好 Hao-Lidays @ Penang! Part 2

Here’s why we’re addicted to Penang! We travelled all the way from Singapore and made a few stopovers for such times as these! : )

Prior to our Hotel Stay, we took the chance to take the Penang Tram up Penang Hill. We missed this as it was closed during our 2014 trip! Determined are we to go Up!

1) Penang Hill

The slanted Tram was an interesting experience! However, I didn’t understand why there was a signage that says there was No need to Queue but accompanied with a No Pushing sign, resulting in people erm suddenly occupying the front sides and trying to squeeze through the narrow door. Other than that, the ride was an eye opener. We the ‘Sua Ku’ city dwellers experience what high hills are made of.

I think the tram ride was more interesting than the hilltop. It was nice but cannot beat the mountain top feeling. Nontheless, it was something new to the kids. There was a restaurant and a foodcourt.

What caught my attention was the rooftop space above the foodcourt cum Owl Museum building. It is filled with Love-ly Locks of handwritten heart notes. My sons spent some time reading them. chuckle. There was also this interesting V-shaped wooden bench which my hubby demonstrated the animated effects of how the lovebirds should meet. : ) It was too cheesy for me….

So I took the below photo of hubs and me instead. : )

2) Penang Hard Rock Hotel

We had booked Hard Rock again because the kid’s Club was a great caretaker of the kids! Plus, the kids had a segmented wall of their own bedroom which means we can have our couple time. It has a kids’ suite. You can check it out here.

This time round, with their water colours, they could paint the water playground. The pool was simply a bash! The kids can just play whole morning at the pool for the stay.

We had great food just walking along outside the hotel. A long stretch of Pasar Malam  stalls. Just opposite our hotel, hubs packed food to our hotel to eat. Problem is there weren’t any bowls so we used their glass cups to have our yummy noodle soup!

What’s Hard Rock without some rock songs? Enjoying the soulful uncle band playing.

3) George Town

Allow me to take you around random Old school stuffs that was eye candy to me in this special town! This time round, we didn’t take the rickshaw to tour the popular mural sites. The Queue to take photos can be super long! We walked around and enjoyed our treasure hunt.

For one, I found this Yummilicious newly renovated Kopitiam just opposite Da Shu Xia Seafood House. It’s address is 171-B Lebuh Victoria, 103300 Penang. The Hong Shao Jiu (Red fermented wine ) Chicken Mee Sua was the best I’ve tasted. They had unique meatballs with meat filling within a meatball. The mini bun burgers were smartly made of Man Tous instead of bread. Ok, we had gone to Gurney for food in our last trip so we decided to be adventurous here.

This pretty and cosy café cum clothes store was our second visit as it’s a pleasant and quaint place to have our drinks and take a break from the tour.

It’s situated near the right mural below. We got a brochure that maps out details on where to find each mural.

I cracked up when I saw this mural recalling the joke on how my son had said our Prime Minister is Lee Xiao long before. So we highlighted to them- This mural is the actor Lee Xiao Long. Our PM is Lee Hsien Loong.

We also paid Rm10 for adults to enter the Chng Eng Joo Museum.

Sun Yat Sen’s history. My hubs is a history buff so we eventually went in after such effortful introduction from the person in charge.

I loved the Rustic and Kampong feel here! Have you ever used those tinkats? The jar of water to bathe? I recall my childhood days, we had a cement toilet with an aluminium door. I had to bang the door hard so that the multitudes of cockroaches will fly out and I’d swat each one with a broom till the coast is clear enough to bathe!

I also recall the below Rat Cage! Shudder…. Papa is describing how the rats are trapped.

Look at those switches!! Can you remember???

      

A random shot at a closed shop. I vaguely recall the provision shops that had such iron planks to be drawn to a close when I visited my uncle’s shop as a young child.

During that stay, we had quality me time, where I could rest and relax, while the kids were taken care by the club. Except for Father’s Day, J had been misbehaving and we decided he was not allowed to go to the kid’s club nor swim for the morning. Since it’s Father’s Day, I had the job of occupying J while dad has his time off. With his level of energy, I decided to take him for a walk outside.

That was the best walk ever. We talked about how after the trip, he had to go back to routine. Then he started ranting and complaining over how tough it was to learn to play the piano. You see, his dream is to play the drum but before learning that one has to go through foundation course at this music school. I explained to him that no matter how gifted a person is, he has to put in effort in order to grow in his skills. This foundation music course is like a Preschool course to learn the basics of ABCs. So that he can handle the Primary  levels of music learning. After much discussions and sharing on the value of perseverance, it’s like I saw the lightbulb lighting up in his head. His whole attitude changed and became as excited and happy as a lark. We rested at this empty space where there were a dozen or more of dragonflies buzzing freely. He then asked if he could catch one. I nodded and the childlike joy just stirred the wonder and warmth in my heart.

Truly, memories are made of these….

Now, I remind him of the talk we had in Penang and he would try to pay more attention to his music practices.

Hubs is already planning how we might just head to Penang without stopovers next year!

Now it’s left with the last leg back home – Batu caves, Twin Towers and Malacca! Part 3 to close the post. 🙂

Have you gone to Penang? What do you love about her?

For more of GrowingHearts, come join us at our FaceBook, Or Subscribe by entering your e-mail in the box on the top right side bar to receive notifications of new posts by email.