“During the festive season, the Penangites sit at home and just curse the foreigners who come to our island by the droves, causing traffic jam everywhere!” – statement from Raymond, the Proud Penangite.
Despite being a person who adheres to the formula of public holidays = do not go out of your house, Tron and I went to Penang over the Labour Day weekend. To be honest, I *really* did not realise that it was the Labour Day weekend — I was busy trying to find when we would BOTH be free, and I was bugging him for an exact date, while he was afraid to commit due to work requirements. When he finally said, “Ok, I’m free the last weekend of April!” I went ahead to book without thinking that it was going to be super packed. All I cared about was that I finally could find a weekend when we would BOTH be free!
We booked a room at Hard Rock Hotel, Batu Feringghi and being the el cheapos that we are, we decided to take the Hillview Deluxe (with no balcony some more!). Add in some early bird discounts, and you get a pretty alright deal, although maybe still 50% higher than other hotels along Batu Feringghi. ;p At first, I wanted the Kings Suite – the one with the swimming pool right outside your door. But Tron said that it was not worth the price — we should “try” Hard Rock first, and if the service is good, only would we come back again.
Hmm.. before I go on about the trip (and I have *a lot* to say), I’ll just like to say right off the bat that the hotel is FREAKING AWESOME. Best stay ever, with awesome staff service, awesome concept and wonderful facilities. Both of us want to go back, and Tron relented that the kings suite really is as awesome as it sounded on the website. ;p Another plus point for the both of us is that we got an upgrade without asking for it. ^^ Got upgraded to the Seaview Deluxe, which *does* have a balcony! That’s about a hundred ringgit difference already per night. =p Plus, we happened to pass by the Hillview room (when it was being cleaned) and definitely the view isn’t as good as the seaview. I mean, check out what we could see from our balcony…
Secondly, the check-in time for the rooms is 3pm. 3pm!! That’s super late, especially since Tron insisted that we leave Subang at 6am in order to beat the traffic to Penang. Madness. I calculated that we might even arrive before lunch time, and after driving from morning, don’t ask us to go sightseeing until 3pm…! I emailed the people at HRH to ask if I could get an earlier check-in time. They said they would try, but nothing definite as it was peak period. When we arrived, the room was ready for us! We didn’t even drink finish the welcome drinks, and then the friendly receptionist said that it was all ready! WhoopeEeee! Got an upgrade, and with early check-in. Awesome, right! (I know I’m abusing the adjective, but I seriously do not know how to explain our joy.)
Thirdly… Tron has a Club 21 membership card, which entitles us to discounts at all 3 restaurants (Hard Rock Cafe, Pizzeria and The Shack) as well as the souvenir shop (not that we bought anything). Like so atas right? Living the rockstar life (although started as el cheapos) and then having discounts wherever we dined. Also need to thank the receptionist for kindly writing down all the discounts we were applicable for (as we didn’t bring the Club 21 discount booklet). =B
SO… about the journey to Penang. My preferred mode of long car rides is to be the passenger at the back seat of the car, able to sleep allllllll the way until we reach the hotel, whereby I would be well rested enough to bug the rest of the peeps to start the sightseeing NOWWWW (selfish friend, I know, hahaha!). I don’t like being the driver (honestly, I’m a bad driver, and you don’t want me to be the driver on long rides because I’ll be a BITCH) and I think I’m a worse navigator! Cos I don’t know the way ANYWHERE.
This allllll changed 3 days ago… because…
I loaned my dad’s GPS! Muwahahhaha!
Suddenly, I’m the one who knows where to turn, where to go, where are we, how much longer til we reach. Wow! Amazing power! I think I want to buy a GPS now! I can’t believe that I have lived 27 years and didn’t think of ever buying a GPS. I wasn’t even as impressed when Pauline used a GPS back in our Penang trip (went up there for Raymond’s wedding) because I think the technology then was not as updated. Took very long to get a satellite signal too. Now it’s super quick and everything can be found easily. I love it! My only complaint is the annoying sound it makes when you are breaking the speed limit.
At first, Tron was :
“SHUT UP LAH YOU STUPID GPS! DONG DONG DONG SO MANY TIMES FOR WHAT!”
By the time we reached Penang, he was:
“Wah, this GPS is very good huh! Check me out, I know the way around this island like I’m a Penangite! Hahaha.. look at that KL driver, don’t know which lane he’s in! No wonder Penangites hate KL people hor? GPS… I love youuuu~~”
Time seemed to fly by, although I must admit that at one point I did give in to exhaustion and fell asleep for about 20 minutes. =p So to answer my colleague’s insistence that I would be stuck in a jam because I’m going to Penang on a public holiday weekend… I would say that it’s not necessarily true.. as long as you leave early!
For the ride back though, it was hellish! I prayed for good weather because I once had to drive through the Ipoh stretch on the North-South Expressway in a heavy downpour and it was seriously the scariest thing for a newbie driver to experience. It’s already steep (going uphill), and it was so heavy that you can’t really see what’s in front of you. Despite the wipers going at full speed… you are BLIND I tell you. I really don’t know how I made it thru it, except that my friend was very confident and kept telling me that it would be ok.
Anyway, the prayer worked… it was SUPER SUNNY on Monday when we were driving back. In fact, I won’t call it sunny… I would say it was blistering like the Sahara until the car threatened to overheat. And there were cars that overheated by the side of the road. We were melting inside the car despite having the AC on… I was so worried that we would fall sick after that. Thank God I’m still ok now… hehehe. =)
We were stuck in a 90 minutes jam near Slim River because of 3 BMWs that got into an accident. We had stopped by the Tapah rest stop for food, and when we got out, there was a crawl! -__- Tron called up Plus to ask them what’s going on. I was really impressed by this because I never thought to call Plus Highway… hahaha. Have you ever called them before? Anyway, despite giving wrong coordinates, the Plus guy knew what Tron was talking about, and told us the exact location of the accident, and even told us that the cars have been moved to the side of the road and that traffic SHOULD BE moving. The accident occurred at kilometer 368… after calling Plus up, we found out that we were at kilometer 362. Those were the LONGEST 6 km of my life! I think I can finish “fun run marathon” faster than the car could crawl through the traffic!
The sick part was seeing all those people who think they are above the law and went into the emergency lane. Really hate Malaysians sometimes! All in all, our journey back took about 6 hours… maybe not that bad if you count the stop at Tapah. I suppose it seemed longer because we were out of the hotel early on Monday and had been driving around town before we even headed back home.
Okie… well, enough about the journey there and more about what we did there! XD The first thing we did upon arrival was to have lunch at The Pizzeria. As mentioned, we had discounts, and on the first day, we just wanted to relax and take it easy. By no means was this a “foodie” trip… we just wanted to spend time with each other. The food at Pizzeria was quite good… but of course… pricey. Service is excellent. After that, we scoped out the hotel a bit. Oh yeah, I couldn’t swim because I had my period! My mom also said that this is the worst thing that can happen to a girl who is on a beach holiday. Hahaha. Sigh… oh well. X)
We went to Gurney Drive for shopping and later at night, for a seafood dinner. There’s a place near Gurney Drive that serves very fresh seafood, but I think the prices are exhorbitant. Tron said it’s ok though… so I suppose it’s all in the mindset. Hahaha. He doesn’t think it’s worth it to drive very far to eat something cheaper. The food was delicious, but very annoyed with the number of insects in that place. Blehk.. and the service is slow cos there are soooo many people and the waiters can / may forget your order…
We walked around Gurney Drive for a bit, but only to look at the random stuff that this knickknack man was selling. Bought some laser pointers (for presentation) here…. and then I saw this dancing cat. I wanted to buy it!!! It is so random and strange and funny at the same time…. It only costs RM25, should I have bought it?
A picture already tells a thousand words, but a video will tell a million more. Sorry, but I didn’t plan to upload it to Youtube, so you’ll have to turn your head 90 degrees to watch this :
Super jammed all the way back to Bukit Feringghi… this is probably the main “jams” encountered during my stay here. Really no fun to take 1 hour to get from Gurney back to Bukit Feringghi. Plus, getting out of Gurney Drive is another sick sad story. We took the wrong exit, so we had to make one round Gurney Drive, with all the people parking at the side of the road. OMG! When we finally tumbled into hotel at nearly midnight, we said that next time, we won’t stay out so late… maybe it won’t be that jammed…
2nd day in PG was a more touristy day out. Firstly, I was on a mission set out by Mama Leech, who asked me to buy Him Heang tambun biscuits. Honestly… though I like tambun biscuits… I don’t LOVE it. It’s not something that I *MUST* eat when I go to Penang. If someone goes to Penang and doesn’t buy me tambun biscuits, I don’t go apeshit. Basically… it’s not a must. However, because my MOTHER asked me to do so, suddenly, it became a must. -___- Sigh… anyway, Him Heang was CLOSED. So I couldn’t it that day. I sms-ed my dad and asked him if Ghee Hiang (rival company… also big production and famous in Penang) would be ok. He didn’t reply until late at night, so there goes the biscuit buying mission.
Since we were not “in the know” of what to eat in Penang… we went back to the famous (or should I say infamous?) Lorong Selamat. When I keyed in “Lorong Selamat” into the GPS, I got a description saying “Most expensive char kueh teow in Penang”. I laughed my ass off, but shameful to say that we did go there just to eat the char kueh teow.
Shameful to say that I have been telling people not to give the aunty business because she is darn rude, and I go back to give her business.
Shameful to say that I think it’s crap that she can make people wait, and yet I waited. 
Still, I would say that the service there has improved! Firstly, it was no longer an hour long wait… but a 30+ minute wait. Secondly, because now all kinds of hawkers come into the shop and ask if we want popiah / ochen / dumpling… so basically you can sit at the store… order some drinks and your CKT. While waiting for the CKT to come, you can eat a plethora of other delicious hawker food… and you won’t feel the wait! Seriously! We were also lucky that we arrived just in time to get nice seats without needing to wait. People who came just 10 minutes after us had to stand near other people’s table and will them to leave. If they are bastardy like Raymond, Raymond would purposely order another ais kacang just to make them wait. WTF!
Seriously most expensive CKT in Penang… next time we go we will *really* not eat there anymore. Mainly because :
a. Tron posted his 4sq location on Facebook and his friend recommended another CKT place. So no excuse that we don’t know any other CKT place to go to
b. Raymond heard my stories today and said that next time he will bring Tron and I on makan adventure around Penang. Yahoo! Cheap and delicious, he said!
I *did* do my research beforehand… like erm… to go to Swatow Lane or Lebuh Macallum … or … wherever. But it was kinda half-hearted research, and as mentioned… it wasn’t really a food trip. 
We went off to Prangin Mall after that, and checked out 1st Avenue. Tron insisted that we eat at this restaurant as there were loads of people eating there too. The food there was pretty good! I think it can definitely rival places like Old Town or Kim Gary or whatever… hehehe. I was a bit blur, but I think this restaurant was in 1st Avenue… one of the top floors. If you go, you must try the egg tart. It is unlike any other egg tart I’ve eaten before. The pastry is so light and fluffy… and the egg… I don’t know how to explain it. But when you eat it, you feel like it’s not fattening at all. That this egg tart is GOOD FOR YOU. That eating 10 of this is healthy and nutritious food. *sigh*
Nothing much to do there, and the heat was getting to me. I had a massive migraine at one point, so I insisted we go back to the hotel. Anyway, didn’t have an itinerary. Hahaha… then we ate at Pizzeria again.
Walked by the beachside (even though I was in wedges… wtf!), watching people go parachuting (??) and Tron enjoyed himself talking to the watersports operators. Hahaha. I loved watching all those people fly by. ^_^ I want to try it one day! If Tron doesn’t want to go with me, I’ll go with my future sons and daughters instead. Hahaha…
Ended the day by just vegging in the hotel and enjoying the facilities. What’s the point of having beautiful hotel room if you don’t use the awesome sound system, enjoy the band from the comforts of your own bedroom, and of course, catching up on much needed sleep? For me, after I had slept my migraine away, I started reading The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest, and I managed to finish the book! I’ll write a proper review another day, but basically this book wasn’t as good as the first two. But I’m just happy that the book ended on a happy note, considering that the author initially wanted to write another 7 more books in the series!
Ended up vegging + sleeping until it was late, and despite our immense lunch(es), we wound up ordering hotel room service. It was expensive, but at 12am, you are thinking with your stomach instead of your brain. The food tasted good, but the portions were really too miniscule. SIGH. Luckily I had the sense to order the potato wedges as well. 
It was the best thing that night!
The next morning, we checked out early (since someone gave us the room early, hopefully us leaving early gives someone else an early room too) as we wanted to skip the jam. The sick part was that my dad had replied back that Ghee Hiang tambun biscuits would be “acceptable” if Him Heang wasn’t available. We went by Burma Road again, only to see Him Heang was still closed. Went to the “acceptable” option, and found out that the line was too freaking long there! Like ridiculously long! And I overheard some aunty saying “luckily I made a reservation, otherwise will have no biscuits!” At first, even though Tron asked me to not line up, I was adamant about getting the stuff, so I said, “Let’s just line up lar!” Then after hearing the aunty say that, PLUS I started feeling disgusted at the whole need to even line up to give people money, I gave up. We decided to try this smaller Ghee Hiang store along Burma Road too… and that store was empty! But it turns out that it was empty because they had run out of EVERYTHING except almond biscuits. Cis!!
I wanted to just go home empty handed, but Tron suggested to buy this brand called “Loong Nam” in Gurney Drive. Went there, and it was another havoc because we wound up parking on the 5th floor, and had to go all the way to Basement 1 to buy the stuff. Hahaha! Luckily there was no line! After buying loads of stuff, and you know what in the end? My mom says that it tastes bad! Donno what kinda “kou kup” tasting tongue she has, but kinda demotivated after this. Went thru so much trouble only to have someone talk bad about your efforts. Whatever la… I asked Raymond & Kelly (my Penangite colleagues) what they thot about all these tambun biscuits and they also said they donno how to judge what is good and what is bad. They said Him Heang Ghee Hiang Ah Hiang all the same, just that the first two is more hyped up. Well, I guess I know that I can count on my colleagues to help me finish my stack of tambun biscuits now (since my mom dissed and dismissed it already).
Thus ends a very long and winding story about the weekend getaway. How was yours? By the way, though I sound bitchy at some points, all in all, was a very satisfactory trip. I was worried about Tron driving so much, but after the jam and all that is over… he said that we should drive somewhere else for a holiday again! Hahaha… such short term memory… =)
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