Penang : Land of Un-obvious Road Signs and Food #2

... the 2nd day...

I woke up and found myself and Damien in Brian's room, instead of the room the Damien and I chose the day before.

Yea, we were scared.

Because I told Damien some ghost stories, as the bungalow was built since the British colonial times, believe me it is as old as Penang Free.

Suddenly after having myself tidied up, I crave for the ice-kacang and cendol I had the day before in Gurney Plaza's food court.

Honestly, what desserts could be better than these??

But then again, mom and dad are not keen on us having ice-cold food for breakfast, so we decided to go 'food hunting' in kopitiams again.

Having loaded all our belongings into the car, the 3 of us waved towards the bungalow's lady caretaker, an old kind-looking woman who only speaks Hokkien.

On her smiling face, I saw the eyes of a lonely grandma.

According to dad's philosophy, the restaurant/kopitiam with the most customers serves better food. So, we went to a kopitiam with loads of customers.

My breakfast :

I like the complexion of the teh~

This is called 福建淋面. I expected the gravy/soup to be very thick, but this is like 清汤, and I like it~

Purely coincidental, there was a Flora Exhibition in the Botanical Gardens. Mom and dad, being flora lovers wouldn't miss this opportunity.

C'est gold medal winner~!!

Check it out yo~!!

Pretty~

There's even a landscape exhibition!

I don't like the lambs there...

Oo... I want a garden like this at my home~

Simple, urban~

Of course, that was exhibitions only, at the far end there are stalls to purchase some plants.

Do you know what is this?? It's a nutmeg, say NUT-MEG...

How did the stem end up like that?! You know what, gardening is magical.

I still don't see what's the big deal with bonsai. I mean, why waste over thousand dollars on a small, miserable-looking plant.

Fyi, I'm a noob when it comes to gardening.

After all the sweating and walking, dad finally decided to check in to the hotel, Continental Hotel.

Not the Grand Continental, just Continental. We ain't rich, you know~

Turning around the corner, going round in circles, and not a signboard in sight!!

We're lost, again.

I noticed that...

There are a lot of motorcycles in Penang.

Not only that, there are a lot of roads in Penang named ---

JALAN SEHALA.

SEHALA ROAD.

No ideas for nicer names is it??

Oh yea, there are a lot of schools there.

Those who know me long enough should know that I like old and prestiguous schools built by the British like Penang Free and Victoria Institution, I really wanted to take a picture of Penang Free~!!

There are a lot of old buildings too, British-colonial style~

See!! Even balai bomba also use old old buildings.

I also like British-colonial period mansions...

Plus, I like old churches... and Penang has it all...

Isn't it a beauty?!?!

Damien fell into a deep sleep, tired of getting lost.

We gave up trying to find the hotel and went straight to Kek Lok Si. Not to worship or to play with joss sticks, just to walk around.

And went for lunch~

Porridge, fried kuay teow and 萝卜糕.

After more turnings and askings, we finally found the hotel, but don't know how to get to the carpark because it's on the other side of the road.

So we turn and got lost, got lost and found the way.

View from hotel window~

It was soon dinner time, and there's a big hawker centre nearby our hotel, walking distance.

After bathing, we walked out of the hotel and I was dumbfounded.

Mamak stalls are everywhere!! We're surrounded by mamak stalls~!!

My heart told me, "This must be a missing part of heaven..."

Mission : Eat

Destination : Red Garden Hawker Centre

It's cool... 'cause...

You can eat...

and shop at the same time!!

Barbequed chicken wings, pasta, ikan bakar, satay, nasi goreng Pattaya, chicken chop in oriental sauce, laksa...

All the best I've tasted. You can't compare Penang laksa and KL laksa.

In KL they serve you red oil, in Penang they serve you lemak.

We went back to the hotel, Brian and Damien dozed off soon. Mom, dad and I stayed up watching Shrek.

You see, we've got P~L~A~N~S...

Do you know why cats and dogs like to dig in a pile of garbage for food?

I know why.

Because... I've ate mamak food in a small, dark, wet, dirty alley~

And the food was superb!! Better than KL.

Near the hotel, there are various mamak stalls. They put chairs and tables by the road side and start their business there.

Just like, in the day you see a normal pedestrian lane there; In the night you see mamak haven there.

Because there were so many stalls, we thought they were set by different people.

We wanted to eat some ice kacang, but the tables near the ice kacang stall was fully occupied.

Then an Indian youth came and ushered us to that alley, saying that all the stalls are by the same company of people. Only after that I noticed they were all wearing same uniforms.

Indians are so smart~!!

So we ordered sup ayam, roti canai and ice kacang.

I miss the taste of the soup...

Guess what, it only costed RM 6.

RM 6!!!

Super cheap... and nice~~

To be continued...