Penang Trip, 26-28 Sep 2012

Our Penang trip's finally here!

It was a rainy morning on a weekday, so only after several failed attempts, we managed to secure a maxicab booking with a flat rate. It was the second day after Budget Terminal's closure, so we checked in for our Tiger Airways flight in Terminal 2. It's much better as we had a chance to buy some breakfast and did some window shopping, even though we had to make sure there's plenty of time to walk the distance to the gate.

The flight was scheduled to leave at 10:40am, but we had to wait for quite some time in the aircraft before it's our turn to use the runway. Hopefully Changi will built a lot more runways along with the new terminal. We reached Penang International Airport way behind schedule, and it was raining there as well. Luckily we had arranged for the hotel to pick us up at the airport.

After 30 mins drive we reached Mango Tree Place. It occupies a few houses along Jalan Phuah Hin Leong. We booked Terrace Suite which is located at house #3, together with another room called the Garden Suite. Their office is at #29 and their restaurant at #17. The Terrace Suite has one master bedroom with king size bed and an extra bed setup for us, a smaller bedroom with queen size bed, and a very spacious bathroom.

We immediately fell in love with the unique place, especially since there are accessories placed everywhere. We could recognize that most of the furnitures and stuff were from Ikea, but everything was put together nicely to create a homey ambience. Their prominent colors there are blue and white.

Mango Tree Place

After a quick 'briefing' by the Mango Tree people who were waiting for us at house #3, we settled our stuff and immediately went out for our late lunch. We borrowed 3 umbrellas from the office and walked to New World Park. We had wanton noodle soup, char kway teow and some pudding with gula melaka whose name I can't recall now. The food tasted just so-so, nothing really stood out.

At New World Park

After asking some locals for directions, we managed to take a bus to Gurney Drive. It was quite a challenge as the bus stops did not have any information at all, and the locals speak in mixture of Malay, Hokkien, Mandarin and a little bit of English. Not to mention it was still raining.

Initially we wanted to try the roadside food street but the wind was so strong so we decided to stay in the comfort of Gurney Plaza. The food wasn't that great and the price was quite steep.

At Gurney Plaza

In the late evening we walked to a nearby hawker centre. We had prawn noodle, curry mee and dimsum. Great food at bargain price. Then we walked further to a dessert shop for a bowl of walnut paste and durian shaved ice to share.

Late night supper

After a good night sleep, we're ready for a hearty breakfast. Once we reached the restaurant, they promptly served us with bottles of lime juice, cut fruits, roti canai, vegetarian baos and char hor fun.

Breakfast at Mango Tree Place

For today's city tour, we booked an MPV together with the driver to show us around. First destination: Bukit Bendera a.k.a Penang Hill. The driver kindly helped us to purchase one ticket using her IC to get a local resident's rate, as it was much cheaper compared to tourists' rate. We took the funicular train up the hill - 830m above sea level. At the top we enjoyed panoramic view of the Penang island before getting back down by the same train.

Bukit Bendera

Then we're off to Kek Lok Si Temple, the largest Buddhist Temple in Southeast Asia. We needed to climb for a while before reaching the temple. Luckily the path was sheltered, complete with rows of souvenir shops along the way.

Kek Lok Si Temple

We had a quick city tour too, stopping by at Peranakan museum, St. George's Church and Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion.

Penang City Tour

Some of the food we had:
- Penang Laksa, prawn stuffed tofu and spring roll at road side food stall near Kek Lok Si Temple
- Teochew Cendul at Lebuh Keng Kwee
- Char kway teow and chicken satay at one of the hawker centre at MacAllister road
- Kway Teow soup from road side food stall at Jalan Phuah Hin Leong

Glorious Penang food