danzbuddies PENANG TRIP - more reports

20 September 2009

On our Day 3 in Penang, we were joined by the rest of the group which made up the total of some 40 people in the 'Singapore Party' which went on the promotion trip arranged by Maggie.Our early morning 'tai chi' session had a lot more participants, even though we started very early, at the break of dawn. Some other danzbuddies were game enough to go for an 'early morning' swim. - and more members of the group came later and joined in a good line dancing session by the beach.....

After all the exertion at the line dance session, we took a relaxing walk along the beautiful Batu Ferringhi beach and made friends with a couple of the locals.......
It was then off to the shopping malls again for more 'retail therapy'.............we shopped and shopped until we even made good friends with a couple of the shop owners - having called on them for 2 straight days.....one of them was 'Ms Ting' of Best Choice Collection Collection, Level 1, Unit 106, Pranggin Mall - Tel 019 4141571 another new friend is - 'Xiao Ping' of V's II Collection at Prangin Mall, who now 'automatically' gives us a 30% discount whenever we visit...... Lunch time came and , by an unanimous vote, it was decided that we eat at the 'Hot Wok' again, the best nonya restaurant in Penang.........and sure enough - we had another great lunch there! Really, it's a restaurant to highly recommend to visitors

After lunch, it was back to Gurney Mall for more shopping - but before that , a visit to the ATM machine ....and a special desert treat of fried 'tee kueh' fritters which our driver, Steve took special effort to buy from the famous Tanjong Bungah stall...... Having got enough shopping already, it was back to the Hard Rock Hotel for an evening of Rock 'N' Roll and line dancing at the Lobby Lounge - time to chill out and let our hair down........... Day 4 of our stay - morning saw much fewer people at our 'tai chi ' and line dance sessions.....some had been partying til past midnight and were still in bed! It being our last day in Penang, the danzbuddies wanted to try out the 'best Hainanese Restaurant' in Penang, so off they went to Chulia Lane and the Sin Kheang Aun Restaurant where they had a wonderful Hainanese lunch....yummy! We stayed back to look around the Hard Rock Hotel for the last time, had a good swim in the lovely pool, looked at the special 'Celebrity Art Exhibition', talked to the artist and chatted with the various hotel staff who had been so hospitable........ and had a nice pizza lunch at the hotel's Pizzaria by the beach......

Finally, it was time to go to the airport - and our driver failed to turn up on time as he was caught up in a massive traffic jam.......so, we had to engage the hotel travel desk's mini-bus. we decided to avoid the jam by going over the 'highlands' via the western part of Penang - it proved to be an interesting drive, allowing us to see parts of Penang few tourists get to see. We got to the airport with time to spare, did a quick check-in - had our bottles of sesame oil confiscated, and our danzbuddies on the Tiger Air flight had a delay - other than that, all went OK and soon, we were on our way home...........

It was a another great trip to Penang - we would like to thank everyone who went on the trip, and to Maggie Lim especially, for the good memories - yes, together we ALL make it happen.........

danzbuddies 'Mooncake Festival' Party - Saturday 3rd October

hi danzbuddies,

Please be reminded - This Saturday's Party is 'Mooncake Festival' party - bring you own favourite mooncakes for the 'best mooncake competition' and come dressed in 'oriental dress theme'.

For the dances to be played click on the following - 'dancelist'..... Note that dance number 64 'Straight Thru' will not be played - to be replaced by 'Kissing In The Back Row'..........

danzbuddies Wednesday Class - new dances

Hi danzbuddies,

here are dances we will share for this week:

- 'KISSING IN THE BACK ROW' - by Karla & Paul Dornstedt. 64 count, 2 wall, beginner level. 2 easy tags (more like restarts, actually). Although dance has 8 sections , most have mirrored routines and steps are the easy types. Nice 'oldies' song by Dominic Kirwan - a good 'no stress' dance.

- 'MAMBOTASTIC' - by Kate Sala. 32 count, 4 wall, intermediate level. 3 tags , going from 6 to 16 to 20 counts on walls 2, 4 and 6 respectively. An interesting choreography with lots of 'mambo steps'.....song is "Do You Remember' by Neil Sedeka.

- 'WHY SO SERIOUS' - by Neville Fitzgerald & Julie Harris. 48 count, 4 wall, intermediate level, with 1 tag. Dance is 2 wall until after the tag, after which it becomes a 2 wall dance. Song used is 'Say It' by Booty Luv. Not so easy but can be enjoyable once you master the steps....

We are introducing a dance based on a 'chinese oldies' song :

- 'MEI LAN MEI LAN WU AI NI' - by Lilian Ti. A phrased dance with part A and Part B, both with very easy steps. We are using a real cha cha cha version of the song and the dance will have the following sequence - 'AAB, AA, AAB, AAB, A ending'

danzbuddies Penang Holiday II - 19 to 21 Sep 2009

18th Sep 2009

Just over 4 months after our last visit to Penang, we made a return visit with another danzbuddies group of 10 - we joined some 30 other linedancing friends of danzbuddy Maggie Lim and her husband Chris. Maggie had the 'connection' to get us all a very good promotional room rate at the new Penang Hard Rock Hotel at Batu Ferringhi. The hotel was having its 'soft opening' on 19th September and we were literally their first group of guests to check in on Sep 18th - before the Hotel officially opened!

The Hotel's staff were falling over themselves to make us feel welcome on our arrival - giving us hot towels, welcome drinks, express check-in and so on.......it was really a good stay at Hard Rock Hotel for us.....

Because of the 'Super Peak' Season ( Hari Raya long weekend), we obtained air tickets separately and so travelled to Penang in batches, the first two groups arriving late morning and the rest arriving in the night. The 'advance party' had the whole afternoon and evening to check out the hotel facilities (really super!), the various good food places (we tested out 'Hot Wok' Restaurant, the Penang Road Chendol stall and many stalls at Gurney Drive Food Centre) - we also checked out the shops in town and the massage saloons at Gurney Plaza.

The last group finally got in, were greeted warmly at the hotel entrance and got their 'welcome drinks' . We retired early after a good supper at the Lobby Lounge.

Day 2 - 19th Sep 2009 - We were all up at the break of dawn - for tai chi, and for some serious line dancing at the poolside next to the sea - it was such an idyllic setting and a real charming location - and we enjoyed dancing under the watchful eyes of the bronze statues of 'The Beatles' up on the roof top of the Poolside Changing Room building.

After all the line dancing exertion, it was time for breakfast at the 'Starz Diner' which offered us a full buffet spread (priced at RM55 per head - and we get it with the room rate we paid, wow!).

We were joined by Maggie and family and friends - together, we went to check out the ballroom (called 'Hall of Fame) - what a place - a Rocker's Paradise.

After the sumptuous breakfast, it was time to do the 'tourist thing' - we had hired a coach with driver to drive us around to see the sights and bring us shopping and go 'makan-makan'.

We wanted to see the 'Spice Garden' , but got rained out on arrival there - so we went shopping in the Penang Road Malls instead. After a couple of hours shopping, we were hungry again and decided to try to get lunch at the famous 'char kwoay teow' and 'chendol' stalls at Penang Road.

It was impossible to get a big enough table for all of us inside the small coffee shop, and so, we splitted into three groups to eat 'char kwoay teow', 'lor bak', 'penang laksa', 'hokkien mee'., 'nasi lemak', etc

We just had to have the 'chendol' again and so the 12 of us ordered the dish and went to the 'Green Restaurant' to secure seats for enjoyment of the nice dessert.

Lunch over, time for more shopping - the group wanted the best 'tau sar pneah' and so we went on the Penang 'tau sar pneah' trial, visiting HIM HEANG - not much bought there, have to call in and book your orders in advance.

Next stop - HWA TAI - famous for their 'chic kut teh' spice mix and their 'tongkat ali' showroom which showed a variety of 'tongkat ali' products.

The best Penang 'tau sar pneah' still eluded us - so, off went to another 'famous' shop - GHEE HEANG. What a shock when we got there - the place was absolutely packed. many popular products were 'sold out' - must be ordered in advance, etcHow..like that? We heard about another 'famous' shop in 'Kek Lok Si' at Ayer Itam. Off we went to visit the 'Kek Lok Si' complex (the BIG Kuan statue, under construction), Temple of 10,000 buddhas, etc).

Lo and behold, we found the famous 'Cheong Kim Chuan' shop we were looking for - tucked midway along the narrow stepped path leading up to the top of the complex. So, its shopping (again!) for 'tau sar pneah,' coconut biscuits and nutmegs, etc
In the end, we bought so much as a group, the shop had to pack all into proper cartons......

We were hungry again and wanted to have a seafood dinner - we decided to follow the driver, Steve's recommendation and ended up at The Oriental Restaurant. Fresh seafood were selected and sent to the kitchen for cooking. In the meantime, we had the music turned on and managed to do a series of line dances before the arrival of the food.

After dinner we went for a walk around the Gurney Drive Food Centre and landed up at the Gurney Plaza next door for yet more shopping. By then, many of us were feeling the strain of being on our feet for such a long stretch and sought out the 'REBORN Foot Reflexology' place for some massage therapy. All the foot reflexology and head & shoulder massage worked well and everybody went back to the hotel refreshed.

TO BE CONTINUED..............