Penang Trip, Day One, 30/11/2016: First Arrival

On my way to Penang.

It has been nine months since I last went for a holiday in Penang (Pulau Pinang). My last trip was okay, although I didn't write about it here. I even took a number of photos on my last trip, but only a few gets published here.

And today, in this new blog post, I am writing about my latest trip to Penang, from 30th November to 4th December 2016. In my writings are my visits to various places of interest and also, what makes Penang so famous for, the food (after all, they don't call Penang as 'Food Heaven' for nothing!). It took me a long time to write and complete this writing, since the hotel's WiFi service was so problematic that I can't even upload all of the photos taken.

DEPARTURE

I left home along with my mother, my eldest sister and her two children at about 9:00 a.m. My sister used the ELITE highway for this journey, where we eventually stopped at Dengkil R&R for breakfast. There, only my sister and her children who had breakfast, since me and my mother already had ours at home.

AT Dengkil R&R.

We left Dengkil R&R at about 9:55 a.m. for Penang, but then, we stopped again at PLUS Highway's Tapah R&R for a lunch break. This time, it was different; my sister and her children did not buy any lunch, but my mother and I did.

Honestly, though, whenever I stopped at any R&R at the highway, I would usually avoid eating at the food court due to several bad experiences in the past, and choose to buy my meals at any available fast food outlet there (example: KFC). This time, however, I did notice an improvement when it comes to the food served, but customer service needs slightly more improvement, though.

My lunch meal at Tapah R&R: Rice with fried chicken and long beans with some curry sauce.

THE FERRY RIDE

We left Tapah R&R between 12:40 p.m. to 12:50 p.m. The whole journey, starting from my home to the interchange that brings motorists to the Penang Second Bridge, takes more than five hours. It was a long and somewhat boring journey, until my sister decided to use the ferry service to Penang. After going through slow traffic from Juru to Butterworth train station, we finally reached Sultan Abdul Halim Ferry Terminal at 3:05 a.m. and waited for our ferry: Pulau Payar.

Approaching the bridge at Lingkaran Luar Butterworth highway.

Waiting for our ferry at Sultan Abdul Halim Ferry Terminal.

Once our ferry arrived, we rode onto it; and I, like many other passengers onboard, went out to take photos. It was windy at that time, and I found the view from the lower deck of the ferry, combined with the windy conditions, exudes a rather epic and dramatic feel to it, kinda like watching an epic film or something like that.

The ferry Pulau Pinang, taken while on the ferry Pulau Payar.

Penang bridge from afar, taken in full zoom.

KOMTAR tower from afar, taken in full zoom.

Pulau Payar's upper deck.

Fishermen's boats.

The ferry Pulau Angsa, making its way to Sultan Abdul Halim Ferry Terminal.

Another photo of Pulau Payar's upper deck.

The ferry Pulau Talang-Talang, leaving Raja Tun Uda Ferry Terminal.

The ferry Pulau Talang-Talang, taken in full zoom and clearer than the previous photo.

ARRIVAL AT THE HOTEL & FIRST 'MAKAN TIME'

The ferry ride takes 20 minutes, where we arrive at Raja Tun Uda Ferry Terminat at 3:45 p.m. Right after that, we proceeded to Ar-Raudhah hotel, checked in and took some rest. It was a very tiring day for all of us, and I almost slept the moment I reached my room.

Ar-Raudhah hotel, formerly known as An-Nur Ancasa Express.

KOMTAR tower in the evening, taken from the second floor of the hotel.

After more than an hour of resting, all of us left the hotel for our first meal in Penang, where we went to Padang Brown food court. It took us more than 15 minutes to reach there, since the traffic was slow at that time.

Waiting for the traffic to move, on the way to Padang Brown food court.

Padang Brown's parking lot.

Entering the food court.

Once there, we found a table for all of us, and we also ordered our food and drinks. Padang Brown food court is divided in two sections: the first one operates in the early morning until afternoon and sells mostly Chinese cuisine, where some of them are non-halal; the other sells halal food and operates in the early evening until late night. During our presence there, only the halal section of the food court is operational, and we always go there everytime we went for a meal at Padang Brown.

Pasembur/Rojak ingredients at Ghani's Pasembur stall.

Pasembur/Rojak ingredients at another pasembur stall.

Al-Bismi's soup stall.

The 'Campur-Campur' stall.

At the food court, there are a number of stalls that sold a variety of food, such as Pasembur (Rojak), Satay, Soups, Mee Goreng Mamak, Celur-Celur, and even 'Western Food' such as Chicken Chop (a Western-themed Malaysian food similar to schnitzel).

Dawood Cafe, one of the stalls that sold drinks..

Another view of Dawood cafe.

This is the stall that sold desserts such as Ais Kacang. They also sold drinks too.

As for drinks, I noticed three stalls were operational, and one of them is Dawood Cafe. Other than that are desserts such as Ais Kacang, and the stall that sold them is located just beside Dawood's stall.

One of the meals we ordered is the Pasembur, or Rojak. One can order a pasembur by choosing from a large selection of available ingredients such as Cucur Udang (prawn fritters), potatoes, fish cake, fish balls, fried wantan (wontons), tofu, and even chicken sausages. Each pasembur sold here is served in a large, oval-shaped plate and is always topped with a generous amount of thinly-sliced strips of cucumber and sengkuang (jicama) and kuah kacang (peanut sauce).

What we ordered: Pasembur, Campur-Campur, Mee Goreng Mamak, two Ais Kacang Special, Lai Chee Kang, Coconut Shake, Nasi Goreng Ayam (not pictured here) and Vanilla Milkshake (not yet arrived).

Each serving of the pasembur was quite large; one plate could serve a maximum of five persons! I enjoyed the pasembur that we ordered, although the kuah kacang can be quite spicy at times.

Ais Kacang Special (vanilla ice-cream already melted away) and Lai Chee Kang.

Then there's the Ais Kacang Special, where it is served with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. Everytime I go there for a meal, I would sometimes order an Ais Kacang Special for dessert.

The vanilla milkshake I ordered.

As for drinks, on that day, I ordered a vanilla milkshake. Usually, I would order either an iced MILO, iced Nescafe or Fresh Orange instead.

After enjoying the meal, I left the table for a while to take a photo of Brown Monument located nearby.

Brown Monument, with bicycles on the foreground.

Bicycles. Old bicycles.

BACK TO THE HOTEL

We went back to the hotel after all the meals and took a rest, as usual. It was here that I finally decded to sleep later that night and start anew the next day.

More photos here: https://goo.gl/photos/T1HoAuV3Ge53vJD39

To be continued...