Sunday 4 April 2010

Penang trip - 4 Apr 10

Before heading out breakfast, we checked out first and left our luggages at the hotel so that we did not need to return later to check out. I read in the internet before that someone tried to stay in the room after the check out time 10am and within half an hr, all the power in the room shut down. Hence there is no way to cheat on the check out time.

This house seems to be in quite a good conditionYQ surname clan house
We walked to Jalan Transfer for roti prata. I didn't have the address of the stall, the only information I had is that the stall is beside the mosque. Hence we keep walking along Jalan Transfer until we saw the mosque.

Mosque
A shop opposite the mosque

Actually there are two stalls selling roti prata, one along the street and the other one is at the small alley. An Indian guy came forward and spoke Hokkien to us. Don't be amused by this as I mentioned in my pre-trip that the Indians here speak Hokkien. He guided us to seat at the foyer of the mosque as we were considering whether to seat here or at the stall along the street. He recommended us roti bakar and roti prata, hence we ordered 1 set each. We also ordered tea tarik but it was too sweet. The roti prata was mediocre and the roti bakar we tried on the first day is nicer.
Waiting for our food
Tea Tarik

Roti Bakar & soft boiled egg

Roti prata

After finishing the food, we left and walked to the stall which is more popular. We ordered plain and egg pratas, the prata here taste better than the one just now. Guess the total cost for of our breakfast? It's only RM17 ~ S$7 for 6 plain roti prata, 4 egg roti prata, 1 roti bakar, 4 glass of teh tarik and 1 glass of coffee.
Roti bakar stall
Prata shop at the alley
The famous prata stall
Look at the crowd
Egg & plain prata

After having such a heavy breakfast, we walked to the bus stop at Jalan Transfer to board the free CAT bus. Every bus stop which the CAT ply has a station number, hence no worries about getting lost if you have a copy of the CAT bus route on hand.
Bus stop number
Ain't there a better translation for "Stick no bill"?
Kapitan Keling Mosque
Goddness of Mercy Temple
We alighted at bus stop number 17 which is opposite the Court Building. It is convenient to hop on and off CAT and most of the heritage attractions are located near the bus stop.

Court Building

From the Court Building, we walked to Town Hall & City Hall which are located beside each other. I have no idea whether both buildings allow visitors and we only took photo at the facade of the building.

Such a nice building to be use by Great Eastern
Town Hall
You definitely cant find this in Singapore

City HallMPPP means Majlis Perbandaran Pulau Pinang

War Memorial I wondered what is this as there are no details on this object?

Penang port

Fort Cornwallis

This lighthouse is situated beside Fort Cornwallis and admission is free. I guess the lighthouse is about 7-8 storey high. There is only a staircase leading to the top of the lighthouse, furthermore, the staircase has empty gaps in between each steps. It's definitely a No No for those with acrophobia.

Penang Harbour Lighthouse

YQ & the big anchor

On the way to the top of the lighthouse

Saw Star Cruise ship docking at the pier?

After we reached the top, there is a ladder leading to the uppermost deck of the lighthouse. Only YQ & I climb up and it is a bit claustophobic at the deck. This lighthouse is special as it is the only one in the country that looks like a ship’s mast.

Ship’s mast at the background

View from the top

On the way down

Below the lighthouse is a small room displaying the items used inside a lighthouse.

The guard was amused when we posed for this shot

Equipments used in a lighthouse

As we didnt intend to visit Fort Cornwallis, I didnt pay attention that is closed on Sunday although my itinerary state this. Opening hours: 9am – 6pm daily except Sunday, Admission: RM3

Entrance of Fort Cornwallis

This moorish-style clocktower was built to commemorate Queen Victoria’s 1897 Jubilee. It is sixty feet tall, one foot for each year of Victoria’s reign.

Queen Victoria Clock Tower

State Assembly Building

We walked to CAT bus stop 18 to board the bus to Clan Jetties.

The Chinese Chamber of Commence building at the right was built in 1928

House of Yeap Chor Ee

When the bus reach Pier Terminal, we had to alight and board another CAT bus which is departing as the CAT bus terminates here. We missed the stop to Clan Jetties, hence we alight at the next stop which is a walking distance to the Pinang Peranakan Mansion. (Address: 29 Lebuh Gereja, Opening hours: Mon – Sun 9.30am - 5pm, Admission: RM10, Daily conducted 45min tour at 11.30am and 3.30pm sharp)

This is the former residence and office of Chinese Kapitan Chung Keng Kwee. It was built in 1890 and is filled with more than 1,000 antiques and collectibles. The exhibits here are comprehensive and the antiques here are definitely worth more than the ones in Singapore Peranakan Museum.

The green building is the Pinang Peranakan Mansion

You definitely wouldn't miss such a huge poster

The 2 guards at the gate entrance

Many dramas are filmed here

Entrance to the Mansion

Ticket Counter

After we purchased the ticket, we joined a tour which has just started.

Open ceiling

Does this staircase looks familar in "Little Nyonya"?

I'm playing the piano

Living room

Qilin craving on the table's leg

It's gold pasted on the cravings

Women's room

Dining room

Tok Panjang

The table can be detach and join

ChandelierThese are sew by hand

The windows resembled those colourful windows in the church

Eh... i forgot these flowers are made from what material

Antiques

Have to remove our shoes before climbing up the stairs Nyonya shoes
Altar
View from the 2nd floorWhen did he become a slave? 0__0"
Living room at 2nd floor

These glass porcelain are worth millions

Antique radio

Antique musical box

Made in Switzerland

Display inside a bedroom

Wedding gowns on the bed

Baby cot
Leather luggage
Gramophone
Antique golf club


Jewelleries
Belt

Use for bunning the hair

Handbags
Antique camera
This chair was used for smoking opium
Wooden pillow
Sarong Kebaya and antique sewing machine

Interior of another bedroom
Must be wondering how can this wedding bed accomodate the wedding couple right? Well, guide told us that the people in the past are small size and this bed is only used one on the wedding day itself and is given away after that. The guide also told us that a cock and a hen will be place under the wedding bed and which comes out first will represent whether the bride will give birth to a boy or girl. I wondered how accurate is this?
Wedding bed
Wedding photo

Instruments used during the wedding
Colour beads

Nyonya bride's wedding crown
Display of porcelain ware
Kam cheng
Yin & yang chair
It looks like a real Chinese medicine shop
Grinding the medicine
Cake moulds
Oven & Grinder
Baby chair
Ice kachang machine
Kitchen ware
The grinder at the left is used to grind meat while the one at the right is used to grind spices
Spices & faked vegetables
Baby pram
Waiting for hair cut
Nice painting at the background

For trapping raining water which eventually flows into the well below

By the time we finished snapping photos, it's almost 1pm. We left for our lunch. We walked pass Lebuah King a.k.a Little India and the shops here are all selling Indian items. We even heard Indian songs when we walked pass the shops. Vincent called and informed us that there is road block and advise us to book a van instead. We have no choice but to book the van which cost RM60.

Lebuah King
Haha... the cheek of the the bride and groom are so red

I dropped my camera when I wanted to took a photo of facade of the shop. Sob sob.... Gone case cos nothing can be seen from the lens, all black.. Haiz... my sis said that it's time to change to a new camera. So from hereon, all the photos are took using my hp.
Sky Restaurant is famous for char siew and siew bak (Address: 348 Lebuh Chulia (Junction of Lebuh Chulia & Jalan Pintal Tali), Opening hours: 11.30am - 2.30pm)) The layout is more like a coffeeshop rather than a restaurant.


Sky Restaurant
Shops opposite Sky Restaurant

This meal cost RM31 ~ S$13. The char siew is juciy and tender while the siew bak is crispy. This is comparable to the stall at ABC market.


Char siewSiew Bak

It's almost 1pm after we finished our lunch, we had some time to spare since the van will pick us up from Tune Hotel at 3.15pm. We walked along Lebuh Chulia to Lebuh Leith and Lebuh Muntri to see some of the attractions. It was sorching hot even though we carried umbrellas.

Benggali Mosque

Hainan Temple

I guessed that the Equator Academy of Arts below is Leong Fee's mansion as this building is opposite Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion.

Leong Fee's mansion

This famous blue building is Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion which is located at 14 Leith Street. Admission is RM10 and joining the tour is compulsory. There are 2 tours timing at 11am & 3pm. Photography is not allowed inside unless you are the hotel guest. While doing research, I read that the Pinang Peranakan museum is more worth visiting than Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, on top of that, you can take photgraph inside Pinang Peranakan museum and are able to visit without joining the museum tour.

Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion

Segara Ninda /Residence of Ku Din Ku Meh

We waited for CAT after visiting the above places and reached Tune Hotel at around 2.45pm. We collected our luggage and waited at the lobby for the van. The van arrived prompty at 3.15pm and we reached Penang Internation airport in half an hour time.

Penang hill forms the backbone of Penang Island

This is the van which transport us to the airport

There are only 2 cafes at the departure hall - MacDonalds and Coffee Bean. There are about 50 check-in counters, the premium airlines such as Malaysia Airlines and Silkair's counters are located nearer to the departure gate while the budget airlines are located further away. Air Asia's counters are located right at the end. Biased right?

Departure hall

Check in counters

Domestic & International departure gate

Innovative advertisement

As usual, the liquid restriction on flights are applicable here. We were quite sian when they announced that we cant board the flight at 5pm. Luckily, the plane was only delayed for 10min due to technical problem. We reached Singapore at around 6.40pm and had our dinner at Terminal 3 Crystal Jade Shanghai Restaurant.

Wine chickenOnion noodle Dan dan noodle

Noodle & pork ribFried riceFried dumplings

Aloe Vera and osmanthus

We left the airport at around 8plus and reached home around 9pm. Another long weekend just ended.

>>Epilogue

1 comment:

Tommy said...

Hi,

Came here from a google search on Penang as we r visiting next week.

Enjoyed reading your posts! :)

Tommy