Penang Day 2

places visited: morning market near chowastra market, gurney plaza (no pictures!) and batu ferringhi.

disclaimer: photos taken are edited with photoshop to give a vintage feel, hence are not their original colours.

Day 2 was a more chillax day. We woke up a wee bit later than expected and went off to have breakfast! Wanted to visit Chowastra Market that morning but we chanced upon a morning food street/market that seem to sell many local delicacies! By the way, this food street/market is near Chowastra market (:

MORNING FOOD STREET/MARKET

Hunting for every meal in penang was like an adventure! Gluttony us always made sure that we were well fed with authentic street food. Nothing feels more local than a visit to the local food street/market, where we were stuffed with plentiful local delicacies! 

Here's what we had for breakfast on Day 2! Most dishes cost < RM3.50. Hence, the entire meal came up to about RM30+. That is equivalent to about $15 for a meal for 5! How cheap is that!

Here are just some photos of how the morning food street/market looks like! I have many photographs of the stores, but its way too many to fit into a blog post!

this is my favourite auntie along that food street. always so smiley and nice, and she even asked me to order a smaller portion lest i am unable to finish the beehoon! you dont get that in singapore, do you?

Along the way, we met this dessert uncle who recommended for us to try some dessert and it was pure awesome!

We then took a bus down to gurney plaza for some morning shopping and I didn't bother to take any photographs there. Nothing interesting in a mall, really.  We had A&W for lunch, which was awfully expensive (compared to the affordable local fare we've had for the past 2 days) but ah well. Might as well have some A&W since its not available in Singapore. However, I was mighty disappointed at the standard of the waffles and curly fries at the gurney plaza branch. Possibly the most terrible meal I had in Penang. LOCAL FOOD ROCKS YEAH (:

BATU FERRINGHI

Batu Ferringhi was the next stop on our itinerary. It is not easy to get to Batu Ferringhi via bus. Bus stops are few and far in between. Very often, the locals do not know which buses to take to get there or where the bus stop is even. Afterall, most locals drive. Can't blame them! 

We arrived there at around 3pm. Sat under the scorching sun, enjoying the breeze and listening to some music. Its always the simple joys in life that you miss when you are snowed under so much work, projects and other funny commitments. Chillaxing at the beach was indeed, destressing.

and of course, on such a hot day, what a bliss it would be to have an ice cream cone (:

not too sure if you watched "you're the apple of my eye", but this picture totally looks like a scene off the movie! 

cheers to 8 years of friendship <3

haha, so funny that we can still see the photographer (i.e.: yap's) shadow!

We just had to catch the sunset at Batu Ferringhi. The golden hour would be a perfect time to snap some shots! and indeed, i wasn't disappointed. Photos taken at 3+pm were often over-exposed/ unevenly exposed. Yet, those taken during the golden hour were... priceless. 

this is my favourite photo of the trip. I just love how the sun seem to be glistening even inside this photograph!

took a picture of jmi jumping and this one was just awesome! it looks as though she is sitting on the sun!

After the sun went down, we proceeded to a nearby night market for some food. But the prices were slightly on the high side, since its catered for tourists. But never mind, we fed our tummies with the not-as-delicious food and shopped a little at their mini touristy night market (which was a bore really!).

Hopefully I have the determination to get the posts for Day 3 and Day 4 up!

Penang Day 1 (part 2)

places covered: fort cornwallis, clan jetties

FORT CORNWALLIS

Next up, we went down to Fort Cornwallis. It was about a 15 minute walk from St. Georges Church. It's pretty much similar to Singapore's Fort Siloso, architectural-wise, but of course, its history is largely different. Oh ya, do note that you will have to pay a nominal admission fee when entering. Here are some photos of Fort Cornwallis.

di acting totally unglam!

Gunpowder room signage

entrance into gunpowder room.

GROUP SHOT (:

afterwhich, we tried taking a CAT bus service down to the clan jetties, but got lot instead! hahaha, so we traveled there by feet in the end. Honestly, Penang isn't too big, hence most places are pretty much walkable by foot yeah! Here are just some street sights (:

Tried framing, with help from Yap. Not too bad huh!

CLAN JETTIES

the clan jetties were probably the highlight of the day! we visited 2 jetties today, the Lim Jetty and Chew Jetty. The jetties are named according to the surnames of the people who lives there. So all the residents of the Lim Jetty are from the Lim family and same for the Chew Jetty.

The Lim Jetty is nearest to the bus terminal. It was destroyed during WWII by a bomb dropped by the Japanese and was rebuilt later on. Generally, people from the Lim Jetty are rather tourist-shy, but they are still smiley when they see you (: Here's how the Lim Jetty looks like.

walkway leading to the sea

walkway leading to the other house

the view of Chew Jetty from the Lim Jetty

Next up, we proceeded to the Chew Jetty (right beside the Lim Jetty). The residents of Chew Jetty are more tourists inclined, selling souvenior items right at the entrance of the jetty. Unlike the Lim Jetty, it seems to be more self sustainable, with grocery shops, hair saloons etc. within the jetty. Also, it is the largest of all 6 clan jetties in Penang! Besides, the houses here are more colourful (: Just some photos!

freshly painted signs!

cute painting!

my favourite group shot of the day (:

their very own tidbit shop, for tourists and residents i guess! pretty much self sustaining, no?

and they even have their own hair saloon too!

and i thought it was extremely cool that their houses are built with paint buckets (: cool huh!

and they have a community hall which has the history of the clan jetties, as well as a meeting place for the residents.

yeah, so here are all the attractions we explored in day 1 of Penang. I really loved the clan jetties (: by the way, the Chew Jetty does homestays as well. So if you want to experience a totally different lifestyle, do consider staying there. The people are so awesomely friendly! (:

Shall end my post here tonight as I need to rest /: Good night all! Hopefully I can get down to blogging about day 2 and 3 tomorrow (: