Penang Trip

Under the name of my uncle in a club membership, my family was offered to go to Penang during Chap Goh Mei. Ouch!! Long time i do not go to Penang. It has been 6 to 7 years since my dad brought my family to there. Penang is never my favourite place for trip or vacation as I personally think there has no interesting places for fun. Anyhow, i joined under the reasons of family trip and having long holidays.

First Day:
Oh no, as my brother worked for night shift, it was guaranteed that we could not start going early in the morning. Evetually, we started the journey to Penang at around 3 pm. I guess it was pretty late. As everyone was reluctant to drive, Nicholas was forced to drive the car. Sorry, Nick. Haha. During the journey, i enjoyed myself with the moving scenery. Ipoh is famous for beautiful and scenic hills and mountains and i could not stop enjoying it. When were reached the pay toll, we were stopped for not having ticket and accused for breaking in the previous toll. We all were in confusion. Nick insisted not to pay penalty as we would have to pay toll fees from Johor to Ipoh. The amount is pretty high. Eventually, Nick finally realised that we checked in with Touch n Go. So Nick was supposed to pay with Touch n Go. What a mess.

Around 7 pm we reached Ipoh town and Nick looked for a famous restaurant where he enjoyed the food there before. From the beginning, we felt weird with a large number of policecars outside a building. The area looked pretty chaotic. Recalling back the news i read in newspaper, i started to realize the chaos was caused by the politic issue in Perak. While we drove, we were pretty worried with the messy condition. Nearly all shops were closed and few number of people were there only. As my younger sister, Ashley was scared, we were forced to leave the town immediately. Eventually, my family ate their dinner in McDonald.

As day disappeared, i could not enjoy with the scenic view anymore. I started to fall asleep. The road from Ipoh to Penang is pretty dangerous. However, as time was pretty rush, Nick drove so fast all along. Eventually, we reach Penang. Oh my godness!! Traffic jam?! Oh no, we realised we came to Penang on a wrong time. Indians were busy for their Thaipusam celebration. Traffic were seriously jammed with cars caused by the parade. Mostly the roads in Penang are one-lane , it worsened the situation. After the traffic jam, we faced another problem - where on earth the hotel is?!! Nervousness, anxiety and upset... filled our minds. After checking in the hotel, we went to Gurney Drive for supper. The food there is kind of expensive. I was told the hawkers intend to earn more from tourists. Before we went back to hotel to turn in, we were managed to take some photos near the sea shore

Second Day:
Early in the morning, I heard from complaint from Nick about his room - water is dirty and lamp bulbs were broken. So my room was not in good condition as well. After lunch, we went to local famous temples. Anyway, as I never like going to temples, i was forced to go as Mom likes temples so much. Without notice and awareness, we reached a dam. It was holly beautiful in scenery. After the visits, we stuck in traffic jam again on the way going to Gurney beach. Nick was so angry with the 'Penang kia' for their driving attitude. They never practise with give-and-take and patience attitude. They are worse than KL-ian. As traffic was so jammed, our plan on going to beach was interrupted an cancelled and we went back straight to hotel. Holy shit!! Thaipusam ah Thaipusam... We watched 'Red Cliff Part 2' for mid-night show in newly-built Gurney Plaze. The plaza is not bad and comparable with shoppig mall in Kuala Lumpur. Mom... sorry ya. You have to craze with us in watching midnight time. Suffer in you.

Third Day:

After breakfast, we went to Persiaran Gurney to take last photo section.

Overall, the trip was pretty satisfied. With the joining of Nick's girlfriend, Serene, it made the whole trip funnier and enjoyable. Thanks Serene. Playful and naughty Ashley enjoyed photo section the most. So did I. Haha. However, I think I will not go to Penang for vacation anymore judging from the attitude of Penang-nese and the road arrangement.