last weekend my GF, 2 friends and i decided we would take a road trip to Penang Island for a ROAD TRIP... so we gathered our stuff and headed out to penang aiming for a gastronomical adventure...
we departed at around 7 am from Kajang heading out to our first stop at a town called Bidor... it is just a short frive from the highway making it a popular stop with people travelling north... this town is famous for guava (a type of fruit) which is like Malaysian verson of an apple (maybe not)... we didnt stop there for the guava thou we were there for out breakfast... they have a shop in town which is famous for their braised duck drumstick noodle... we reached there at around 9.45am and proceeded to order our food i also ordered another type of noodle and a few peices of yam stuffed with barbequed pork...
From top to bottom : Yam Filled with Barbeque Pork, Braised Drumstick with Noodles, Kolo Mee (noodles tossed in black soy sauce)
Breakfast was nothing to shout about but all were tasty and ok eating... we are our breakfast and bought some biscuits and headed off.
After another 3hrs of mind numbing driving we reached the Penang Bridge... a very welcoming sight indeed...
first thing we did we checked in to our hotel room at the Paradise Sandy Beach Resort after a toilet break and a short rest we headed out of our hotel... target Char Koay Teow... so after awhile of getting lost and looking at maps we found our targeted location "Lorong Selamat" this alley way is famous for the delectable Char Koay Teow... so we ordered up a storm... all had Poh Pia (chinese roll), Char Koay Teow (Flat Rice Noodle Fried with prawns, cockles, chili paste, soy, topped off with bean sprouts and chives.) , Oh Chien (fried oysters in corn starch batter with eggs) and ais kacang ( shaved ice with kidney beans, peanuts, sago pearls, grass jelly, and loads more goodies topped off with home made ice cream and sweet syrup) i.e the ais kacang here is already 3rd generation shop... all things were superb the Char Koay Teow was the best i have tasted and the big prawns serverd with it were succullent and tender... wonderful lunch to begin with...
after a really filling lunch... we headed out to explore abit... we took a spin and went to one of penang's landmark Bukit Bendera we bought our tickets and went up the hill via tram / cable car... it had a nice view of whole of penang and a few interesting stuff but nothing really capitivating... the nice cool environment was nice but nothing much other than that we spent a really long time to get back down as there was a large crowd of kiasu malaysians pushing and shoving their way through... NOT a highlight of the trip...
so when we got down it was already aroung 8pm we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up... after a much needed bath and quick nap we headed out to have our dinner at around 10pm... he headed to the all famous Gurney Drive... this is the Mecca for all hawkers in Penang... u can sample all the famous food, it may be less delicious but at least you have the all the variety under one roof... unfortunately for us it was raining that night so that put a slght dampen on things... but when we reached there we still braved the rain to make our orders we ordered Rojak Buah(mixed fruits in sweet prawn sauce), Juu Huu Eng Chai (Cuttle Fish with water Convolvulus), Sotong Bakar (Dried Cuttlefish Grilled), Oh Chien (as above), Char Koay Teow (as above) and Asam Laksa (long rice noodle in a tangy,spicy fish based broth) all the food was nice... but those who havent seen Gurney Drive in a long time its very nicely done up not with flowing water and proper electricity no more generators... its somewhat lost it touch but i guess its still of those must visit palces in Penang...
So after another filling meal we all went back to the hote at 12.30am and took our rest... Next morning all slept in untill about 11am... we proceeded to check out and hit the town to find another meal... before that we headed to the toy museum located just below the hotel it was an interesting place with many toys from all the movies and many more cartoons and of course starwars.. a good experience its like experienceing part of your childhood again... :p
so this time we headed out to find another Oh Chien Place which came highly recommended... after half hour of driving in circles we finally reached our destination.. it was a small cofee shop selling Oh Chien, Lobak(chinese fried sausages and other things), Wan Tan Mee (tossed noodles in dark soy with dumplings served on the side)... the food was great espicially the Oh Chien the oysters were big and juicy the starch was still crisp and the eggs finely fried... heavenly... the cakes from the next door bakery were very nice too...
after this filling lunch we decided to walk it off so we headed out to Kek Lok Si Temple... Its one of the biggest Temples i have seen before... Its crowning glory is a 120ft bronze Statue of Kuan Yin (bigget in the world so it claims) It is an impressive temple complex with many prayer halls and also shrines... we had to take a lift to the top pavillion where the statue was... at the top we were greeted with a nicely manucured garden complex with fish ponds and and bonsai's lining its perimeter it was a peaceful an tranquil place... after walking around and taking more pictures we headed back down to sample another penang delicacy Asam Laksa(as above) this has got to be the best Asam Laksa in town its fragrance can be smelt from ver far off... well it was amazing spicy and tangy very fragrant as well from all the fresh spices added very very satisfying...
after another meal we headed to the ferry terminal and took the ferry back to REALITY then it was another long drive back to my home... all in all a great trip very satisfying and happy but i think i put on loads of weight well back to my diet i guess... :P
