26 Hours In Penang

Shortly after last month’s Penang trip, I discovered there would be yet another Interlull weekend and toyed with another return trip to Penang. And why not. I enjoyed Georgetown, I love old buildings and I love the way the Penangites restore their old buildings. So after much thought, I bought another return ticket – departing on Saturday morning this time instead of Friday evening - but as much as I wanted to return to my boutique guesthouse where I stayed at previously, I couldn’t as it was full. Well, the Penang Bridge International Marathon would also take place on the same weekend. So I had to search for another hotel, one in Georgetown but not too far away from the bus terminal at KOMTAR. After my previous guesthouse, I was keen to explore another boutique hotel and finally I decided to book Hotel Penaga. It’s quite pricey but as I would only be in Penang for one night, it wasn’t too painful.

So I flew out last Saturday morning (16 November 2013). It was a long taxi along the runway before we lifted off for take-off due to the long take-off queue at KLIA that morning. We landed at 1015 and although I rushed off, I still had to endure a wait at the bus stop as bus no. 102 would only depart at 1100. I had to pick up something at One-Stop Midlands Park Centre so I had to take the bus bound for Pulau Tikus. The fare from the airport was RM3.40.

It was a long bus ride but I didn’t quite mind it as I had a thick novel to immerse myself in. I was, however, getting increasingly irritated with a girl who was talking non-stop to her poor boyfriend in her high-pitched squeaky irritating voice. She didn’t stop yakking the whole journey and I sympathised with the poor young man for having to put up with her. We finally reached Gurney Paragon Mall about 70 minutes later. I got down and walked through the mall and as nothing particularly caught my fancy, hurried on to Gurney Plaza. As I was already hungry by then, I went to look for lunch first.

I left after lunch and after checking the directory (I was surprised to note there was no Swatch store at Gurney Plaza) and walked over to One Stop Midlands Park Centre. Having concluded my business, I took the bus back to KOMTAR and from there, walked to Hutton Street where my hotel was. I reached the hotel at 1440 and after checking in and the obligatory photo taking, rushed off to Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion. There’s a guided tour at 3 pm and I was determined not to miss it. I reached the mansion less than ten minutes later and joined the crowd after purchasing the ticket (it cost RM12).

The tour lasted an hour and we went to a few sections of the house. I know Cheong Fatt Tze wasn’t a baba and therefore I shouldn’t be comparing his mansion to Pinang Peranakan Mansion but of the two, I enjoyed the latter so much more. To me, Pinang Peranakan Mansion has a richer cultural element and because practically the whole mansion is opened to visitors, I have a deeper sense of understanding and appreciation of the baba and nyonya culture and life back then. There are also more furniture and more things to see, appreciate and value at the Pinang Peranakan Mansion, giving me a richer fuller and more colourful experience. Oh well, at least I’ve done both now.

I walked back to the hotel to perform prayers and have a brief rest. After a cuppa and a bun, I set off again, determined to hunt down the cat murals. I managed to find them all save for two cat figures (not murals). I then walked along Lebuh Chulia and even ventured to Love Lane (all the time wondering at the name). After that, I went to find dinner and in the end, had it at Ee Beng Vegetarian Food Restaurant. The day’s specials were Mee Jawa and Bak Kut Teh. Hey, it’s not as if I could have Bak Kut Teh on any normal circumstances so I ordered that, a plate of rojak (the peanut sauce was so spicy!) and kiwi juice. After that, I returned to the hotel to rest. I tried out the Jacuzzi (bliss!) and then settled down for the night, curled up in the cosy bed with my novel. Unfortunately, the guests above my room had different ideas. I didn’t know what they were attempting to do but whatever it was, it sounded like a mini stampede and a mini earthquake rolled together. I couldn’t stand it and even called up the reception to complain. Hey, it cost seriously good money to stay there and as a paying guest, I was entitled to enjoy a peaceful and quiet stay. Otherwise, I might as well stay at a backpackers’ hostel. And I stay at hostels a lot so no, it’s not as if I’m being snobbish about it all. But seriously, if you can’t behave, then either stay home or stay elsewhere. Just because you pay good money to stay somewhere doesn’t give you the right to thrash the room and create public disturbance.

I woke up on Sunday morning to perform morning prayers to continued thumping from the room above. I tried to sleep back after prayers but sleep was elusive so I finally got up to shower and get ready. I only went down for breakfast after 0915 as I didn’t want to get hungry too soon. The hotel’s long rectangle pool is right next to the table I sat at in the restaurant and it was probably because of this that no one was swimming. After breakfast, I went up to the third floor to check out the room above mine but when I saw the hotel staff there, I knew the inconsiderate imbeciles had already checked out.

I checked out at 1030 and just before leaving, reiterated my complaint about the guests above my room to the reception. They checked and said the guests had checked (which I already knew anyway). Then I left and walked to KOMTAR bus terminal, taking a different route. The route turned out to be better that way so I was glad I took the risk. The bus to the airport was already waiting so I hurried over to board it.

We reached the airport less than 45 minutes later and I immediately went in. I got a little confused when the flight before ours was called as the numbers were close (MH1143 while mine was MH1145). A former colleague whom I met at the boarding gate said the earlier flight was probably delayed to allow those affected by road closures due to the Penang Bridge International Marathon to reach the airport and make their flight. He himself crossed over from the mainland and did so immediately after the bridge was reopened. MH1143 finally took off at 12 noon (it was actually scheduled to depart at 1045) so I was glad I didn’t choose that flight back this time (I chose that flight on my return trip last month) only to have it pushed to a different departure time. Ours took off at 1245 and we landed at KLIA an hour later. It took me five minutes of walking like a possessed girl to get from our gate to the KLIA Express platform; I was possessed and determined alright to get the 2 pm train back to KL Sentral. Heh.

I’m looking forward to my next short trip to Penang. Hope to cover the Interactive Museum and finally murder the long overdue bowl of prawn noodles then!

My Diwali 2013/Maal Hijrah 1435H Weekend

I had planned this trip way back in February 2013 and had asked my colleagues who travelled to Egypt to come along. They had, however, assumed that I would be fine with them inviting their own friends along. I don’t really like to travel in a big group and told them so (I had no choice but to join large tour groups when I went to Beijing, Shanghai and Guilin recently - because I absolutely hate having to wait for the whole bus to be ready before continuing on our journey). I had already bought tickets for the three of us for the trip in mid-September and also booked accommodation but when they forwarded their friends’ air tickets to me, I put my foot down and told them I wasn’t happy. I was angry at their presumptuousness and they riled me further by telling me that I did not need to do further arrangements for them as they would be doing their own ground transportation, essentially casting me aside. I was so furious I bought another ticket (and burnt my earlier ticket) and re-booked my accommodation again (I had paid for them in advance too).

Anyway. The long story short, I didn’t travel with them in mid-September and went to Guilin instead. But I had some problem trying to find a travel partner until ZS agreed to come with me.

Saturday, 2 November 2013

An early start today. Abah dropped me at De Palma Hotel where I performed prayers before boarding the bus and then the LRT to KL Sentral. Took the 0700 bus to LCCT (MAS no longer flies there) and arrived after an hour. Went in after repacking and sorting our liquid, aerosol and gel (LAG) items and waited to board. The flight took off 15 minutes later than scheduled but we landed on time. We cleared immigration quickly but I was held up by the custom officers after they saw the x-ray of my bag, specifically my Converse shoes. So I had to open my bag and bear with them while they sifted through my things and slowly losing my patience over their stupid questions: ‘Oh, you’re going to Mount Bromo? Where are your warm clothes then? It’s cold up there’, (showed them my jacket); ‘What is this (while lifting my novel)? A book?’ (no, a huge bar of chocolates. You dolt). ‘Where do you work? Is this your first time to Indonesia?’ to which I responded sharply. No, this isn’t my first time (although it may be my first and last time to Surabaya) and ‘I’ve been to Jakarta six times.’ I even asked if one wasn’t allowed to bring in shoes in their bags into Indonesia and what the problem was. ‘Just a routine check.’ Bloody routine check my foot.

We were finally cleared to go and I fumed out, expecting to find the pre-arranged driver to be waiting outside. No such luck. We were instead approached by various men offering us SIM cards and taxi rides. We waited and waited and finally I couldn’t stand it anymore and asked ZS to buy a SIM card and contact the person I had made the arrangement with. Guess what, he forgot that we were coming that day. He assured that he would send us a driver and car immediately. I told ZS I wanted to perform prayers while waiting. If the driver arrived while we were performing prayers, well, he jolly well could wait for us. I’m glad we decided to perform prayers because the driver/car were still nowhere to be found when we went back to the arrival area. The day was quickly turning into a nightmare. WTF indeed. Another call was made, another promise was made and yet, thirty minutes later, we were still there. Finally, the man asked us to take a taxi to our hotel near Bromo, the cost of which he would set off against the pre-agreed amount due to him. The driver would arrive later that evening and we would get an Innova instead of the Avanza which we had agreed to earlier. Well, that was a small silver lining to the dark cloud of that first half of the day.

We went to the taxi counter and paid for a cab (Rp785K! This compared to Rp550K/day by private transportation) and set off. Finally. At long last. We stopped for lunch as I was already feeling hungry after all that. I don’t know if it’s normal but we paid for the driver’s meal and he didn’t even thank us. Is that the norm? Is that the accepted practice? I mean, we didn’t mind paying for him but was it too hard to acknowledge and was it too hard to thank us? Whatever happened to basic courtesy? Whatever happened to your manners? Did you lose them along the way?

We made another stop at a convenience store before setting off for Bromo. We had to give the driver Rp20K for the toll fares (although they didn’t exceed Rp15K. I know because I kept track). Oh, he also stopped to pick up his wife (WTF? Free ride? He did tell us the wifey had never been to Bromo area before. Like, are you kidding me? She’d never been there despite being born and raised there and lived for at least 30 years there?), saying the wife would keep him company on the trip back and could also help take over driving the car. Well, whatever. The less I talked to him, the better. I had already refused to talk to the man who was supposed to supply us the driver and car to meet us at the airport.

We reached our hotel at dusk and checked in. Oh, the cab driver asked us for additional tips for his dinner. WTF. I wouldn’t have minded offering him some but when he outlined his request, it disgusted me so much that I immediately got out of the car.

We went out after freshening up and performing prayers, in search of dinner. There was a hall next to the mosque with a stage all set up and people playing musical instruments. When asked, we were told they were having a ceremony to celebrate the circumcision of some local kids.

Sunday, 3 November 2013

I woke up just after 1 local time (I think) and saw that the TV was on and showing the Arsenal-Liverpool match. After trying to sleep again and failing, I got up and watched the match, in time to see Giroud missed scoring and then my Welsh warrior scoring his stunning goal. We watched the rest of the match and by the time it ended, it was almost time to leave. So we changed and performed ablutions before leaving.

Our driver, Pak Firman, drove us all the way up. We were caught in the bottleneck before long and performed prayers in the car while waiting. We then got down and refusing the offers of horse rides, climbed up. Man, what a challenging climb up that was, especially in the cold morning air and the thinning mountain air. Actually, I didn’t think it was that cold. It wasn’t freezing definitely but the mountain air sure was thin and I had to work hard at inhaling. Before long, I was gasping for breath. It was challenging alright, I kid you not. We also had to navigate our way in the dark, trying hard to guess if the dark spots were horse poo or something else.

Finally, we reached the top, me gasping and puffing and panting. But the view was well worth it (and it had better be). We stayed for an hour before making our way down (Pak Firman had to call us to warn of the impending traffic jam). We went down the hill to a village and from there, took a jeep to the sand sea and savannah. We had earlier seen them from atop Mount Penanjakan. It cost Rp600K for a jeep which can fit up to six people but as we couldn’t find anyone else to share jeeps with, we had to pay for the two of us. I shudder to think how much I had to fork out had I gone on the trip alone.

After some Kodak moments at the savannah, we hopped back into the jeep and drove to the foot of Mount Batok and walked to Mount Bromo. You could rent another horse here but thinking it was a flat plateau, we didn’t. Before long, we had problems with the sand (every time the wind blew, the sand would flow and cover us – including our belongings. I had sand enter my bag too!) and it felt like walking at a sandy beach but worse because your feet would keep sinking into the sand. After a while, it got more challenging as we climbed up the mountain and I had to stop a few times to rest. We finally reached the top after struggling to breathe (not easy with the sand), huffing, panting and half dead from the exertion. But that wasn’t the end, oh no. We still had to join the super-long queue to the top of the mountain moving at a snail’s pace. I finally understood the reason behind this as we climbed up the stairs: the stairs were half-buried by sand and in some parts, the steps had disappeared under the sand altogether, making it hard to plant your feet. In the end, I had to hold the railing and haul myself up because that was the only way as far as I could see. There were the more adventurous and less patient climbers who decided to just climb up (and descend too!) without the aid of the stairs. Climbing up to the stairs was already a mighty challenge to me, thank you very much.

We finally reached the top and I must say, I was quite disappointed, so much so that I remarked, ‘Is that it? We climbed all the way up for this?!’. Still, having climbed and laboured up, we spent a few minutes before deciding to join yet another long queue down. Then we walked across the plateau and back to the jeep, covered as we were in ash and sand.

We rode the jeep back to the village and went back to our car and rode back to our hotel. I was already famished (good thing I packed my bread and brought it along) so we headed straight for the restaurant for breakfast. It was 0940 when we arrived and breakfast was supposed to be until 10. We had told Pak Firman that we wanted to leave after 11 am.

After breakfast, we returned to our bungalow and set about dusting ourselves, clothes and bags off. After showering off the dust and ash, we performed prayers (prayer times are faster in that part of Indonesia) and we were out by 1130. After returning our key and collecting the balance of my payment, we set off and headed for Malang. I dozed (or at least, I tried to) in the car. Actually, I was having a headache no thanks to the lack of sleep and possibly some altitude sickness. I also started feeling hungry which escalated quickly to feeling famished and starved. We finally stopped for a light meal at Bakso President in Malang, where we would spend the night. After our meal, we headed to our guest house and checked in.

We left after tea at 1645 and headed for Batu, a neighbouring town about 30 minutes away. Batu has theme and amusement parks and these explained the many hotels and home stays in Batu and Malang. We went to an amusement park but didn’t enter as we didn’t fancy it. After about half an hour, we left and returned to Malang.

Monday, 4 November 2013

We checked out at 0915 after breakfast and drove back to Batu, to Kusuma Agro Wisata, where there are pink guava and apple farms. There’re two packages but we bought the one costing Rp48K which entitled us to pick two pink guavas and apples each. We were also given a big fat juicy capsicum each and after the tour, we were brought to a café where we had a small glass of pink guava juice and toast bread with apple cheese. After that, we left and drove on to Surabaya, stopping en route to perform prayers at Masjid Muhammad Cheng Ho. We reached our hotel after 3 pm, bade farewell to and thanked Pak Firman and checked in. We then left for the nearby Tunjugan Plaza where I bought two novels (40% on top of the sale price) and finally, my Arsenal kit for the season 2012/14. We checked out some other stores too before searching for dinner. We returned to the hotel at 1945 local time as I wanted to watch The Amazing Race. Heh.

Tuesday, 5 November 2013

An early start to the day but of course it was already bright outside. Went for breakfast at the hotel restaurant and left at 0725 for the airport. Fortunately it was also a public holiday in Indonesia so we were blessed not to be caught in the morning traffic rush hour. We reached the airport about 45 minutes later and went in after paying our departure fee of Rp150K. The flight back left slightly later than scheduled but we landed at 1300.

I hope you had a good long weekend then too!

Bittersweet Symphony

If Arsenal were the symphony orchestra as described by Jürgen Klopp, then Aaron Ramsey is the conductor. The waltzing Welsh wizard. My Welsh warrior. He has now scored 11 goals for The Arsenal and two goals for his country thus far this season.

Arsenal-Liverpool(2-0)

Dortmund-Arsenal (0-1)

Up next: a trip to the Old Toilet.