Moments for my thoughts: August 2018

Fri 17Aug18
Our journey of a hundred miles started with a cat nap. Found this cat napping at the concourse of the Kampar railway station, oblivious to the proximity of my presence. Hehe

Day One Fri 17Aug18

Boarding the ferry at Butterworth.

On board the ferry from Butterworth to Penang island: the safest place for us to be at was to hang around the life jacket deployment lever. Haha

We had arrived at Butterworth station after a pleasant two-hour journey on the electric train. Were surprised that we could no longer walk to the ferry terminal from the railway station like before. Instead, we had to board a free shuttle bus just to take us past the huge Penang Sentral complex, which is under construction, to the jetty where we boarded the 4.10pm ferry just before it set sail

Day One Fri 17Aug18

Crossing over to Penang Island.

On our short voyage to Penang Island, looking south towards the grand old Penang Bridge standing majestically across the waters. It was designed by my classmate's father, the Late Prof Chin Fung Kee

Day One Fri 17Aug18

Evening walkabout

Looking south-east towards our rustic heritage hotel from across Carnarvon Street. We' have just returned from a short walk to Chulia Street nearby for dinner, and we decided to continue walking southward along Carnarvon St all the way to see the bright lights of 1st Avenue and Prangin Mall before returning to the hotel. — at Armenian St Heritage Hotel

Day Two Sat 18Aug18

Breakfast & morning walkabout.

We took a short walk from our hotel to Seng Thor coffee-shop, a stone's throw away at the junction of Carnarvon and Kimberley St for a tasty and satisfying breakfast.

After that we headed north-west along Kimberly St, surprised that so many shops and hawker stalls could be found in such a narrow street.

Among the oldest buildings we came across was a shop-house with the year 1921 engraved and painted in gold above its main entrance. There was also a block with a very old sign named Picadilly Bazaar. I guessed it must have been there since the British colonial days.

We were surprised again when we crossed Jln Pintal Tali on our left, that Prangin Mall was just a few steps away!

Leaving Kimberley St behind us, we turned right into Jln Kuala Kangsar and carried on walking north-east until the junction with Campbell St. From there we took a loop via Penang Rd, Chulia St and finally Carnarvon St to get back to our hotel.

It was a pleasant Saturday morning walk under sunny blue skies.

Among the oldest buildings we came across was this shop-house with the year 1921 engraved and painted in gold above its main entrance.

There was also this block with a very old sign named Picadilly Bazaar. I guessed it must have been there since the British colonial days.

Day Two Sat 18Aug18
Moving to a new hotel.

After our morning walkabout to Kimberley St and back, we had to check out of Armenian Street Heritage and transfer to Neo+ Hotel to the South.

(This was because we had originally planned to arrive only on Saturday and to stay in Neo+ for just a night. Due to some transport issues, we had to come earlier on Friday instead, thus ending up having to book Armenian St Heritage Hotel too)

Neo+ stands at the junction of Gurdwara Rd and Presgrave St, a couple of blocks south of Komtar-Prangin Malls complex. We decided to make good use of the knowledge that we had gained from our morning breakfast walkabout, and took a short walk (well, it was somewhat long actually) to Gurdwara Rd via Carnarvon- Kimberley - Pintal Tali - Dr Lim Chwee Leong - Komtar-Prangin complex - Magazine Rd. Sounds like a long walk after all, doesn't it?

Checking in to Neo+ was simple and quite straightforward. The room was clean and spacious, but rather gloomy, illuminated by just a few tiny lights. Many thanks to Nicholas Ming for recommending Neo+ to us.

From our "15th floor" , which was actually 13th floor had the hotel management not removed the unlucky 13th and 14th from their floor listing, we caught a good view of the combination of tall buildings dotting the Georgetown skyline, surrounded by old heritage buildings and pre-war shophouses.

Soon it was time to go out for our lunch.

Checking in to Neo+ was simple and quite straightforward. The room was clean and spacious, but rather gloomy, illuminated by just a few tiny lights.

From our "15th floor" , which was actually 13th floor, we caught a good view of the combination of tall buildings dotting the Georgetown skyline, surrounded by old heritage buildings and pre-war shophouses.

A view of the combination of tall buildings dotting the Georgetown skyline, looking northwards, with Gama Departmental Store to the left of Gurdwara Rd.

Day Two 18Aug18
Walking across Georgetown to attend a talk .

We had lunch at a small but busy coffee-shop just across Presgrave St opposite our hotel. Ordered "char koay teow" (fried rice-strip noodles) and were served with probably the smallest serving of this delicacy we've ever had in our lifetime . . . Haha
It was just enough for a light lunch nevertheless.

After lunch I took a walk to Argyll Road to attend a talk by the President of the Malaysian Writers' Society, while my wife went for some shopping at Gama Department Store nearby. The twenty-minute walk saw me crossing the busy and somewhat confusing traffic-light junctions across Magazine Rd, Jln Dato Keramat and Macalister Rd to continue northwards along Penang Road.

Hmm, I thought to myself, oddly enough, there's a Penang Road in Penang but no Ipoh Road in Ipoh nor Kuala Lumpur Road in Kuala Lumpur. Haha again . . .

From Penang Rd I turned left into Burma Rd, crossed over to Transfer Rd, continued northwards to Argyll Rd, made a left turn and voilà, Livingston Tower, the meeting venue, was just down the road before me. It took me 24 minutes, including crossing the busy busy roads, to reach there despite Google map telling me it would take only 12 minutes.

After listening to an informative and insightful talk, I walked back to the hotel by the same way.

Although it was a sunny afternoon, there were some clouds in the sky and I had put on my Australian floppy hat (bought in Melbourne but Made in China), so the walk to Argyll Road and back wasn't too uncomfortable.

It was a good and worthwhile afternoon spent at Livingston Tower.

Crossing the busy and somewhat confusing traffic-light junctions across Magazine Rd, Jln Dato Keramat and Macalister Rd to continue northwards along Penang Road

Heading north on Penang Rd. Hmm, I thought to myself, oddly enough, there's a Penang Road in Penang but no Ipoh Road in Ipoh nor Kuala Lumpur Road in Kuala Lumpur.

From Penang Rd I turned left into Burma Rd, crossed over to Transfer Rd, continued northwards to Argyll Rd, made a left turn and voilà, Livingston Tower, the meeting venue, was just down the road before me

Day Two 18Aug18
On the way back from Argyll Road.

I passed by this heritage building and decided to take a photo of it from the multi-directional pedestrian bridge across Burma Road - Penang Road - Dr Lim Chwee Leong Rd. Don't know much about its history except that it is currently occupied by Loke Thye Kee Restaurant.

Day Two: 18Aug18
The final evening walkabout.

We went out at about 7 o'clock in the evening for dinner. First, walked to Times Square via Trang Rd and Jln Kg Jawa Lama. On the way we stopped by briefly at LUMA*, an old pre-war shop-house painted in rainbow colours, where I joined a write-in session a month ago. I forgot to take a photo of LUMA.

(*Light Up Malaysian Arts)

Times Square is a tall imposing building standing by the southern side of Jln Dato Keramat, a shopping mall with some fine dining restaurants inside.

That evening there were two giant Transformer robots installed just outside Times Square. We took a photo with the yellow one, not knowing this character's name. (Every one of them look like Optimus Prime to me haha)

We also passed an old 19th Century heritage building called Birch House where a McDonald's Drive Thru' operates.

Failing to find any restaurant that fits our taste, and our budget, we decided to walk back to Komtar-Prangin Mall where we found a comfortable Italian restaurant at a basement called Lot 33. There was a live band performing some entertaining songs very skilfully. The patrons were very appreciative of their singing and music.

On the way home we passed by St Giles-Wembley Hotel with its brightly lit facade.

It was a pleasant and memorable final evening of our stay in Georgetown Penang.

Times Square is a tall imposing building by the side of Jln Dato Keramat, a shopping mall with some fine dining restaurants inside.

That evening there were two giant Tranformer robots installed just outside Times Square. We took a photo with the yellow one, not knowing this character's name. (Every one of them look like Optimus Prime to me haha)

Failing to find any restaurant that fits our taste, and our budget, we decided to walk back to Komtar-Prangin Mall where we found a comfortable Italian restaurant at a basement called Lot 33. There was a live band performing some entertaining songs very skilfully. The patrons were very appreciative of their singing and music.

On the way home we passed by St Giles-Wembley Hotel with its brightly lit facade.

Day Three: Sun 19Aug18
Sight-seeing by bus around Georgetown.

It's the last day of our short stay in Georgetown and we had some time on hand after breakfast to go for a little sight-seeing before check-out.

We boarded a free CAT bus at Komtar and went around town until the ferry jetty at Weld Quay. There we had to disembark and wait for another CAT bus to take us back to Komtar. It was a long wait of about half an hour, and we were made all the more impatient seeing that there were three vacant CAT buses lying idle, with a bus driver taking a nap in one of them.

No information was displayed about bus schedules, giving us the impression that the CAT bus drivers would move as and when they like!

At last we got back to Komtar and to our hotel room where we got ready to check out. I took photos of our final glimpse of the Georgetown skyline.

We boarded a free CAT bus at Komtar and went around town until the ferry jetty at Weld Quay. There we had to disembark and wait for another CAT bus to take us back to Komtar.

At the ferry jetty at Weld Quay, it was a long wait of about half an hour, and we were made all the more impatient seeing that there were three vacant CAT buses lying idle, with a bus driver taking a nap in one of them

A final snap-shot of the Georgetown skyline before we checked out of Neo+ Hotel

Final walkabout: the end of our short stay in Penang, Sun 19Aug18

After checking out, we planned our final walking tour of Georgetown to visit Chowrasta market at Penang Road. After a little shopping at Chowrasta, we walked generally eastwards via Kuala Kangsar Rd - Campbell St - Cintra St - Chulia St (where we stopped to pose for some street art photos in one of the side lanes) before heading on to Carnarvon and finally Armenian Street to visit some heritage sites.

I had wanted to visit the Asian Camera museum but a sign at the entrance says "Admission by Pass Only". Not knowing where to get such a pass from, we gave up the idea of visiting the museum.

Instead we took a drink and bought some handicrafts from an art-studio cum café (with an obscure name) two doors away from the Sun Yat Sen House along Armenian Street. We visited the Sun Yat Sen house several years ago and I thought of dropping by again but it wasn't open for the day yet.

After an unhurried coffee break, we proceeded to walk towards the Weld Quay Ferry Terminal.

A short stop at the recently renovated Chowrasta market.

Street art off Penang Road: I showed Beethoven the right way to play some of his pieces . . .

Street art: taking Dr Sun Yat Sen for a rick-shaw ride around town

Street art: my wife had a chat with Mona Lisa

Sun 19Aug18
Good-bye Georgetown.
Good-bye Penang Island.

We didn't have to wait long for the ferry Pulau Payar to take us on the short voyage back to Butterworth where we transferred to an electric train for our two hour rail journey home.