. If not go Penang for what wor.

Raymond: Hi. Thanks. Will add you.

Sharon: Yah the aunty one is not very nice. I tried the man one on the first day. You can read it from the link in the post :p

Tummythoz: oh good choice

Melanie: yeah, love it.

Selba said...

So nice to see the posts of your penang trip, it makes me feel like I'm also in the trip :)

§pinzer said...

anything else crazy u guys did? =.=