Mad Travel Rush

Off to Taiwan in a few hours time and only just packed my luggage. Goodness. Haven't read up on Taiwan yet, all I have is a guide on my iPhone.

Come to think of it, I was the same last-minute-no planning girl for my trip to Penang. Very very different from my preparation habits last time...I would do research, print out maps etc waaaaay before.

Now? Hahaha. Now just be spontaneous and go travel with an open heart (and blank mind) lor.

Be back soon!

Red and White

Got the tickets to the National Day Parade preview! Thanks to Nick!

I'm very happy because the ticket gets me a goodie bag.

This year's goodie bag is a copycat Crumpler-like bag. Alot of colours but you cannot choose. The NS men (or boys) kept shouting, "NO CHOOSING...NO CHOOSING auntie...I said NO CHOOSING." So normal people will just take whatever colour they are given.

I wanted pink colour.

When it came to my turn, the NS boy gave me a green one. Very nice lah. BUT I WANT PINK COLOUR.

So when he wasn't looking, I mumbled, "I want the pink one" and before the blur NS boy can react...I snatched the pink bag from the table. AHA!!!!

Anyway here are some photos to distract you from the revelation of my auntie behaviour.

From NDP 2009

You see, I'm very clever. I know the theme this year is "hands". All the logos and posters all got hand-like designs what. The theme must be "hands". That's why I took a photo of my hand with the ticket.

From NDP 2009

There! Told you the theme is "hands"!


But funnily, instead of featuring a hand, the stage has an eye instead.

From NDP 2009

Creepy leh. Like they are watching you.


The giant balls they will once again release to the spectators, who will once again scream with glee and excitement.

(Every year also same thing, how come people get so entertained by the balls?)

From NDP 2009

I don't want the balls to touch me. I bet they are germy and dirty.


Ok, I'm very lazy to type many many words. I'll just put up nonsense photos of myself.

From NDP 2009

From NDP 2009

I am pretending to be excited! Can you tell? I think the only giveaway is Alex looked bored beside me and seemed to be sleeping with a smile.

From NDP 2009

Seems like I'm the only excited one in the spectator stand.

From NDP 2009

My baby and I looking up at the can-do-stunt planes.

From NDP 2009

Awww. Love-shaped light thingy, very sweet. So must take a lovey dovey photo with my baby. :)

Jet Saver Light Challenge

Wooohooo! To start off our Penang challenge, all the teams have to take an 'official' team photo.

The Jetstar folks gave us a piece of A4 paper with "Team 3" printed on it and ask us to anyhow pose.

Wah, I started to feel stressed. I'm sure it's a test. How can it be that we just anyhow pose? Where got so easy one? Must be a test to see how creative we can be. I started to signal by telepathy to Mari that we must NOT, in any way, anyhow pose. Luckily there is such thing as telepathy, because Mari started to be very dramatic in her pose.

We pretended to be an airplane.

To be precise, a Jetstar plane.

This one. I can't explain. I think I might be trying to cover her face.

After our official photo, I decided to pretend that I saw a friend.

Mari decided to pretend that she was drinking water.

Quite realistic right? You will actually think she is drinking, but the truth is she wasn't.

Oh by the way, see the bags we are carrying? Those are our luggage for 3 days.

That's it! Just one bag each and we don't have to go through the hassle of checking in. Also, we found out from the Jetstar folks that for short trips where we don't have luggage check-in needs, we can make use of the Jet Saver Light fare rate which is a better-priced rate! Can save money for more shopping!

But if you are those that like to carry bottles of moisturiser, hair curler, and don't know what else, better check in your luggage and opt for a different fare rate lah.

Yup, so we moved on to check in to get our air tickets.

Oooh. We are taking the inaugural flight to Penang!

How exciting!

We have never taken an inaugural flight before.

Since we are not weighing our luggage, I thought of weighing myself.

Hahaha. I wished I weigh so little lor.

I was balancing myself against the counter so actually I weigh much more than this. :(

:(

:(

:,(

Oh yah, here are our competitors.

Give them face, give them a photo space in our blog entry.

I was very hungry. So I have to eat crappy food in the airport.

Then we went toilet...

to take a photo.

Oh! H1N1 flu alert.

Don't worry. I brought hand sanitizers, anti-bacteria wipes, and 3-ply masks.

On the plane.

The flight was fast! About 1.5 hours and we touched down in Penang!

I can't believe it. Last time when I was a student, I everyday take public transport from my house (Balestier) to Clementi, and I take 1.5 hours also lor.

Now 1.5 hours get me to Penang.

Anyway because we are on the maiden flight to Penang, we get a Jetstar sticker each. The sticker will entitle us to a goodie bag.

Yay!

Also, we were welcomed by a drumming performance.

Felt like VIPs.

We get to stay in Berjaya Georgetown Hotel, which is located near Gurney Plaza. Our 26th floor room has a spectacular view of the town, Penang Hill, and the sea. We could also look into the nearby apartments and spy on them. Heehee.

To stretch our legs, we wanted to walk around abit.

Walked the Church of the Immaculate Conception, which was built in 1810. Almost 200 years old!

Started to get hungry and first stop was to Gurney Plaza for a steamboat dinner. The restaurant (located at the basement) had a nice decor and is quite popular with young families and teens.

Was inspired to pretend to be a model.

Ok.

After the weird glances we were getting from the diners, better just take normal photos.

Next!

After-dinner snack!

Guess what's this?

Ok, don't need to guess. I tell you.

It's a tea egg!

Very fragrant..Mmmmmmhmmmm, love the aroma of the tea-leaves.

.............................................

Now the Jetstar Saver Light Challenge starts officially on the 2nd day. Ok, let me go through the rules quickly.

RM120 given to each team. Find 5 interesting things to do/eat/buy in Penang within a day.

Take a photo of us doing a star jump.

First step, start the day off right with Nasi Lemak. Added alot of sambal to wake us up.

Spicy leh! I scared to eat.

Then we headed off to the hotel's pool to cool off a little.



Yah yah...I know...it's a challenge and all we seem to be doing is eat breakfast in the hotel and lazing by the pool.

But we are just building up our energy for the rest of the day. You wait! Later show you more exciting photos!



This is the free Penang t-shirt in our airport goodie bag. The size is XXL. But it's free, so we just wear lor.

Done with all the morning lazing, we took a taxi to Lorong Kulit for the local's flea market. It's a huge market that is opened from 9am to 2pm every day.



Motorcycles run through the market walkways, so you got to be careful.



The market sells EVERYTHING.



Handphone covers.

(At first glance, I thought they were selling phones!)



Petrol.



Bronze.



Durians under a tree.



Ok, this one took me a while to figure what they are selling.

Selling snake? Since the guy is holding on to a huge snake...



Or whatever strange thing the other man is holding?






Eeeeeeeks!

Found out in the end, they are selling some potent essence from the dried animal.

Hmmm. Reminds me of cuttlefish.


Ok, back to shopping.



Nice t-shirt. Of course, have money every day is new year lah. I have money, every day not only new year, christmas, birthday also included.


The market has alot of stores. Some are proper set-ups with tables and chairs, some stores are displayed on a nice mat on the floor. And of course, some store owners choose to be different.



This is a store.

This one also a store.




Next, we went off on a 30 min taxi ride to Penang Hill.



Can you see my reflection? Heeheee, I took this photo myself. Looks as though someone took for me right? Right??

Yup, reached Penang Hill!



Wait. It's the bottom of the Hill.

Need to take the funicular aka train to the top. It cost RM4 per person for a 2-way ride.

*Kaching!* Minus RM4 from our purse.

But weather suddenly turned bad on us. Clouds were grey and it started to rain.



Kind of stuffy in the train, especially since it's packed.



Happy that we are the first few to grab a space.

The ride to the top takes a total of about 20 minutes.

Very steep tracks.






Can't help imagining what will happen if the brakes fail to work and we just start zooming down the steep tracks.

Mari says she will jump off the train.

"But what if you get horribly injured?" I asked.

She looked at me, exasperated, "Would you rather fly off the train and be dead and they can't even find your body??"

I replied, "Better dead than paralaysed and missing for days in some forest!!"

Anyway the conversation was rather pointless. We just enjoyed asking each other silly questions.

Back to the train.

Here's another picture:



Got to the top where the air is refreshingly cool (could be due to the rain).

Didn't walk around much as it was raining. But saw a great view of Penang!





See the lone building sticking out? That's Komtar, the tallest building in Penang. Photo very misty. Raining lah.







Oooh. This poor doggy! I was taking a photo of him and then discovered that he has a horrid lash on his body.



:( Poor doggy!!!!!





Still, we have to cheer ourselves up because we have to fulfil our secret mission...

Do the star jump!

Got a passerby to help us take photos. He looked terrified when we passed him the camera and said, "We are jumping ok? ok? ok? You count 1 2 3, we jump. Ok? Ok?"

1st attempt:


2nd attempt:


3rd attempt:


ARGH. I was landing and look funny here.

We felt bad to take up his time so we stop our attempts. Also, we felt hungry.

Took a taxi back to Georgetown, to Penang Road for lunch. The driver recommended us to try Penang Laksa and Char Kway Tiao at a corner coffeeshop.



Penang Laksa!

*Kaching!* Minus RM3 from our purse.






Char Kway Tiao!

*Kaching!* Minus RM3.50.




Finally, after a long day climbing the Penang Hill, we get to eat. :)




Coffeeshop says better order at least a drink or pay RM0.40 for taking up the seats.

Outside the coffeeshop is a stall selling Chendol and Ice Kachang. Just perfect to end off our meal, love Ice Kachang!!










Even Pua Chu Kang came here before. Fwah!




Every one eats standing up, even men in working attire.




I also eat the same way.



*Kaching!* RM2.50 for Ice Kachang.

Very yummy!! Penang Laksa is totally different from our Singapore Laksa. You can't really compare the two because they are so different! The Penang version has a clear soup base, with a spicy and sour taste to the soup. Even the noodle is different. We love both versions lah!


Nearby Penang Road is Komtar and a shopping mall - Prangi Mall.



We walked to the mall but nothing much to shop there. Our advice to you, if you go Penang, is to skip the shopping malls. Gurney Plaza still ok, Prangin Mall really nothing much.

Oh when we realised it's nearing 6pm, we decided to head back to the Church of the Immaculate Conception for mass.





Praying. (For more yummy food!)

After mass, we walked over to Gurney Drive's hawker centre.



They have a huge collection of hawker food. However, a taxi driver told us that none of the stalls there have reached the "famous" standard, unlike the roadside stalls in Macallister Road.

We orderd a local snack called Apom. It has bananas as fillings, and tasted like pancakes.

*Kaching!* RM3 for Apoms.

See what we can do with Apoms!

















We did something special for Jetstar... watch the video.



Tadah!





After Apom, we went to Macallister Road for durians.



Shiok! I tell you. Shiok!

We like sweet flesh, so the store owner recommend this award winning durian called "Red Prawn".

*Kaching!* RM15 for a Red Prawn.

Money well spent, it's kickass yummy.

We did a little tribute to Jetstar again.



Hee!


The store owner was very friendly, he lent us his stall so that we can pretend to sell durians.






Very good ah!


Perfect way to end the night.

...............................................

The next morning, we have to take the 9am flight home. Our taxi driver is a real gem. He gave us insights to Penang, like where to eat, where NOT to visit.

If you are going to Penang, you can book him for your taxi rides and can ask him to bring you to good places for food.



Mr Eric Goh Seik Hee (Tel: 010-3734933)


Waaaaait.

Remember our star jump?

It wasn't great. That means we must try again.

This time, we can only do it at the airport. (We really looked silly jumping up and down...oh well!)














(Ok you know why I got a weird expression on my face?? While I was in mid-jump, this lady walked very very close to me and I had to control my leg to avoid kicking her. Hence the constipated look on my face!!!)




Edwina (also from the challenge) joined in for an attempt too.

She and her partner shared the taxi with us, and helped us take the jumping photos. (thanks!):D

Lovely lovely trip to Penang. Wished it was longer!

Thanks to Jetstar!

Special thanks to Jetstar for flying Marianne and I to Penang for FREE!!

We are so proud that we made it to the top ten. And once we got hold of the good news that we are in, we applied for leave from work immediately.

Play first. Overwork later.

I haven't blogged for ages but this competition got me logging in to blogger again. Oooh the sheer joy of typing nonsense onto my very own blogsite, how I miss this!

Ok, photos from the Penang trip coming up real soon.

Blogging in Bed

In bed now and blogging from my iPhone. Welcome to a new realm of laziness.

Why Never Win TOTO?

Didn't win TOTO. Off to work again.