My (Different) Penang Trip!

The first thing that comes to most of my friends' mind when I say I'm going Penang is.. "Wow, enjoy the food there!" or like "Eat the char kuay teow!!!". 

And if it ain't the char kuay teow, or the hawker's centre food, it just has to be the Penang Kek Lok Si, or the old buildings in Georgetown right? 

Well if your answer is a Yes to that, then I've 'sinned' badly this trip - cos I did nothing of those at all! Instead, these are what I did!

On the way up to Penang, I stopped over my friend's place at Sungai Petani. We had dinner there. Check out this home cooked curry rice!

Not enough with that, we went on to try this 'kiam hoo' (salted fish) nasi lemak! Was my first time trying such..  so was interesting to me.

The entrance of Monkey Bar

By the time we arrived Penang, it was really late... and the only place to go was out drinking! I tweeted on where to go, and got some replies to head to Penang Road where there is a row of bars. Pretty happening place this is..!

We ended up here in this bar called the Monkey Bar, where everything is decorated with monkeys!

monkeys were everywhere!

one (guinness) for the night! haha!

Which car is your dream car? :)

Interestingly, the bar opposite has this car showcase.. all the hot looking cars were displayed!

I was at Gurney!!!

On the next day, I spent quite a bit of my time at Gurney area.
This has always been a cool tourist hangout place.. and besides, I was staying at this area.

It was a nice walk along this stretch. The weather was good on that day ie not too hot! :) Btw I saw these love shaped cuttings on the trees near Gurney Plaza.. wonder what was this for?

Guess where is this tattoo-ed? Hahaha!!!

Before long, I was at Gurney Plaza. At the side of the mall, there were these row of bazaars, which I was told was the first day there! How coincidence.
Btw, I got a tattoo on that day! Yeah, read it right!!! (more of this to come!)

And guess what? Instead of shopping around, I went next to the hair saloon to get a hair cut.. Well, what better time to cut the hair then this time round when I'm totally.. free? :)

You can say I didn't spent much time at the mall.. Btw, on the way back to the hotel, I saw this helicopter.
For a moment, it was like being in California beach.. minus the bikini babes.

A beach/ island holiday is never complete without the C-O-C-O-N-U-T!

In the night, we went to this seafood restaurant recommended by a local Penang friend - Fishing Village Seafood Restaurant, at Batu Feringghi.

The food was alright - not the best to me, but okay in taste & price.

First time trying this fried black squid.. quite nice when eaten with rice.

As we were already in Batu Feringghi, after dinner, we stopped over at Penang's newest chic & cool hotel.. the Hard Rock Hotel. 
I guess this is the most touristy thing I did here? Okay.. plus the one next too.. Haha!

And the final stop at this beach area.. Batu Feringghi's night market. Oh look at the Pepper & Salt bottles here! Btw, this area felt so Thai with so many Thai stuffs beings sold.. though that's really not a bad thing!

On the final day, I had wanted to try some Penang Nyonya food at a restaurant I tried before. The local Penang friend mentioned that it might be a restaurant in Nagore Street.. But before we could go there, we made a pit stop to this biscuit shop.

This is a very unique shop.. well decorated, and makes you just wanna buy. 

The nourishing dew desssert

Out of the biscuit shop, but instead of going for the Nyonya food, we stopped by this dessert shop - Sugar Dynasty Food Delight. They have very unique desserts here that comes with unique names, and cute servings.

And finally, we ended up at the Nyonya restaurant.. though this wasn't the one I remember I had last time. But then, it was way past lunchtime so in we went!

The Nyonya dishes - prawn sambal, otak otak & pork.

The view from 1st Avenue

Before going back, we made one last stop at the new mall 1st Avenue. I'd say the mall is still too new, and there's nothing much as yet... but luckily it links to Prangin mall, which has quite a fair bit of unique youth clothes.

Well that was our last stop.. then, it was off to Penang bridge, saying goodbye to the island and my 1st trip of 4!

Next up... Manila!!! :)