Welcome to THE TOP, Penang
February 25, 2020
8th February 2020
Penang, Malaysia
The next day, we decided to explore THE TOP, Penang. There are actually a lot of fun things to do like the Rainbow Skywalk, Jurassic Research Center, 7D Discover Motion Theater, Tech Dome Penang etc. But, in view of we didn't have enormous time, we decided to try the Rainbow Skywalk. Similar to other state's highest point, this one offers the 360 degree view of Penang.
It is located at the top of Komtar tower. Though I've been to Penang multiple times, I can't remember going to Komtar. -_-'
For parking, you can try the parking at Komtar, Not that expensive I think (can't remember the fee).
There are two sections for the top view of Penang - one is the Observatory Deck (at level 65) and the other one is the Rainbow Skywalk (level 68). If you park your car at the Komtar parking area, you can see signboard at each parking levels.
We bought our tickets via KLOOK, just because we want the cashback via Shopback. It was RM48 per person (similar price with the official website). Prepare to show our identity card to get the benefits of Malaysian citizen and pray that the good weather is on our side.
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| Though we bought the ticket online, we still need to queue to claim our wristband (which will be used to enter both Observatory Deck & Rainbow Skywalk). On the wall, you can see lots of pictures of famous people visiting THE TOP. :) |
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| Our wristbands. I love our veins anyway hahaha. |
It was Thaipusam that day but CNY decorations were still all around. Well, didn't mind either as the decorations were beautiful too! Before taking the lift, we passed through the pathway and why not we took pictures here ;))
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| I wish I will have the opportunity to watch sakura with real eyes :) |
At level 65, there will be introduction video before you can step into the Observatory Deck, but it was broken at that time, so they allow us to go inside directly.
The first view you will see is the Gurney Drive.
"Gurney drive is a popular seafront promenade in Pulau Tikus, Penang. The drive is one of Penang's most popular tourist destinations, famous for its hawker food. Previously know as the new coast road, it was completed in 1936, along the north beach and renamed in 1052 after Sir Henry Gurney, the British High Commissioner in Malaya at that time."
"The Kek Lok Si Temple is a famous Buddhist temple situated in Ayer Hitam. As one of the largest and finest Buddhist temples in Malaysia, it serves as an important pilgrimage center for worshippers from South East Asian countries. The entire temple was built from 1891 to 1930, and it is now a center for Chinese culture and Buddha's teachings as well as a unique heritage treasure."
Then, there will be an area with glass floor that we can stand on top of it. It is not that scary anyway, I've been to Macau Tower (with the world highest bungee jump) - that one was scarier. :D
There are photographers who will take your photos and if you are satisfied with the photos, you can proceed with payment. If I'm not mistaken, it was around RM40+ per printed photo. It include a soft copy of it online (I forgot to claim the photo) -_-' it had already expired after 14 days. T_T
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| Selfie for now. |
Walking around the deck, you can see Penang Bridge as well.
"The Penang Bridge is a 13.5km (8.4-mile) dual carriageway toll bridge and controlled-access highway, connecting Butterworth on the mainland side of the state with Gelugor on the island, crossing the Selatan Strait. The bridge was inaugurated on 14 September 1985 and it is the first road connection between the peninsula and the island. It was the longest bridge in Malaysia until the Second Penang Bridge, with a total length of 24km (15miles) was opened on 1 March 2014."
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| The tower binocular - RM2 for few minutes. |
"Seberang Perai, or previously known as 'Pyre' during the British Colonial era, is situated opposite Penang island on the main land, and connects to the island by the Penang Bridge and ferry services. The mainland is where the heart of mega commercial projects and residential townships is, with 54% of the Penang population living here. Many major developments are now focused in Seberang Perai, which has been crowned as Penang's catalyst for growth in the 21st century."
"Initiated in the year 1920, the Penang Ferry Service is the oldest ferry service in Malaysia. It connects Sultan Abdul Halim Ferry Terminal in Butterworth to Raja Tun Uda Ferry Terminal at Weld Quay, Penang. It served as the major link between the mainland and the island untul the Penang Brudge opened in 1985. The ferry service allows pedestrian passengers on the upper deck and small vehicles on the lower deck."
Talking about the ferry, when I traveled to Penang with my parents, we usually travel to the island via ferry and took the bridge later to get back to the mainland :) It is a good experience to try the ferry service here, especially when you bring along kids. They will find this fascinating :)
"Padang Kota Lama, located in one of the oldest districts of George Town, was among the earliest settlement of town. When Francis Light (Founder of Penang) landed at the cape in 1786, he found that this part of the island was uninhabited. The land was flat but overgrown with hardwood trees such as the Penaga Laut (ironwood). The northern shore was sandy while the eastern shore was covered with mangrove swamp. Light was said to have blasted silver coins into the forest to induce he workers to clear the land. These coins could possibly still buried in the area where Padang Kota Lama is located today."
Actually I were the one excited to come here as I would like to check out THE GRAVITYZ. Have any idea about it? It is for those with adrenaline rush to challenge ourselves with things involving the great height. They claim to offer activities under one of the best high-altitude sports platform in ASEAN!
If I'm not mistaken, the price is less than RM150 per person.
However due to time constraint and it was so hot that morning, we decided to plan another trip later to this place again :)
In the next post, we can enjoy the view from the Rainbow Walk :D
Till then.
SM, Perak, Malaysia
200225
Roti Canai Transfer Road, Penang
February 21, 2020
The next day, we went to try the famous stall along Transfer Road, Penang. Since our hotel was just walking distance to the stall, we just left the car at the hotel's parking area and walked to it. Around 2 minutes walk, I think.
Basically the hawker will prepare lots of this food and serve all the new customers coming to the stall. And you can also order other food as well. The drinks were prepared by the other hawker, so the payment was separately for both food and drinks.
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| This roti canai + chicken curry = around RM8, if I'm not mistaken. The portion is big enough so, maybe the price is still okay. |
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| Me and the boys. We were planning to go to our friend's wedding ceremony later in the afternoon. |
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| This is how the stall looks like from Google Maps. |
For me, the taste was nice. I mean the roti canai was really soft and when it came together with delicious chicken curry, hotly served, it feels yummy. Just, I was a bit awkward to eat at the roadside like this. Haha. I mean, it is not like I haven't try any hawkers like this, but sitting very close to a busy road like this one is frightening. T_T
It was a beautiful experience, anyway. Looking forward to more :)
SM, Perak, Malaysia
200221
Lebuh Armenian, Penang at Night
February 17, 2020
Just a short post for memories. :)
I have been twice to Penang Art Street, the first one was with my parents and the second was with my Norwegian friend, Hege... both trips were when I was waiting for housemanship.
This trip was a bit different. Maybe because I came with my husband and maybe because it was at night. Told ya, we didn't have much time to spend in Penang T_T
It was almost 12am, we just managed to walk around a street. Don't know why I was too tired, I requested to return to the hotel. -_-'
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| It was Thaipusam anyway. |
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| Haziq and the kids on the bicycle. |
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| I think the background is nice. Maybe it will be nicer during the day and with a good camera. Hehe |
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| The street at night. Reminds me of my previous Singapore trip, when I visited the Chinatown. |
Till next post :)
SM, Perak, Malaysia
200217
Enjoying The Cool Sea Breeze at Padang Kota, Penang
February 10, 2020
Last Saturday, we had a chance to spend about half a day in Penang. We had a wedding event that we planned to attend, it was Haziq's university friend's wedding, held at Kompleks Tabung Haji Bayan Lepas. After having discussion, we decided to stay overnight so that we have few hours to spend around.
Friday, 7th February 2020.
I was on my postnight shift, while Haziq finished his work schedule at 5pm. Alhamdulillah I had a good night shift at that time. After completing my work for that shift, I stayed for 1hour+ to get my assessment done. 2 more assessment to go and I need to study actually while writing this blogpost. Haha.
Arrived home around 12pm, got my lunch and started to pack my stuffs. Girls being girls, I still need time to decide on clothes to bring and so on. And since I got married, I tend to wear the same color attire as my husband. Not sure why, but I think I grew up with this kind of thing - I mean, almost all my mother's clothes have their matching pairs with my father's.
We started our journey to Penang around 6.30pm, passing by Pantai Remis --> Terong --> Changkat Jering (this is where we can finally get onto highway). I wish the WCE highway will be complete very soon, anyway. For now, it only cover Beruas to Lekir. We also dropped by the pasar malam to get few snacks.
Finally, arrived Penang, to be exact our hotel room, at around 10pm. It was the last minute deal (always like that though). The hotel is Grand FC Hotel, located very close to Transfer Road where we planned to have our breakfast the next day. :)
You can get cashback when you book your room with ShopBack!
Kindly click and register HERE if you haven't get your account with ShopBack, yea. You can get free RM5 if you register with the link.
There are many website you can choose from for the accommodation, anyway. Just survey around to see which is more worthy :)
Grand FC Hotel, Penang
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| 2 single beds combined together. |
Pro:
- a new hotel - so you can expect clean and new rooms with functioning toilets
- private parking space (on first come first serve basis) - you can avoid getting penalty / pay for parking fee outside.
- walking distance to famous breakfast along Transfer Road - will share more on this as it was my very first experience having breakfast at the side of road like that haha.
- good security - the hotel lifts require the assess card to go up. But you don't need the card to get back to the lobby.
- easy check in - since we already paid online for the room, there was no problem checking in. Oh, prepare RM50 for deposit.
- wifi - acceptable.
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| Super clean toilet with functioning water heater |
Cons:
- thin wall - basically you can hear people closing their room doors but it was not that loud to be irritated with. Bearable much.
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| The branches look like our lung (I mean the bronchus - bronchioles) :D |
After done with check in, we went to Padang Kota just to enjoy the sea breeze. Haziq had only been once to Penang (during his graduation), hence there were lots to show him. Hehe.
Let's start with Padang Kota.
I used to come here a lot. My uncle's flat was just few meters away from the seashore. It was the eve of Thaipusam, though I expected a bad traffic jam... it was almost clear!
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| Buskers all over, there was a booth for henna too. |
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| Luckily his voice was nice. :) There was a huge crowd anyway, I bet this busker team managed to catch the audience's attention. |
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| Not to forget, you can get your foot massage here. Not sure how much it is. I feel it is too public to get the massage hehe, so we decided not to try though the pressure shown by the masseurs and masseuses look promising. |
If you bring kids here, they are surely going to enjoy the playground and all the blink-blink merchandises sold there.
After enjoying few songs, we went to Padang Kota Lama Food Court to taste some pasembor. There are too many choices of stalls, we just chose the closer one. Here there was quite a bad memory for me though it was actually nothing to bother. It was when I bought the drink.
Me: Nak tembikai ais satu.
Uncle 1: Aaaa okay2 bayar sana (refering to Uncle 2 who is in charge on the money).
After paying, I stood there to wait for my drink. Uncle 1 told me to just sit first and come back later to pick up. I went to my husband who was queuing to pay for pasembur, then after around 5 minutes I went back to Uncle 1.
Me: Tadi ada order tembikai ais, dah siap ke? (there were lots of watermelon juices on the counter, I thought maybe one of them is mine)
Uncle 2: Sudah bayar belum?
Me: Sudah, ni tengah tunggu nak ambik je.
Uncle 2: Saya tak rasa adik dah bayar.
Me: Ehh, saya dah bayar lah, ni baki tadi uncle bagi.
Uncle 2: Iya ka? Macam belum saja.
Me: Adoi, sudah bayar la uncle.
Uncle 2: Hmm takpelah, saya halalkan aje lah kalau tak mau bayar.
I was like... what?
I got a bit irritated.
Me: Uncle 1, tadi saya sudah bayar kan? Saya tunggu sini tapi uncle kata pergi duduk dulu.
Uncle 1: Ya lah, betul betul, you sudah bayar.
Hmmm. Tak best betul perasaan ni.
Tembikai ais je pun!
I understand that you can't remember the customers' faces but if this does happen a lot, can you imagine how many times the customers may be paying twice? Maybe you can consider giving our receipts, uncle?
Luckily the pasembur recover my mood. ;)
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| So many choices, yummy! |
Till next post, gonna show you how the Art Street looks like at night :D
AEON SM, Perak, Malaysia
200210
Best Combo
February 2, 2020
Alamak... teringin pulak nikmat dunia ni.
Tomorrow's post-night mission - laksa & cendol by the beach :)
Please pray for my uneventful night shift, guys :)
200202
SM, Perak, Malaysia
Are You The Heart of The Brain?
February 1, 2020
Found this on Facebook. :D
Sometimes, I feel like I am the heart, but at the same time I am the brain. Lol. Every single morning that I need to work, I surely need to calm myself and keep saying 'it is another day, I can face this.' It is not that I don't love the job, sometimes it feels so hard to face the people and the challenges. Dealing with human's life, somehow I feel like my own life is at the edge too. -_-'
Now that I am going to complete my housemanship really soon, it is difficult to think that in the future, I am not going to have my MO to counter check my clerking or management. And if I am fated to a district hospital, I will not have any specialists to counter check my management too!
Nangis lah kau di situuuuuu.
But let's pray for the best anyway :)
I am considering to continue my studies, but with this contract doctor thingy, I am surely not entitled for Masters program, so... need to save few thousands to take parallel papers. From the experiences of my MO, they spend at least RM 4,000 - RM 8,000 for a paper and can you imagine if you fail? T_T
But again.
Let's pray for the best and do the best!
Balancing with working life and time for families too. InsyAllah, may Allah ease :)
SM, Perak, Malaysia
200129
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