Penang - Sunrise at Penang Hill

It was beautiful, standing up there at the top of the hill, setting your gazes on the island as the sun began to shower its warm to the island. It was so breath-taking that all the hard works during the ascending seem to worth it. A plus point was when we managed to surprise our friend with a birthday surprise. Shocked would be an understatement for her I think.

Since I want to practice more on my fiction writing skill, I wrote a fictionalized account of the climb. Well, more or less a fiction, with a blend of truth in it. It has been quite some time since I wrote something resembling a story and it was not really of any good (and I am too lazy to edit it further). Comment away.

P/S As this entry (which occurred end of last year) was posted, I will be most likely again heading up to Penang Hill, this time, to watch the night scene. We were going to try the newly installed funicular train to ascend up to the hill. More info will be posted soon Here is the views of Penang Island from Bukit Bendera at night.

To Penang Hill

Penang - Witty Heritage Sculptures Around Georgetown

I read about these witty heritage sculptures from the newspapers some time back and was immediately intrigued by it. I mean, how brilliant is it, creating sculptures and graffiti arts that tell about local folklores and tales, giving tourists a better understanding about the past in an informative yet hilarious manner? This is truly money well spent by the government as it promotes the art and heritage at the same time.

According to the article, so far, the company, Sculpture At Work, had already installed three of these artworks around Georgetown and more will come by June this year and all will be done by the first half of 2013. These caricatures are placed at strategic locations that tell stories about the places and also beautifying the city, in a manner of speaking.

Penang - Solo Walk Tour - What I Had

Walking around Georgetown is something that everyone should do at least once in their lives because you will never know what you will discover and learn out of this adventure. I knew the existence of many kongsi around Penang but through the chat I had with the Mr Cheah at the Cheah Kongsi (click here for the tale) I found out a lot about the lifestyles of the Chinese immigrants back in the olden days.

Eng Loh Cafeteria

The good thing about exploring a city alone is that you can just take your own sweet time exploring the place and absorbing the cultural richness of the city. There is no sense of rush and you can walk in your own pace. I began the day very early, around 7am, and started walking from Weld Quay. Only when I'm hungry then did I stopped at a kopitiam along a junction of a road. I had never been here to this Eng Loh kopitiam before but since it was quite crowded, I entered with good faith. 

Penang - Solo Walk Tour

It was a work itself, getting those heavy eyelids of mine to open up. The room was still in darkness so maybe it was still early and I could still get some sleep. I looked at my phone and realized it was already 5.45am. Damn it, I overslept. There's no way now to be able to reach Weld Quay and still see the day begin.

There was a moment of battle between my desire and my plan. I was supposed to get up early and go to explore Penang on my feet for the first time since coming here 3 years ago but had been lacking in sleep these few days. However, my will overcame my moment of weakness and I quickly settled myself and began my exploration.

It was about 6.30am and already cars were roaming the roads like wild. Teenagers were waiting at the bus stop for their rides to schools to arrive. I was waiting for my transportation alongside with foreigner workers about to begin their works and senior citizens who were heading to town in early morning.

As expected, the sun has already risen up, hence, no point in going to the jetty any more. Just has to move along with the itinerary of the day, that is to appreciate and absorb the historical richness of Georgetown.

The sun was already rise and shine when I reached Georgetown

Hat Yai and Songkhla - Different, yet the Same - Part 4

At the end of last month, me and my friend went to Hat Yai for the first time for both of us. It was a 2D/1N trip and I'll begin the recount of our trip here, pieces by pieces, in no chronological order. After an exploration of Songkhla and a healthy dinner, we'll end the trip with the next day.

Of Breakfast and A Bid of Adios


Woke up fully energetic, it's time for another day to begin. After all, we were not here to sleep. At 7am (Thai time), we began our day with dim sum for breakfast. We were told that dim sum in Hat Yai is a unique experience and their dim sum are quite different from ours in Malaysia. So, off we went to Chok Di Tae Tiam, a famous restaurant in Hat Yai.

Delicious looking, ain't it?

Hat Yai and Songkhla - Different, yet the Same - Part 3

At the end of last month, me and my friend went to Hat Yai for the first time for both of us. It was a 2D/1N trip and I'll begin the recount of our trip here, pieces by pieces, in no chronological order. So, dinner's done and we're already halfway through the day at Songkhla. I'll finish it as fast as I can. Damn finals.

Of an Unknown (to us) Island and Back to Hat Yai


It was tiring, yet sort of fulfilling, to walk around the beach and along the road and discover new and unexpected sights. I always find walking a great way to travel. It's like exploring an uncharted territory where greats wonders are waiting to be shared with you.

Some huge wild mushrooms we saw on the road

Hat Yai and Songkhla - Different, yet the Same - Part 2

At the end of last month, me and my friend went to Hat Yai for the first time for both of us. It was a 2D/1N trip and I'll begin the recount of our trip here, pieces by pieces, in no chronological order. I had already covered the dinner we had at Hat Yai, so let's me continue by bringing us back to the morning of our arrival.

Exploration of Songkhla


It took us a few minutes to get used to the idea that we were already at Hat Yai after almost 4 hours of ride, more or less, from Penang. Throughout the journey, we slept off our fatigues from last night (our journey began at 5.30am) so that we will not be walking deads when reaching the place. Once the initial shock wore off, we then moved on with the itinerary. The itinerary planned was more of a guide and we didn't follow it strictly. We were pretty much off the route when we arrived (detour to a 7-11 for quick bite and looked around the place) and our timing cannot be more off from the plan.

The name of a street in Hat Yai

We walked to the clock tower in the town district, a few blocks away from King's Hotel, our accommodation. According to the researches I did, this is the place for us to take a bus or taxi van to go to Songkhla. When we arrived, there was no sign of the green bus that I was told was the bus to go to Songkhla but there were quite a few numbers of taxi van waiting for customers. It was a bit pass 9.30am Thai time and the bus departed every half hour. So, we approached one of the vans, asking the price. They started off with 54 Baht for 2 persons, but we haggled it down to 50 Baht for 2. Not much discount, I know, but better than nothing. Few minutes later, off we went to Songkhla. Continue for more stories about the trip.

Hat Yai and Songkhla - Different, yet the Same - Part 1

At the end of last month, me and my friend went to Hat Yai for the first time for both of us. It was a 2D/1N trip and I'll begin the recount of our trip here, pieces by pieces, in no chronological order. Let's begin with the dinner we had!


Dinner and supper at Hat Yai

It took a lot of effort to reach here and that is quite an understatement, to be frank. But, all in all, totally worth all the troubles it caused.

We just came back from our quick exploration in Songkhla and it was definitely an eye-opening of sort, at least for me. We began our exploration with the Samila beach as the point of origin and off we went, here and there. At one point, we have no idea where were we in term of the name of the places. Oh, the fun, but more on that later. Back to the dinner.

This Hat Yai trip was initially supposed to be a food trail but when the itinerary was planned, it was definitely not a gastronomical trip. However, we did have a fantastic dinner and an unnecessary, yet satisfactory supper on the first day of Hat Yai. Read on for more juicy info.

Bienvenidos!

Hola, amigos!!!!

Welcome to another blog of mine!!! It's been quite some time that I have tempted to open another blog as I find my old blog a bit too messy and unorganized. In another word, like a rojak.

So, finally, since today's my birthday, I thought, why not create a new one? Hence, the birth of this travelogue. As the title suggested, the focus of the blog would be on the travels that I'll be having and also those past travels that I'd done. Travel has always been a passion of mine but it had been subdued for so many years. Only recently that passion has been resurfaced.

I guess that's all for now...I'll post my first oversea trip soon...Stay tune!

 

Which country is this currency in use?