My Trip To Penang

I went to Penang alot of times when I was still studying in KMKN. Penang, for me was such a nice to place to travel, with food stalls everywhere and eye catching landscapes, it was such a blessing.

My first time going to Penang was with my 2 friends, Kimi & Khairul. We went there using bus via Shahab Perdana bus terminal.
When we arrive at Butterworth, I tried the Penang laksa. To my dismay, it doesn't really taste that good.

"I still prefer Sarawak Laksa! :p"

After having our dinner at Butterworth, my friends and I rode the ferry across to Penang Island. It was such a view when I look at Penang Island during the night. Cityscapes everywhere.

"Kimi and I on the ferry"

Arriving at Penang Island, we rushed ourselves out from the ferry and went to the nearest local shop. Bought myself a map which was overpriced, RM4 each and damn small.

We rode a bus, Rapid Penang to the biggest shopping mall in Penang, Queensbay. We arrived at Queensbay abit late, probably around 9pm and most of the shops are closed. =(.

"Quiet Queensbay"

We spent 15minutes walking around Queensbay. We got bored afterwards since all the shops are closed. So, me and friends rode the bus again to a place called Gurney Plaza.

Gurney Plaza was closed when we arrived there, at this moment I cursed at myself for arriving at Penang at such time. Should have arrived at the evening instead. (Boleh window shopping. Huhu).

Feeling disappointed, we walked our way to the nearest food stall. While walking, we saw this guy on the streets of Gurney.

"Put some money in the basket and he'll give you a thumbs up"

What happens if you put trash instead?

Beats me. Probably a middle fengwr.

"That guy sure knows how to do business"

We ate rojak penang and char kuay teow at Gurney. The char kuay teow was splendid. (The best kuay teow i've ever eaten was at Butterworth, can't remember the name of that place. Azpa and his family brought me there.:D)

After having our supper, we didn't have any next destination. We were clueless since time was getting late. We searched for hotels, walking all around Penang one whole night.

"To be honest, we were lost at Penang"

We were walking for hours. Our legs are tired. We were stressed. We don't have enough money to pay for the taxi's. (If we did, then we'll have no money for accommodation! T__T). And best of all, we were still walking in the wee hours of morning in Penang. (Around 12-1am).

We couldn't find the best rates that a hotel could provide us with. All are above RM50. Even the so called cheapest hotel in town, Tune Hotel, which is owned by AirAsia slapped us with a RM85 price tag for a night.

We were about to give up, and I thought that sleeping at the streets was a good idea. Maybe it could give some very good memories when I come back to Penang one day.

Me: You know son, dad slept on the road at Penang last time when dad was still a kid.

Son: Yeah? Where could I buy myself some xbox games, then?

Kids, nowadays.

On a late night at Penang, we eventually went to our last hope, namely Singapore Hotel. It looked cheap. Beneath the hotel was a karoake station. Maybe this hotel was for prositutes. Or even worse, Gays. Pondans.

"The accommodation here was quite cheap, RM50 a night"

We tried to bargain, but failed. Since we're going to sleep only for 5 hours or less that night. (We have to go to Perak in the next morning).

The hotel really looks like a place for gays/prositutes and doesn't look like a hotel at all. The mirror was broken. The bed was uncomfortable (there were alot of hairs and some kinda stain we suspect that it was..a "foreign" substance). The good side of the hotel is that it had air cond. :D.

"This is what we got for 50 bucks"

For prayer's, we had to do it on the bed and lay out some of our clothes. The floor was very dusty and the bed was..yeah, the stain.

"This is how the bed looks like"

We didn't really slept well that night. We had goosebumps. =.="

The next day we were out, we waved goodbye to Singapore Hotel and went back to the Jetty in Penang Island for our Perak trip to Kimi's hometown.

My first experience of Penang didn't really went that well though, but it was sure one hell of experience.

If only we had some more money we could afford to stay at a better hotel. I'm sure people who saw us leaving the hotel thought that we were GAYS.

And that was the end for my 1st journey to Penang. =p.