A Walk at Penang Times Square

10 October 2009 @ Penang

After a long day of temples hopping, our tour guide Yung brought us to the famous Penang Road Cendol for lunch. On the way there, we stumble upon one of the biggest landmark of Penang - Komtar building, which is not very happening now I believe.


After jamming a little at downtown, we managed to find a place to park and went to this shop - Joo Hooi Cafe. We were all starving and greedy that we ordered everything that is sold in this shop.

Penang Laksa - appeared on Ho Chak! before

Char Kuey Tiaw (yes again and we're not tired of it)

Lo Bak

And of course THE Cendol

This little cendol stall is situated on Lebuh Keng Kwee (it's actually a lorong instead of lebuh), just beside the shop we dined in.


Look at the amount of people queueing and standing at the roadside just to eat its cendol. This stall was also visited by Phua Chu Kang (the main character of a famous Singaporean sitcom), which had this stall's publicity shot up instantly.


All of us went back to our hotel after that. Rested for a while, I went to swim at the beautiful swimming pool again. Saw Jennifer and her boyfriend meeting up with Eugene. What coincident that Eugene's best friend's girlfriend is a friend of mine!

Chit-chatted for a while, and we got ready to go out for dinner. Eat again!! *Roar*

Yung came to lead the way again. This time, we had a special guest, his boyfriend Adrian joined us too! We went to another place that is full of stalls... (I forgot the name of the place). Anyway, we were so hungry and ordered so many things to eat and.. we FORGOT to take a single photo at the place. *sigh*


After a very very satisfying dinner, we walked to the Penang Times Square jalan-jalan to digest our food a bit. The place was kinda nice to hang out; there're fountains and statues to take picture with.

HanChin, Wilson, Mike, JooLi, WoonLee, Adrian

4 guys with the Tin Smelting statue thingy
(It was a tin smelting place more than a century ago)

JooLi and I in the middle of the fountains

The guys on the stage

We spent quite some time hanging around that area. Finally, at around 9.30pm, we decided to go back to the hotel.

At around midnight, WoonLee, HanChin, JooLi and I felt a little hungry and decided to walk out to hunt for food. We were a little undecisive as there were few shops along the road that looks kinda good. We finally settled with mamak food! Hahaha...

4 pairs of feet with the sea turtle tile on the path

11 October 2009 @ Penang heading back to Kuala Lumpur

Since the other 4 had their share of free breakfast on the day before, WoonLee, HanChin, JooLi and I went down for our breakfast provided by the hotel.

looks good eh?

There were so many types of food served. I thought they'll all be good, but it turned out all sucky and yucky. I can't believe a nice hotel like this can serve such terrible food. Even the baked beans tasted weird (how wrong can a canned food be?).

*thumbs down for Gurney Hotel's breakfast*

Maybe we were too used to the taste of yummilicious Penang food we had for the past 2 days, but still I think the quality of food served is below par. After the breakfast, we went back to our rooms to pack up and get ready to leave.

We were kinda sad to leave the food haven but we had no choice, we had to go back to reality - WORK!! Though there were some conflicts happened here and there during the trip, I can say that I really enjoy the company and the whole process of getting fat. Really grateful that we have Yung to bring us around from morning till night.

Happy 1st anniversary TM Gang! Billy, out.

Kek Lok Si Temple

10 October 2009 @ Penang

Visited 3 temples, temple hopping mission continues... Up next, the big famous temple of Penang - Kek Lok Si!! In hokkien, it means Temple of Supreme Bliss and it's the largest buddhist temple in South East Asia!

Bougainvillea + Pagoda

One and only group photo - Yung, Mike, Me, JooLi, Wilson, WoonLee & HanChin

Everybody wants Kung Fu fighting~

A man asked HanChin to pretend to be a beggar for photoshoot

We then paid RM2 per person to go up to the big pagoda. This is my first time up there although I have visited Kek Lok Si a few times.


Once we're up there, I saw all these beautiful carvings on the walls and pillars. The carvings are so detailed that it made my jaws drop to the ground.


Names were written on the walls and pillars. I believe those are the people who donated generously for the construction of the temple.

JooLi and a cute white elephant

Further up, a huge bell sits right beside the pagoda. It's called the "Your Wish Will Realize Bell" aka wishing bell lah! No doubt, we went to make a wish and hit the bell real hard.

Make wish and hit it!

D' Gatekeepers

It's not complete without a jump shot

After that, we head on to our last mission - to climb to the very top of the Pagoda. There are 6 storeys in the Pagoda and the stairs are getting narrower and narrower as you climb. Till we reach the top, everyone was panting but the view up there was breath-taking.

See the whole of Penang!

I wonder why I left out the picture of the Pagoda. But if you're curious, you can try googling it. Haha..


Last but not least, I present to you the Lomo Fisheye Bighead shots of everyone of us. The pictures turned out quite funny. Credits to WoonLee for her Fisheye camera. =)

There was another attraction at Kek Lok Si, which is the 30metres tall Kuan Yin Statue (Goddess of Mercy). We didn't go up as it's under heavy construction, I think they're building walls around it or something.

More food coming up in my next post, including the famous cendol stall! Billy, out.

Changing to Celcom Platinum

Finally... Finally.... Finally!!!!

I have changed my packaged to Celcom Platinum package! Wheee~~~


Went to Celcom branch in PJ to terminate my current package and register the new one at the same time. It will take 24 hours to 48 hours down time to get it done. So at the mean time, you won't be able to call/sms me. Only email will reach me now, till tomorrow.


Just a little introduction, Celcom Platinum Plan is open for permanent employees of TM Group. It's RM0 Access Fee but you need to pay RM8 monthly for Value-added services (like call forwarding, voice mail and etc). Call rates are 10sen/min for local & fixed lines; 25sen/min for others. SMS will be charged 8sen each.

How's that? Pretty cool aye? Calling all my friends, join TM now and get all these benefits instantly! Hahaha... Billy, out.

Edited @ 22/12/2009, 2.44pm - My number has been activated. Good job to Celcom for being so efficient. =)

Temples Hopping

10 October 2009 @ Penang

Early in the morning, WoonLee's good friend - Yung brought us to eat Penang Hokkien Mee aka Prawn Noodles for breakfast.


OMG! I'm feeling hungry just by looking at this picture. The noodles is full of stuff and it's indeed very very delicious. Well, besides prawn noodles, some of us had Char Kuey Tiaw (again) and we shared a pan cake. Quite special I'd say.



Later on, we drove to Him Heang shop/ factory to buy "souvenirs". All of us were carrying bags and bags of biscuits when we came out from the shop. Who can resist buying those delicious Tambun pia?

Wilson, JooLi, Me, WoonLee, HanChin & Mike
[Eugene and Cheryl didn't join us]
and Yung a.k.a tour guide (not in photo)

Later on, we went to the first temple - Buppharam Thai Buddhist Temple. [I hope I got the name correct]


There's a little myth about a small statue in this temple. The statue is about 1 foot tall only. So people make wishes by kneeling in front of the statue. If it grants your wish, you should be able to lift the statue up easily, if not otherwise. If you managed to lift it up easily, you should put it back down and try to lift it again. Your wish is guaranteed if the statue is as heavy as a car in your second attempt.



Right after that, we hopped to another temple - Wat Chaiya Mangkalaram. This temple should be quite famous for those who visit Penang. Why?


Because here lays one of the biggest reclining buddhas in the world. Though it may not be as grand as the one in Wat Pho (Thailand), I feel that it's something for Penangites to be proud of, having such a big statue there.


Went around the temple taking photos...

The Harimau-s

The Lembu-s

The next temple to hop to is just across the road - Dhammikarama Burmese Buddhist Temple. Along the corridor, you can see paintings related to Buddha's life hanging on both sides of the walk way.

JooLi "planted" RM1 at the Money Tree

I'm helping the boys to carry their stuff

Another huge Buddha statue

Took this photo while we were almost leaving already. Kinda like the silhouette effect of this photo. =)

Well, this is not the end of temple hopping yet. There is one more to go - Kek Lok Si!! Stay tune. Billy, out.

Journey to the Food Haven

9 October 2009 @ Kuala Lumpur to Ipoh to Penang

TM gang 1st year friendship anniversary were supposed to be celebrated in the month of September 2009. Due to some circumstances, we postponed to October and we decided to head up further north from where we knew each other (Taiping) - Penang!

HanChin, WoonLee, JooLi and Me in one car

8 of us, 2 black Myvi and north we went! Before reaching Penang, we stopped at Ipoh for their famous Ipoh Bean Sprout Chicken for lunch.

Restoran Lou Wong Tauge Ayam Kuetiau - the most famous shop in Ipoh

No doubt it was very yummy, but slightly oily it'd say. We then stopped at the Funny Mountain "drive-thru" shop to buy Tau Fu Fa and soya bean milk.


I'm not the biggest fan of Tau Fu Fa but interestingly, I quite like the taste of this one. Extra soft, extra smooth and extra fresh. Totally worth a try.


After the makan-makan, we zoom towards Penang island. I was so busy talking that I didn't know I passed the grand Penang bridge! Haha..


Anyway, we have a map in the car, drove round and round the town looking for our hotel. And finally, we managed to reach Gurney Hotel with no one harmed. Checked in, put down our stuff and we straight away went to the Subway shop to get something to eat. Tooooo hungry already lah.


Back to the room, we booked 2 joined rooms and the rooms are HUGE!! One queen-sized bed, one working desk, one sofa set, one dining table, wardrobe and a jacuzzi bath tub in the toilet!


While everyone wanted to take a rest, I headed down to the pool to swim. It's beautiful! There are two pools (kiddie pool with slides and fountains and an adult pool). The pool looks as though it has no sides, so cool. On the same floor, there are kids room, archery, ping pong tables, pool tables, gymnasium and a volleyball court.


In the evening, Eugene called one of his friends to bring us out for dinner. So we went to Pulau Tikus, which is not a pulau. I was so hungry that I only remembered to snap photo after gopping up everything.


We then went to Gurney Plaza for a walk and then went back to the hotel for a good night rest as the next day will be a long day will lots of walking, visiting and eating. Billy, out.