Hello Penang!!

I just went to Penang, Malaysia during Songkran Festival. Why didn’t I stay in Thailand and enjoy the traditional Thai festival?? Becoz I get sick of it, I’ve been experiencing this Thai New Year festival for 20 or so years now..soo plzzzzzzz don’t tell me what I should do, OK?

Day 1: April 11, 2006
Started off with a flight from Bangkok to Penang by AirAsia (do I need to remind u again that I’m a broke ass girl? Though, even if I have a lot of money to waste, I still don’t wanna waste it on TG either, blahh)
After we arrived at the Airport, we took a taxi to Georgetown..well, I’m very impressed with Penang or Malaysia rather. The roads seem to be in very good condition, people can speak English better than in Thailand (no offense to my own country), the city is a lot cleaner and organized, no pollution..do u want me to go on?
This is a view from a hotel room in Cititel Penang (nice hotel btw, good location and such.. I do recommend it)

One thing that I just noticed here is that they have this little sign on the hotel room ceiling. I didn’t understand at first then I got it..it’s the sign, probably pointing to Mecca so the muslim ppl can perform their religious thing. Sorry I don’t know what it’s called exactly becoz I’m a Buddhist.

After checking in at the hotel, we went exploring a bit, starting with Chulia street (Lebuh Chulia) which is a left turn at the intersection in the photo.

We had lunch at a restaurant on Chulia Street which I can’t remember the name but it is like a typical malay/muslim food, I guess. I never had a real muslim food before so it’s quite exciting to me. First of all SOOOOOO many roti choices they have. Not like I haven’t had one before and also is Murtabak!! I used to have it sometimes in Thailand but not that often.

Since we just got there and it was our FIRST meal in Penang..so we were kinda confused what to get then the owner of the place kinda knew we were not used to their food so he told us he would just bring us some roti and something else to try.
Ok, from the photo it probably looks like dog food or food for some labor or construction worker people or something but guess what…it actually taste GOOD!! This is like some rice with some chicken curry of some kind but believe me it’s very good!

After getting our stomach full :) we just took a TEKSI (taxi) from Chulia street to Kek Lok Si Temple which is a famous place. It is a Chinese Buddhist temple of some kind, situated approximately 3 km from Penang Hill.
Unfortunately, it started to rain and we were too tired anyway (I forgot to mention that we left bkk with the 7.25am flight) so I just took a photo of the huge Kuan Yin Statue (not sure with the spelling) from the hill where Kek Lok Si is and decided to go back to the hotel soon.
Before catching a cab back we found some creepy old temple by the road next to 7-11 shop. It is pretty interesting in its own way..I really like these red Chinese lanterns…
We got back to the hotel and had some rest then got up later in the evening, decided to check out Gurney Drive. Either it’s too late there already (Penang is kinda early town I think, things seem to be dark and quiet after 9pm except the night market or bar area..i think, sorry, plz don’t rely on my info)

So there was nothing interesting for us to eat then we finally found McDonald!! Hahaha what’s wrong with checking out the Malay McDonald, I’ve been having too much Thai one anyway.
Then guess what, it’s worth trying it becoz I found this menu that I’ve ever never seen before at McDonald anyway but in Penang (or probably Malaysia)..this thing is called Bubur Ayam McD! Well..Ayam means chicken..so it’s gotta be something I can eat..so I ordered it without realizing what it was. It turned out to be a chicken porridge which tasted fine, just like normal porridge I had before, hehe, though, it’s still interesting becoz it’s from McD!!

Ok, after McD experience, we took a cab back to Jl Penang (Penang Road) where the hotel is and walk around there a bit. It’s kinda nice walking at night there. The famous Eastern & Oriental Hotel is so close by. Oh in case u don’t know, this hotel is the most famous one (and probably most expensive, too) in Penang becoz it’s has some history and authentic or something like that, I didn’t stay there so I dunno :P

After walking around for a bit we found this Brit Pub close to the hotel..it seemed fun so we checked it out and had a drink there. It’s called SOHO Free House..well..it’s definitely not FREE there, the cocktail drinks start from 10RM(100Baht) to 30RM and up! The music is kinda ok, not much different from the ones in Thailand. What do u expect from Brit pubs? I think they r mostly the same. Oh some cute tourist brit boys there, too..but I’m not sure coz it’s kinda dark hehe and also some prostitute looking tan girls in the area..but I’m not sure if they were or not (quite positive, though, or maybe just Farang hunters?)
So there goes my first day in Penang..
To be continued with my second day..hehe..