Penang Trip, Day Four, 03/12/2016: Beach, Quadracycle & Food (again!)

...at Miami Beach, Batu Ferringhi.

Continued from Day Three, this article is about Day Four of my Penang Trip. On that day, we went to a beach at Batu Ferringhi called Miami Beach, and rode a quadracycle at heritage sites near our hotel, which was perhaps the funniest moment we ever had in our Penang Trip.



BREAKFAST AT LIYAQAT ALI'S

There is one advantage for anyone staying at Ar-Raudhah: it is near to Liyaqat Ali's Nasi Kandar establishment, where one can buy dinner and breakfast there; but not during lunch, as another Nasi Kandar stall will take place there, called 'Nasi Kandar Masjid' (Liyaqat Ali operates from 10:00 p.m. until late morning).



And so, I went to Liyaqat Ali's to buy breakfast for me and my mother, and I got myself the usual: Nasi Kandar drenched with kuah campur, one fried chicken and cabbage. Not only that, I even had the chance to take a photo of available Nasi Kandar dishes from inside the establishment.

The available ingredients for Nasi Kandar at Liyaqat Ali Nasi Beratur.

As always, I got myself the usual, but with more kuah campur.

AT CONTINENTAL BAKERY

All five of us left Ar-Raudhah hotel at 10:35 a.m., making our way to Batu Ferringhi. 8 minutes into the journey, my sister stopped to buy some bread, muffins and cinnamon rolls at Continental Bakery, located at Jalan Nagore. However, camera use is forbidden here, so there is no way I can take a photo inside the bakery.

Continental Bakery. This bakery forbids camera use, so I can only take a photo of this building only.

For your information, Continental Bakery is my favourite bakery in Penang, because they served the best cinnamon rolls ever. In fact, on my last trip to Penang in March, we bought a lot of it!

We soon left Continental Bakery and made our way to Batu Ferringhi.


BRUNCH AT LIDIANA'S STALL, TANJUNG BUNGAH FOOD COURT

While on our way to Batu Ferringhi, we stopped at Tanjung Bungah Food Court at 11:21 a.m. for brunch. Today is our first Malay cuisine we had, and the stall that sold them is Lidiana's, also known as Nasi Melayu Lidiana. Unfortunately, my sister warned me not to publish about it, since, according to her, doing it will make the place overcrowded with patrons!

Still, I decided to go against her warnings and took a few photos there.

Lidiana's food stall signboard.

The large number of patrons at Lidiana stall.

The food court is located near Masjid Terapung Tanjung Bungah.

My brunch meal at Lidiana's: rice with kuah campur, fried chicken, long beans and beansprouts.

Although I never had the chance to take photos of the available dishes at Lidiana's stall, I can say that they have a large selection of dishes to choose from. As for the taste, this is perhaps the best Nasi Melayu dish I've ever had. Interestingly enough, I found out that I have been getting the same chicken portion for four days straight!

MIAMI BEACH, BATU FERRINGHI

We went to Teluk Bahang first, then turned back to Batu Ferringhi, where we finally reached Miami Beach at 1:00 p.m. The moment we reached there, I quickly took out my camera and took a number of photos there.

Of all the places that I visited in Penang, this is perhaps my favourite of them all, simply because I love beaches and the sea a lot. In fact, from what I could think of, beaches and sea are best associated with happy endings of, for example, a movie.

Arrival at Miami Beach, Batu Ferringhi, Penang.

Below is an image gallery of Miami Beach, Batu Ferringhi:

The beach, from one of the shops selling souvenirs.

Fishing at the beach.

'MAKAN TIME' AT MIAMI BEACH

After having some fun at the beach, we sat down at a nearby table for another 'makan time'. This time, we're having Rojak Buah and even the cinnamon roll my sister bought earlier at Continental Bakery. We also ordered some green coconuts for drink, too.

Continental Bakery's cinnamon roll, my favourite. It has raisins in it.

Rojak Buah and a green coconut.

I don't remember when was the last time I've tried Rojak Buah, but on that day, I tried some, and was amazed by its taste. Usually, I don't enjoy eating Rojak Buah due to its taste, but this Rojak Buah tasted good. I can remember tasting pineapples, jicama and guava in the Rojak Buah.

At Miami Beach, Batu Ferringhi, there are a lot of pigeons and some crows. We fed some of the pigeons there, but some crows even interrupted and took the food that was meant for the pigeons. Unfortunately, bird droppings are also a problem there, and another bird dropping incident happened again!

Pigeons, and some crows.

Well, to begin with, all five of us had already finished eating and drinking, when something fell from the tree and landed dead centre in an empty bowl that was used to put the coconuts, splashing some contents in the bowl, hitting me, my mother and my nephew. My mother and I were startled because of that, and I quickly looked up above me and saw a crow, perched up the tree. Since that crow was the only bird perched up there, I am sure that the crow was the one that pooped into the bowl.

Looking back, it was an unfortunate, but funny incident. The unfortunate part was obvious, but the funny part was because the crow pooped accurately into the centre of the bowl!

In the end, we left Miami Beach and reached our hotel room at 2:30 p.m.for some rest.


QUADRACYCLE RIDE: THE FUNNIEST MOMENT EVER!

Coconut seller, Armenian Street.

All five of us left our hotel room at 4:18 p.m., walking to Armenian Street to try another tourist attraction there: the quadracycle. I have frequently seen tourists riding them, but I never tried it. Not only that, this was the first time me and my mother tried riding it.

These are the available quadracycles at Armenian Street. There are four-seater quadracycles and even six-seater ones.

Upon arrival at the location, my sister talked to the owner of the quadracycle for a rental, and agreed to pay for a 30-minute ride. Since there were five of us, we opted for a six-seater quadracycle. Before riding it, the owner began clearing the quadracycle of rainwater, since it was raining earlier. Even the canopy had stagnant water on it.

The quadracycle's only functioning steering wheel is located on the left side, hence a left-hand drive.

There are four sets of pedals for the driver and passengers to pedal, one functioning steering wheel, one non-functioning steering wheel for the rightmost passenger and one more for a child to play with, located in the centre, and two brake levers.

Once all of us are ready, we left Armenian Street on the quadracycle. It was here that our funniest Penang Trip moment ever began. We started at Armenian Street and went through Cannon Street, then turned left into Acheh (Acheen) Street and again, turning left to Beach Street. We were laughing all the way from the beginning of our journey; and to make things even funnier, the only functioning horn was nothing more than three rubber chickens, and all of them doesn't seem to make any sound at all!

I also noticed that none of us are cycling on sync; there are times when the pedals were too fast, and there are even times when the pedals needed me to pedal harder! In fact, I had to move my entire body just to make that quadracycle move!

At Beach Street on the quadracycle. This is the only photo I managed to take while riding on it, and it was here that it started raining again.

We entered Ah Quee Street after that, where we passed that famous mural 'Boy on Motorcycle' by Ernest Zacharevic. There were a number of foreign tourists there, and some of them even helped by pushing the quadracycle we're riding on!

We turned left into Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling, then moved on to Jalan Kampung Kolam and finally, entered Carnavon Street. We turned left again into Acheh Street and then into Armenian Street for a second round.

We repeated the first round, but as soon as we reached Beach Street, we turned right into Gat Lebuh Armenian, then turned left into Victorian Street. Once again, we were laughing along the way, mostly because of the rubber chickens that doesn't make a sound! Instead, my nephew volunteered to 'horn' for us.

We reached Gat Lebuh Chulia and turned left, then proceeded to Chulia Street (Lebuh Chulia). Once we reached the pedestrian crossing at Chulia Street and Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling, we turned left, going straight to Armenian Street where we began our journey, and stopped there.

In the end, all I can say that it was the funniest and also the most tiring of all the experiences I've ever had. My thighs hurt badly after riding the quadracycle, since it was a very long time since I last rode a pedal-powered vehicle (bicycle). However, the pain didn't last long, and I was back into shape after a short walk.


ARMENIAN STREET

At Armenian Street.

At Armenian Street, we took a walk along the street, until we reached a stall owned by a Peruvian man. Among the things he sold there were bracelets, rings and necklaces. The seller was a travelling merchant, and from what my sister told me, he was about to leave Penang Island for South Korea next year.



As for me, I moved along the street to watch some street performers there.

These two street performers are from Thailand.

This street performer, dressed as Santa Claus, is riding on a unicycle.

We were about to go back to our hotel room when I saw an Ais Kacang stall that also sold Ais Kepal (ice balls). As I haven't tried Ais Kepal before, I decided to give it a try.

This stall sold Ais Kacang, Cendol and Ais Kepal.

I approached the stall and asked the owner for one Ais Kepal with three different syrup flavours: grape, mango and sarsi. After that, the stall owner began making the Ais Kepal as in the photos below:

First, he began shaving some ice into two small, orange-coloured plastic bowls.

Next, he combined both bowls to make a ball shape.

After that, an assistant helped by poking two bamboo skewers and applying some grape syrup onto the Ais Kepal...

..then followed by the mango syrup. She applied sarsi-flavoured syrup after that, but I didn't took a photo of it.

Here is the end result: a grape-mango-sarsi combination.

Enjoying the Ais Kepal is a bit of a hassle, but it was tasty. Another use of the bamboo skewers? It can be used as chopsticks to pick up some of the ice in the half of the plastic box that came with the Ais Kepal.

Anyway, before going back to the hotel, we bought some Mee Goreng and Bee Hoon Goreng at this one stall at Armenian Street. There was also a stall that sold homemade juice in three flavours: Passionfruit, Nutmeg and Amra. Lastly, there were also three street musicians at that area, too

We finally returned to our hotel room to eat. I tried the Mee Goreng and Bee Hoon Goreng we bought earlier, and it was quite spicy, but tasted okay.

MURTABAK DINNER

At about 6:48 p.m., I went to Hameediyah to buy beef murtabak. Thankfully, the restaurant was open, so I went in and asked for two beef murtabak. I also took photos of the restaurant, and it seems that they have completed the renovation.

Hameediyah restaurant, outside.

Inside the restaurant.

This is how Nasi Kandar was originally sold in Penang.

The beef murtabak I ordered for take away.

Later that night, we had murtabak for dinner, but unfortunately, it was here that I discovered something so different about it. Back in 2011 to 2014, Hameediyah's murtabak was one of the best I've ever had. The one I bought this time, was a complete opposite of that. Even the 'cuka bawang' was no longer the same as the one I got back in 2014.

And so ends my writing of Day Four of my Penang Trip.

More photos here: https://goo.gl/photos/n77qSJZtZM25YP5x9

To be concluded...