May 1st to 3rd, 2009
Our group of 10 danzbuddies had a great trip to Penang, thanks to our Penang-born danzbuddy Kung Hooi Koon a.k.a. Mrs. Chua. She and her husband and good friend Xie Ping went out of the way to give us a good time in their 'home town'. Their very warm hospitality and generosity were amazing and we were really overwhelmed and grateful to Mr & Mrs Chua for making our trip so enjoyable and memorable.
The SQ 196 flight to Penang went smoothly - it got us into Penang 'International' Airport on time. The waiting transfer coach took us to the Cititel on Penang Road. The hotel is not like the G Hotel which we preferred , but what to do?.....the 'G' was 'fully booked'. However, Cititel is very well located (short walk to Komtar area where there's good food, great shopping) and it provided a great buffet spread for breakfast.
We checked in and got ready for our dinner date at the 'Straits Kitchen', a new restaurant part-owned by KC's friend, Gladys and husband Albert. A great restaurant , set within a century old colonial bungalow - one of those preserved under the World Heritage Site scheme for Penang (location - near E&O Hotel , No. 1 Green Hall, 10200, Penang. Tel 604-2618585). We had a good variety of nyonya, northern indian and chinese dishes...Before we could say 'yummy', Mr & Mrs Chua had gone to pay the bill......and so we said our 'kam siah' to them, with delicious durian puff still in our mouth.........
Our after dinner entertainment was at one 'Hai Ping' Restaurant where we joined a group of Karaoke and social dance enthusiasts dancing the night away....
It rained on our Saturday morning in Penang - we started our Penang tour a bit late at about 10 am. Mr & Mr Chua had arranged (and paid the deposit) for a 12 seater bus to bring us on our whirlwind 8-hour 'makan-makan jalan jalan' tour.
Our first stop - The Pinang Peranakan Mansion. More than just a Baba-Nyonya museum, the century-old stately mansion of eclectic design and architecture incorporates Chinese carved-wood panels with English tiles and Scottish iron-works. On show were all the fine jewellries, embroderies, fine dining wares, etc .
Once the residence and office of 'Kapitan Cina' Chung Keng Kwee, the museum gave us a glimse of what an opulent lifestyle the great 'kapitan' must have had......
Next stop, the two well-known and much visited temples on Burma Road - the Wat Chaiya Mangkalaram - Thai 'Reclining Buddha' Temple and the Dharmikarama Burmese Temple.
We were brought to the 'Penang Chocolate Mansion' where we discovered a bewildering variety of chocolates - tiramisu/almond, strawberry, mango, green tea, coconut, durain?, ...and - tongkat ali chocolate.........
After 'sampling' the 101 varieties of chocolate, it was off to visit the relatives of some of the danzbuddies at the Botanical Gardens. I haven't been to the Penang BG for 20 years, it still look the same - nice and unspoilt. Unfortunately we didn't see many of the monkeys this time........
We headed to have a quick look -see of the Penang Hill Funicular Railway Station
..and then it was lunch time at Air Hitam - the 'Kek Lok Si' temple tourist belt where we gorged ourselves silly with Penang laksa, hokkien mee, char koay teow, etc............
After the great lunch at Kek Lok Si, we had a great drive through Jalan Tanjung Bungah and on to the famed Batu Ferringhi seaside strip.
Along the way, had a 'pit-stop' where we were introduced to a great local treat - goreng pisang and a unique tasty 'yam/tee kueh' fritter....real yummy!
We finished up at the Pinang National Park at Teluk Bahang - the 'End of the World' area famous for its many fresh seafood restaurants.
Turning back, we headed back to Georgetown and visited Fort Cornwallis and the Esplanade - Mrs Chua insisted that we just had to pay respect to the 'tua pow' there, and so we went and paid our respect to the many century-old canons left behind by Francis Light and his East India Company mates. We didn't forget to say hello to the 'Queen Victoria Clock Tower' either.
Then it was off to Penang Road where we had 'the best chendol' in Penang (road-side stall at Lebuh Keng Kwee.....)
...and after that we went to the most popular durain stall in Penang at Lorong Susu, off MacAlister Road for our 'durain fix' . We had to try the 'Ang Hae' and 'Hor Lor' durain varieties, and we were not disappointed. Yummy again!
By now, everyone was bursting at the seams - so we called it quits and headed for Gurney Park and paid a visit to the Penang 'holiday home' of Mr & Mrs Chua .
The apartment on the 25th floor had such great views of Georgetown, the sea and Penang Hill......and such great facilities -
we even tried out some line dancing downstairs at the plaza.
Great location too - right next to the Gurney Plaza Shopping Mall and a short walk to famous Gurney Drive Hawker Centre.
It rained again and so we ended up shopping at Gurney Plaza and dining its Food Court before heading back to the Cititel.
Our Sunday in Penang was reserved for shopping at the Komtar shopping area and for more 'makan-makan' at the many coffee shops along Penang Road (loh bak, Penang rojak, koay teow thng and more char koay teow!)
We ended the trip with more 'makan-makan' and shopping (tau-sar piah, beh teh saw, etc) at the Airport before the flight home, arriving in Singapore at 10.30 pm.
We had a great time and our thanks go once again to Mr & Mrs Chua - it makes such a great difference to have 'local experts' with us - saving us lots of time and hassle finding out where to go, what to see and what to eat......we were pleasantly surprised to find out that danzbuddy Hooi Hoon can be such a great host, tour guide, and 'story teller'.......with her around it was a 'laugh-a-minute' inside the tour bus all the way.........and of course we enjoyed the great music from our indispensable ipod and portable speakers.....
The Regional Council of Burgundy and The Burgundy Wine School organised a "Seminar on the Art of Tasting Burgundy Wines" at the Hilton Hotel from May 14th to 16th and I decided it was time to really get into some serious education about Burgundy and her wines. So, for three whole days from Thursday to Saturday, 9 am to 5 pm, it was back to class, attending lectures and having some practical exercises in tasting wines - red, white and sparkling......
