As I’ve mentioned, I am very specific about the brand of
tau-sa-peah that I eat. Nothing less
than Him Heang’s originals. Did my
research and the website says be early to grab the freshest and it might run
out if you are late. So after breakfast,
we hopped on another bus to get there. The
bus driver was kind as we asked him to drop us where Him Heang is located. We arrived, crossed the road and WALKED and
arrived Him Heang as they were carting boxes of the yummy nuggets out. Got boxes of them to bring home as souvenirs.
Now, to figure a way back to town! Uber?
Nah, we still got lots of time, let’s take the bus. But wait, it’s all one way! How do we get to the other side of the
road?? We asked an uncle was selling
apam balik by the roadside and he said, mana
uncle tau, uncle pun tak pernah naik bas.
Gosh. Nevermind. Come waze, googlemaps, show me your
power! Walk walk walk (why is this peah
getting heavier??) walk walk walk… I think we walked for about 30 minutes, even
passed through Loh Guan Lye hospital (if I was still with Amanita, I would have
dropped by to our outlet there!) and finally
arrived at a bus stop. I sure hope that
it’s the right route! Waited and doubted
but in the end the bus arrived.
Hurray! Back to town it is! We stopped by the hotel to drop of our haul
before setting off again.
We have not done any history lesson in Penang, so… Fort
Cornwallis here we come. Did I mention
we walked again? All this walking is
really good actually because we can stop at any time to take photos – which we
did with the Clock Tower located just outside the Fort. I am so glad that there was a free guided
tour at the Fort and it was just going to start when we arrived. Our guide was a local mamak and he was very well informed. There were a few of us, and I think the guide
was a bit bored with us because all of us were Malaysians! I am sure the guides would be happier if
there were foreigners listening to them.
But it’s okay… Francis Light, the barrack where they held all the indian
prisoners, the cells, Sri Rambai cannon, lighthouse etc. It was a very historical visit. I am glad we did this tour.
And we literally skipped
out from the Fort because we were going for NASI KANDAR!!!! Yippiediyeay! We tried to locate the bus stop for the free
CAT bus but can’t so we just opted to use the paying bus, which we didn’t mind
as opposed to more walking! And who
would our driver be but the same bus driver we met this morning! Since we’ve became “friends” this morning,
whilst on the way, he told us about Penang and how long we should stay and
where we should go. He said mana cukup satu malam… paling kurang satu
minggu… right… one week of nasi kandar… sure…J It was a pleasant
ride, I always love talking to locals about their hometown. I hope I too sound enthusiastic when I talk
about Kuching.
We arrived Line Clear with a very long line waiting! But the kind guy said if we wanted hidang i.e. not individual plates, we
can skip the line and just be seated. We
knew what we wanted so that’s what we did.
And our glorious food arrived… oh… soooooooo good and satisfying. I am coming back to Penang if it was for the
nasi kandar alone!
When we were heading out to Penang Hill yesterday, we saw
huge sculpture of Bumble Bee and Optimus Prime in front of one of the
malls. With some time to spare, we
decided to go there just to take photos! Crazy Transformers freak that kiddo! So we hopped on another bus and you guessed
it… WALK again from Komtar to the Berjaya Square… it took about 15 minutes.
After taking photos, we went inside the mall and saw some
sculpture about tin smelterring. Then
even had explanation under the sculpture.
Wow… history class even without planning! I like!
All throughout our journey in Penang, I was keeping in touch
with Merlinda... we had wanted to meet in KL but time and work constraint made
it impossible. And now apparently, they
(those crazy travel bugs!) were also in Penang!
They drove all the way from KL, and here we are on the same land. Since they have checked out from their
accommodation, they decided to come over and meet us at Berjaya. AND were so kind to take us back to the hotel
to pick our stuff AND send us to the airport!! How cool is that!! Thank God for weird crazy spontaneous
friends! The last time I met Merl and
Abi was when Kid #1 was still in kindy, Kid #2 was still a tiny baby and now,
even Kid#3 is already so big! And of
course they were shocked to hear Noel’s grown up voice la… hahahaha…
After picking up our stuff at the hotel, we still had time
to kill so we decided to go for Chendol.
Waze brought us further and further away and we thought maybe there is
another stall else where which Waze knew better. Alas! It took us to a mall so far away (I can’t
remember the name of the Mall now) aaannndddd…. When we asked around, we were
informed that the shop has closed down for more than a year! Hahahaha! Tough
luck! We still ended up eating chendol…
in papparich… in Penang! Such irony! But
still, what matters is that we all managed to spend time together. I know that Noel certainly enjoys the company
of my loyar buruk friends *heart
melts*
So… off to the airport!!!
We managed to arrive the airport on time, boarded on time and got to
KLIA2 on time at about 7pm. First thing
first… a dose of Auntie Anne’s J Then we took
the ERL back to Putrajaya and there Jane and her parents were waiting. Because the next few days the family will be
going around together, we have decided to rent a van and the pick up time will
be around 10pm later that night. We had
time for jalan – jalan and then dinner.
Jane took us to ioi mall (reputably the largest in Asia now?) and we
walked around. It’s definitely a nice change from the normal malls we get in Kuching! Then, Jane sponsored Noel on this super cool
helicopter-can-turn-360° ride as his birthday present. (Because his mom is too cheapskate to spend
that amount of money for a game!) Did I
mention Noel loves my friends? Aunty
Jane just went up to No.1 rank in “mommy’s cool friends” list. Haha.
Time for very late
dinner… When we were in Uni, we always have our meals at this Chinese “restaurant”…
The taukeinio would address us LengLui
as in pretty girl so we address her as Cantik, and thus her shop becomes Kedai Cantik. There is NO WAY that I will miss at least a
meal here in Kedai Cantik if I am around this area. Poor Jane have to take me there for my
nostalgic meal. It still taste as good but
what’s more important is the sentimental feeling attached to the meal…
By then, it was time to pick our van up. We went back to Putrajaya Sentral and the van
was waiting. Got the paperwork etc done
and Uncle Kalang drove home with me in the van!
Erk! I hate manual gears! Erk! Clutch so hard! I think Uncle Kalang was very worried about
me driving it so he asked me to practice more.
Went home, and drove out again with everybody to around Putrajaya, to
pump in fuel, to top up Touch & Go card etc… Then we drove back to Jane’s
apartment.
Desmond and his family were supposed to arrive around 10pm
from Singapore. But, with very heavy
rain and bad traffic at the causeway, their bus were delayed for 4 hours and
only left Singapore at 8pm to arrive KL at 3.30am. Good thing Jane told us that they might be
able to stop at Serdang, so they asked the driver and yes, they can and they
will arrive at 2.30am. Oh the poor
kids! We had also asked if Jane can let
us stay at her apartment that night, albeit only for a few hours because we
will need to pick mom and dad from the airport early the next day. Thank God for friends who are so generous! Maybe this is what the early churches were
like - All the believers were one in
heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but
they shared everything they had. Acts 4:32. We took Jane home and lingered
around till it was time to pick them up.
How Jane survive with such little sleep just to keep us company is
beyond me.
Arrived at Serdang just as their bus were leaving. SIL was worried because the place was so deserted
and there were so many mat rempit. I too, thank God that I arrived just in
time. Off we went to go back to the
apartment. The kids were excited to be
reunited (as if they haven’t met for such a long time!) and it was fun to ride
together in a van. Reached home, got the
kids to shower and had cold fried noodles and rice tapau-ed from Cantik as their dinner… Poor things. I don’t know what time we ended up sleeping
that night, but I know my SIL did not sleep for fear we all overslept. What a long day. Thank God for Day 4.
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