This weekend, I had a yum char (tea-drinking) session with a couple of close colleagues (In case you're wondering, BS was ex-colleagues too). In fact we're all from the same department previously. One of them was my current boss,YS and the other one was my ex-sifu (master) from my previous department, HY.
HY have always been an inspirational figure of sort to me. He is known to be as quick as lightning, not in terms of how he run but how he type on his keyboard!! He could type at such an astonishing speed it'll send professional typist to shame. Not only in his typing speed, but the speed of how he could accomplish his task! This have always impresses me. Try to give him a task and I can assure you that he can complete it within an hour/ two the latest! The word "procrastination" is never in his vocabulary. I wonder how he manage that? Really must hats' off to you, Sifu HY!
...Ok ok...so that will be another of my resolution this year,
READ: No more procrastination!! (in fact this is my resolution every year ...*paiseh ar*)...
...Anyway, back to our yum-char session, he has agreed to bring us around in his old, new car, a cool Honda Jazz he just bought lately.Myself, BS and YS all are supposed to meet up with him at his apartment at Jalan York. The first destination was to go to an old, dirty-looking but delicious kopitiam by the name of Tai Tong at Kimberley Street.
NOTE: This is an old kopitiam not the "Tai-thong" restaurant! ...Too bad I did not snap any photos, hunger must have got to me , I gobbled up everything before I could snap any photos....
From what HY told us, Kimberley Street area is a "Cantonese area", meaning that the Cantonese immigrants from China first settled here or started their business on this street in the early days. So when you're at this street, most of the shop owners and patrons speaks in Cantonese instead of the typical Penang Hokkien. It felt weird I should say but being a Cantonese myself, it felt like home instead :). We ordered some egg tarts, buns wrapped in curry chicken ,Siew pau and the shop's signature dish, the fried crispy egg noodle with big prawns, all downed with a brewing pot of chinese tea. Sorry, I don't know what's the real name of all the dishes but I think you can use your imagination? :D
All in all, the food tasted really good, and the atmosphere of the kopitiam with its old creaking tables and chairs, senior folks manning the shop, tiled walls and floors gave a sense of old charm to it. I really love old kopitiams like this and really hope that it will not vanish through the test of time.
Kimberley Street is also a street famous for Chinese Tradional shops that trades and sells chinese herbs, delicacies and authentic chinese cooking ingredients (like lap cheong (chinese pork sausages and waxed duck). With just another week to go before the Chinese New Year, the street is packed with shoppers doing their last minute shopping. We managed to take a quick stroll along the street checking out the myriad of items and sometime quirky food products on sale!
Next stop, HY suggested that we go to the
Quan Yin (Goddess of Mercy) temple at Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling (a.ka. Pitt Street). This is the first time I was there having stayed in Penang for the past four years. With the coming CNY, I took this opportunity to perform some prayers and blessings ritual. The temple looks majestic from the outside with its prominent red roof but having battered with the environment and smoke from the incenses and jossticks over the years, the interior have somewhat being inundated with ashes. Yea, I did contribute to it too in some way but I have chosen to light up a single lotus candle over buying a bunch of jossticks, a small contribution towards saving the environment also mar ... :D. One interesting part of the temple I observed was in the central part of the temple which has an open roof structure. This allows the sunlight to shine through,which helps brighten up the otherwise dark and stuffy area and also a quick way to let the smoke out. Smart design I would say.
Quan Yin temple (picture courtesy of WWW)
As we still have some time left before my next appointment at 3pm later, we head off all the way to Batu Ferringhi. We planned to visit the
Tropical Spice Garden. I have been to this place a few years back when the place just started and this time the place looked more "jungly" and wild than my previous visits. The entrance fees cost RM14 per person, a little steep for a Malaysian tourist I would say since we have the abundance of jungle anywhere. Howlar to promote cuti-cuti Malaysia like that if the tourist attractions do not give any incentives/discounts for local tourists? Maybe they should consider changing our Visit Malaysia tagline to "
Malaysia, Truly Kiam Siap and Kiasu" instead...*shakehead*
The entrance (picture courtesy of the link above)
This time around, I don't quite enjoy the visit as the place looked rather unkempt and most of the observation point that was supposed to look majestic (overlooking to the sea) seemed to be shrouded by overgrown plants and parasits. The ponds were now overgrown with green algae and it was not a pleasing sight indeed. Few years back, the water was crystal clear and you could see small fishes swimming around. To add salt to injury, the insects and mosquitoes seemed to love me that day and I've been generously donating my blood to them! One stark differences between my last visit and now is that the place have grown considerably bigger in size and now they have included a jungle trekking trail (45 minutes walk) as well. We however have decided to skip that since we're not well-attired (in flip-flops) for that challenge! Anyway, the trails are lined up with a variety of plants used to make spices and it is quite fun identifying the plants, smell the leaves and guess what it is used for. An educational experience I would say, and it's good to get close to nature occasionally as we're always sitting in front of out laptops according to HY! lol...
The next stop we head to Swatow lane (beside New World park) for some ice-kacang (milk tea as usual for me) and then we took our lunch at an Organic shop (sorry forgot the name) along one of the restored old shophouses at Nagore Road. The shop sells only organic and vegetarian products. As I was still feeling stuffed from my heavy breakfast, I only ordered a bowl of red-bean soup. HY ordered a dish called "liu-cha". According to him, that dish was a Hakka dish, a very healthy dish in fact. Brown rice with a variety of nuts and vegetables with a bowl of greenish-looking soup (a mix of at least 15 types of vegetables). YS on the other hand ordered a vegetarian burger while BS ordered the vegetarian Miso noodle. All I can say is that the food served here are very very healthy. Delicious or not? Err, I think delicious food is not always healthy and vice-versa right?
Coincidentally, we parked right beside the Continental bakery, a very famous bakery in Penang.
This is the main entrance, normal looking but very famous! (Picture courtesy of the link above)
It was my first time there as well and of course I couldn't resist the aroma of freshly baked buns,cakes and pastries. Did I buy anything? Well most definitely! My pick was just a simple loaf of banana cake costing RM6.20 each, expensive hor?Hope it tastes as good! I always wonder why healthy food must be that expensive one? *sigh*
After few rounds of chit-chatting session, it was time to head home and off to my next destination of the day. I was to be part of a sampling program for a foreign university and USM research collaborative effort. Simply put, I would become a "lab rat" for an Economic research by a foreign university! lol!... I shall not delve so much on this but basically that will be one of my "part-time" job to supplement my 10% drop of income per month,muahahaha!! (Just joking! :D)
Adios..and thanks so much to Sifu HY for a fun day out!!
Vietnamnese Spring Roll
The flat screen tv and tv console
The cool shower and glass partition.
The black tiles and nice bath tub 
