Pamela goes to Penang!
This is a mini family vacation with the little bro, daddy and momma! We drove up into Malaysia for a 5 day 4 night trip. We were in Ipoh for the first night because daddy's friend grew up there and was also visiting the city and could show us around. We moved on upwards and spent the next 3 nights in Penang before driving back down to Singapore!
Day 1
The 4 of us set off at 6am on Saturday the 6th of June, to the Tuas exit as there is a straight road from north>south. Unfortunately, the line at the checkpoints weren't as empty as we'd hoped for such an early time and took an entire hour to get through!! We stopped at the outskirts of Malacca for brunch.
packing the trunk
Tuas check point
road trip!!!
After Brunch, we picked up a few snacks and continued our journey to Ipoh. I slept most of the way, so I must say, time passed real fast! The only thing really traumatizing (not really to me but to the parents) were the road tolls. On our many road trips to Chicago back when we lived in the US, the toll was about 40cents USD. On our way through Malaysia, the toll was RM$4-24+!!! jeebus, the roads must be paved with gold!!
A pretty building I saw on the way with a purple roof
hehehe
Paul brought us for dinner at this local restaurant. Ipoh is known for its really good food (and dirty massages)! and Paul's taste is pretty swell! We had shrimps, bacon, garlic chicken and noodles among other things.
After dinner we had desert at Secret Recipe. We shared cheesecake as I was way too full to function! and after Dessert we had supper! *gasp* I had stingray and a coconut =x Tiring day!!
for some reason they still had
Christmas lights up
lol
Daddy booked the hotel for 2 nights, but due to its crappyness, he decided to move on to Penang straight away. Paul met us for breakfast. He brought us to a local noodle store. There were different chee chong funs and popiah. Not bad I must say. I liked the caramel pudding best!
After breakfast we went to the famous Ipoh white coffee stall. It was a small, dirty corner shop, but it was very crowded. It was so crowded, they opened tables in the little back alley for customers. We sat there with the aroma of garbage and stale drain water. Also, we saw how they operate in the kitchen. Sometimes, there are just things that are not meant to be seen..... Ah well, the coffee was amazing! very rich in flavor and momma even had 2 glasses! She never drinks coffee like that! They also had incredibly awesome char kway teow (friend noodles) with ginormous fresh shrimp topping it. We just had to order 2 plates!
on our way to white coffee.
I call this bird-shit lane as there was a ton of birds shit everywhere on the pavement
here we are!
shady back alley
white coffee
most awesome char
kway teow Ive ever had in my life!
The shrimp were so big, they covered the noodles!
more behind the scenes action
back in the streets
we bought snacks from push carts like these
After the cave, we got some dim sum snacks, because I guess Ipoh is famous for dim sum too! We packed it for the road because we were way too full! *rolls around*
It was about a 3 hour drive to Penang. we crossed a huge bridge to get there. The roads were crazy. very unorganized and almost all of them were one way!!! very easy for the designer, bad and inconvenient for users in my opinion. We finally found our hotel The Bayview Hotel! Our room was so much better! the service was great, huge restroom with shower and tub hehehe! and the view was amazing! I could see out into the ocean. I was also quite pleased that is was in a really good location in Georgetown where all the attractions are.
The first night was pretty uneventful, we had dinner at the hotel's "street side food"-literally- it was free, but not that great. Then we decided to go to the night market but a bellhop told us it'd be closed by the time we reached. I think he was a big fat liar because what night market closes at 10? So we went to this big eating place (AGAIN) nearby our hotel called Red Garden. I was a little irritated as there was no shopping and I was in no mood to eat more food =x But the variety was great, there was live singing, awesome thai mango salad and fried ice cream! hehehe We turned in early as my parents are old and unexciting. Good thing the hotel had internet =x
Day 3
The next day, we woke up early and headed to the chinese heritage house (also very near our hotel) but decided not to go in and went to the Peranakan house instead. The house was huge, restored by a private owner and all his peranakan collections were there. Everything was so bright and colorful and detailed. People don't make stuff like that anymore! we had an old tourguide at first, in my opinion had a know-it-all attitude and was exerting an "I'd rather be somewhere else, don't ask me questions" aura. However, knew his peranakan history and information. He later dumped us to another tour guide so he could attend to another group. The new tour guide was very friendly and energetic, except for the fact he knew shit about peranakans and emphasized on where they imported stuff from to build the house with. I'm pretty sure he just read a brochure somewhere and recited it to customers. Anyway, everything there was pretty interesting, I really liked the handmade tapestries for the detail.
bright beautiful day
chinese heritage house
clock tower
parking
outside the peranakan house
at the entrance
the kitchen
where the women belong!! *runs away*
some sort of sitting/opium smoking room
Ancestor's temple/room
The walls had heaven on one side and hell on the other. The details were amazing!
bats that live in there lol
altar
English windows
dining room
courtyard in the middle of the house
jewelry on the second floor
old camera! lol
tapestries of the owner's parents in China
second dining room
Peranakan clothes
bedroom
master bedroom with marital furniture.
All the furniture was so small! lol they mustve been tiny people!
hangout/waiting room
expensive glass vase and decoration room
Next, we went to the Khoo Kongsi. Kongsi means clan, Khoo is the family title. Their "club house" was now made for tourists, with information and mannequins but still interesting. Their temple/prayer room or whatever was nicely decorated with all their ancestors. Very cool. But I was like, well its kinda weird as a Tan we visit the Khoo Kongsi, so we decided to hunt for the Tan Kongsi. We found it much later (it was nearby the Khoo Kongsi but we got lost lol) but discovered it actually still was in operation (aka not for tourists) and decided not to go in.
We searched for some lunch and after some driving around, decided on a mall. haha I don't even know what the mall is called, but half of it was really old and the other half was pretty.......I wouldn't say new, but I'll call it clean. We decided on a Thai food store. Their food was surprisingly nice. They had really good fried tofu and claypot rice. They used a real claypot and the rice burnt at the bottom. Daddy says its how its supposed to be, I just eat whatever. lol We spent a couple hours shopping much to my delight! hehehe I got some shoes, gifts, sunglasses, pirated dvds, etc etc.*happies*
As usual, people complained I was abusive, because when I shop, I don't feel the need to eat, drink or rest. Why waste monies and time on eating and resting when you can be shopping?! Apparently, my family didn't feel the same way and took a break at McDonalds. On the way there, I'm pretty sure I scared a man because he wanted to show me some product and grabbed my arm. Having been a victim of the same disgusting product in Singapore, I ripped my arm away and was like "NO!! No!!" and he continued to speak to me in Malay so I was just like "NO!!!!!!!" and then he was like, "ok" looking abused and took his pamphlet back. You see, the same thing happened in Singapore and I was not fast or smart enough to stop the abuse. The cream was supposed to take away tans and blemishes (plus smelled really bad). Imagine my anger + horror when the man-without asking me-grabbed my arm before I could object and rubbed away the tan I lay under the sun for multiple hours for!!! Leaving me with a stinky arm lighter than the other!! No way in hell was that ever going to happen to me again!
Anyway, back to Penang, we left the mall shortly and headed to the night market I was anticipating all day! It was everything I expected. The long strech of stores, the bargaining and stuffs! hehehe I bought a lot more stuff! Sarongs, frames, shawls etc etc. the only thing I wish they had was clothes for girls. hahaha. I had fun :D *happies*
night market!
fruit stall that ripped us off lol
mommas loots after
(I'd post mine but....nahhh lol)
Day 4
We started off the morning visting the Sun Yat Sen Memroial. He's one of daddy's heroes. Sun Yat Sen was a revolutionary leader and politician of modern day China. He helped overthrow the Quing Dynasty and developed a political philosophy called the Three Principles of The People. His memorial building was big, but only the front halls were decorated. The rest of the building had nothing and the staff explained that theyre terribly underbudgeted and are attempting to rasie funds to build more of it. So daddy encouraged us to buy more from their gift store-and I did!! hehehehe We also had a snack at their cafe. The place was very nicely decorated and their cakes delicious!! Apparently the chef use to work at a hotel and now makes whatever cake he feels like each week at their small cafe. I'd reccomend everyone to have lunch or tea there sometime if they have the chance!
Sun yat seng statue
the history
tea at the cafe
finally a good smile
For dinner, we went to Red Garden. Daddy went order crazy again!! We had huge shrimp, satay, grilled fish, fried chicken, fried tofu, omelette, fried fish crackers, mango salad and my favorite discovery of all!!!!=crab fried in salted egg. OMG it was amazinggggg!!!! I still had a little space left for dessert and filled it up with fried ice cream! hehehe yumm!! We did a quick walk to get some snacks at a-7 11 like- convenicence store and retired for the night. Fun stuff!
dinner!
look at the size of those scrumptious shrimps!!!
live singing and dancing (mostly old people)
lol someones hungry
momma and her nutmeg drink which she loved but i hated lol
fried ice cream!
ice cream!
shady street with pubs and such
We checked out of the hotel sometime in the early afternoon after a pretty yummy hotel breakfast. It was a buffet of fusion foods. Som western, some malaysian. I really liked the bak kut teh soup and the omelettes they had.
at breakfast
coco/kaka shells
We decided to get some lunch and I saw the most awesome thing everrr!! they had the biggest buidling for KFC I had ever seen. lol We ordered their spicy chicken and finally, like traditional KFC, our meal came with a roll. lol I freaking love dipping dinner rolls in their mashed potato gravy! =)~~~ And their cheesy potato wedges were pretty good too.
Our last stop in Penang was a cultural one. We stopped at the famous sleeping Buddha at a Thai temple. It was a very big, very beautiful temple. The creepy part was that they had urns in glass cases lining the walls in the back. I wonder how much you'd have to pay to get a slot. They also had buddha statues for different days and different types of things such as wealth, children, protection etc etc. Very interesting! There was also a Burmese temple across the street from the outside-equally as beautiful, but sadly, I didn't get to go as my mom doesn't practice religious tolerance.
The drive back to Singapore was long and butt-aching. But I slept most of the way, so I can't complain much. hahaha.
bye Penang!
back on the road
toll!
me napping lol
***Sadly, when I got back home I was litterally crumpled on the floor with the worst case of either gastric or food poisoning for like 3 days. It was horrible.....but I'd so eat it again =x
I really had a good time though :D But I'm soo fat now!!!
Pam's words of wisdom: Eat today! diet? no problem! it always starts tomorrow!!! ;)
Something you might not have known about Pamela: I fucking hate the smell of carrots. ewww. I also hate eating carrots. gross.
*countdown till the bf arrives: 3 days!!
Anywayyy, the movie was great! Definitely worth watching. I really liked how they put a young Arnold in. lolss Pam's rating is 4.7/5 =D hottt! 
We had dinner at Din Tai Fung! The woman was having a dumpling craving because they don't make them as good in England, so dumplings we ate! We had, rice and noodles as well. I hope you had your fill hun and I'll be here if you decide to come back for more! hehe *loves*
dinner!
lit up river boats!
me and sissy!
fajitas!
ribs
momma and a very excited bro
daddy
my all time favorite dessert!
us confused at the grocery store lol
we're clearly pretty happy about the outcome!
tada!
first dinner pingy ever made for me and it was delicious!
ravin
the blue thingy in the back are stitches
cleaning
deviled eggs
kitchen/hall
i guess he was a little too excited to be still for a pic lol
The hotel
im quite a bit of a cam whore if you haven't noticed
busy morning
haha some people were/weren't looking in each picture so I put both up! ;)
momma sneaking my caramel pudding
Family outside the cave
family plus paul
At the mouth of the cave
inside the cave
idols in the cave
Buddha
Garden entrance behind the cave. It was so beautiful!
little turtle poking his head out! hehe
Malaysian flower I was told. Its sooo pretty!
one of the ponds water was yellow :o
a pavallion we rested at. tsk, old people
momma in the shade
im all gross and sweaty
caught destroying nature lolss
back through the cave
another statue
and the Godess of Mercy
A whole pond of turtles!!
dim sum restaurant
Goodbye Ipoh!
back on the road
on the long long bridge
Penang!
lol we're lost!
but we found our hotel!
the bellhop showing daddy the room and talking about langkawi
the view
the very clean bathroom 
the teriffic view
sunset
me spying on the swimmers at the pool =x
literally street side LOL
mango salad
Roberto and I getting ready to sleep
Khoo clan clubhouse
kitchen
map of all the Kongsis in the area
ancestor area
more ancestor thingies I think
theater
I guess I have to approve of its architecture if my fellow Pam says so!
some mosque we passed-that I thought was pretty because its light blue and white-while we were lost lol
A Tan kongsi!!!
yes, of course I look like this ALL the time when looking for lunch LOL
lunch!
cutest hedgehog we bought at the mall lolss
the whole stretch of foods
wonton noodles
more noodles
shellfish and squid salad
*loves*
salmon kebabs, bacon rolls and other stuffs
mini stroll after
sun is setting!
swimming
daddy and ian (right)
chubby little brother of mine
chubby father of mine
my sand flower
walls of chocolate
tau sa piah building
bags of stuff!
entrance
all these buddhas have a different hand position
for donations
outside
outside the burmeese temple
salted egg crab!!!!
little bro and his fav tofu dish