Hotel: Penaga Hotel, S$113.06 per night
Exchange rate: An unfavourable 2.54 :(
And so after thinking long and hard on where our next vacation should be, we finally decided to go on to our long overdue food trip to Penang. It was gonna be a short trip and we were pretty sure that this would be solely a gastronomical journey around the city, and hence the "fly only" air tickets, since we won't be doing much shopping.
It was a wet, wet morning…
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And after a short one-hour plus flight time, we officially touched down at the Penang International Airport. As we were travelling light and weren't rushing for time, we decided to blend in with the locals and took the bus into George Town.
It would have cost us RM50 to take a cab in, as opposed to the RM5.40 bus fare and given that the travel time of both options were similar, it was an easy choice to make. It is also fairly easy to navigate to the bus stop, which is just on the third lane of the roads as you step out of the airport.
The rather isolated bus stop, since most locals would have gotten their family to come fetch them, and most tourists would opt to hire a car for the day. We were the only ones there but partly so because we were one of the last ones to leave the airport.
To get the George Town, you would have to hop on the express service bus number 401E. The problem though is that the bus, regardless of which direction it is travelling, uses the same bus stop. So you have gotta make sure you are taking the correct one into George Town. Like they always say, when in doubt, ask.
It was a rather comfy ride, fully air-conditioned. It is mentioned that some 401E buses have free wifi, which is unverified personally, since we didn't have the luck to hop on one.
En route to our hotel…moo…
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The outer facade of Hotel Penaga, our heritage boutique hotel for the next three nights...
The reception area...
And finally some respite from the punishing heat outside.
They actually have a resident artist, who I guess is responsible for some of the mural paintings around the hotel.
Checking in was pretty much a breeze since we arrived at around 3pm plus. There's three storeys and though there's only one lift that services the whole hotel, it was never an issue to us during our stay.
There's a cosy corner at one end of the corridor, though I doubt people will be hanging around there as it sits just outside the doors of two rooms on either side.
Walking through the corridor to our room...
Love the high ceiling and realising only now that we could have this luxury because we were staying on the top floor. The second floor probably don't have such a high ceiling. Room was so spacious that I could unpack and throw everything around, and still doesn't look messy or cramp.
A reverse angle of the room. Surprising the bed frame, which looked flimsy, was rather sturdy. TV channels were limited and only selected football matches are aired.
The details of the furniture that sets it apart from the other hotels. And the reason that we chose this hotel.
The closet and the coloured glass door to the bathroom.
Even the switches are the old-school type.
The bathroom was again very spacious, even the wash basin area was huge.
And the highlight is none other than the large jacuzzi bathtub where two people can be seated across each other. Awesome for bubble bath. And for legendary people.
First stop, a bakery shop that was just round the corner of our hotel, where we came for none other than...
…this…zzz…roti also must try...
And the taste was legend…wait for it…ordinary…zzz...
After having that "awesome" roti, we walked over to Kafe Joo Hooi, the must-go place for the most famous chendol in town.
It's a rather small eatery place and seats are limited, though people come and go quite fast, depending on what they order.
The must-have chendol stall that's located outside the eatery, where it is interesting to note that another chendol stall is just on the opposite side of the street but people are only buying from this stall.
Like many others, we stood around and finished the bowl of chendol. It was good relief for the hot weather. As for the taste, it was good but definitely not something "to-die-for".
The Char Kway Teow was average in my opinion.
The Penang Laska stood out the most for me because of its sour and spicy flavour, something that was very different from what we have back home.
Along the way, since we have Old Town White Coffee, there might as well be a George Town White Coffee.
And of course our dear Cristiano Ronaldo eats KFC all day long.
Prangin Mall is generally your average shopping mall, with some interesting shops here and there that's worth a visit. There's a cinema, and also a cluster of hair salons, where you could, and I did, get a director to cut your hair at an affordable price.
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The pushcart food stalls cover only a little section along the whole stretch of roads.
From where we were seated. Tables are limited and queuing time can be very long if you go during the dinner hour so it's best to stagger your meal times to avoid the crowd. We went for the stalls which had the longest queue.
The Curry Mee stall where we waited for 15-20mins.
The Wanton Mee stall where we queued for 20-25mins. I somehow believe that there's preferential treatment for the locals because the people behind you in the queue can actually get their food before you if they were local.
But nonetheless the food was awesome albeit the bean sprouts…yucks… but every drop of the curry gravy was worth the every calorie.
The Wanton Mee, though it looks very simple here, the taste was probably one the best I have had.
Thinking that it is a food haven here, we went on to order more.
But we were left pretty disappointed. The satay was bland and the sauce was watery. Definitely not my kind of satay.
Some other random stalls that we tried for their small little stuffs.
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It was probably slightly over an hour's ride into George Town where we got off at the Komtar bus interchange. And from there, we took the free shuttle bus (Central Area Transit, or CAT in short) that brought us round the corner and it was a 3-5 mins short walk to the hotel.
The outer facade of Hotel Penaga, our heritage boutique hotel for the next three nights...
And the surrounding area of low rise apartments.
The reception area...
And finally some respite from the punishing heat outside.
They actually have a resident artist, who I guess is responsible for some of the mural paintings around the hotel.
There's a cosy corner at one end of the corridor, though I doubt people will be hanging around there as it sits just outside the doors of two rooms on either side.
Walking through the corridor to our room...
Love the high ceiling and realising only now that we could have this luxury because we were staying on the top floor. The second floor probably don't have such a high ceiling. Room was so spacious that I could unpack and throw everything around, and still doesn't look messy or cramp.
A reverse angle of the room. Surprising the bed frame, which looked flimsy, was rather sturdy. TV channels were limited and only selected football matches are aired.
The details of the furniture that sets it apart from the other hotels. And the reason that we chose this hotel.
The closet and the coloured glass door to the bathroom.
Even the switches are the old-school type.
The bathroom was again very spacious, even the wash basin area was huge.
And of course, the shower cubicle. For the mandate people. But this comes with the choice of a normal spray head, rain shower or the blast sprays, which most of the time I got blasted. This happens when you turn the knob the wrong way.
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It was at this time when our olympus camera decided to take a break too. The lens simply couldn't focus properly and after a mini fiasco in trying to figure out why, we gave up and decided to just take photos with our iPhones. Thereafter, we officially set off on our gastronomical journey in Penang.
First stop, a bakery shop that was just round the corner of our hotel, where we came for none other than...
…this…zzz…roti also must try...
And the taste was legend…wait for it…ordinary…zzz...
After having that "awesome" roti, we walked over to Kafe Joo Hooi, the must-go place for the most famous chendol in town.
It's a rather small eatery place and seats are limited, though people come and go quite fast, depending on what they order.
The must-have chendol stall that's located outside the eatery, where it is interesting to note that another chendol stall is just on the opposite side of the street but people are only buying from this stall.
Like many others, we stood around and finished the bowl of chendol. It was good relief for the hot weather. As for the taste, it was good but definitely not something "to-die-for".
The Char Kway Teow was average in my opinion.
The Penang Laska stood out the most for me because of its sour and spicy flavour, something that was very different from what we have back home.
The Kueh Pie Tee was also average, though the skin was very crispy.
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The location of our hotel was superb but it is a double-edged sword at times as well. All the places we wanted to visit is within walking distance but coupled with the hot weather, a 500m walk seemed like a 1km hike. It is too short a distance to take a bus, yet appears to be a long dreaded journey to walk. But nonetheless, I am very blessed that my cat can really, and willing to toil at times. So we continued our little walk to this cluster of shopping malls of Prangin Mall, 1st Avenue and Komtar.
Along the way, since we have Old Town White Coffee, there might as well be a George Town White Coffee.
And of course our dear Cristiano Ronaldo eats KFC all day long.
Prangin Mall is generally your average shopping mall, with some interesting shops here and there that's worth a visit. There's a cinema, and also a cluster of hair salons, where you could, and I did, get a director to cut your hair at an affordable price.
-----
1st Avenue is the most posh of all three malls, there are only a handful of shops and a cinema at the top level. Komtar, on the other hand, is the worst. I would describe it as a run-down underground mall with dubious electronic shops lining the walkways. We didn't even bother to walk to the other end of the mall. It's definitely not worth a visit.
After grocery shopping and a haircut, it was a long walk back to the hotel for a little rest before setting out to hunt for our dinner. It was a rather impromptu decision to go to this little food street (totally forgotten about the street name), which was a little walk from the hotel. The decision was based on a tourist leaflet that we picked up but I thought this was one of the best meals I had for this trip.
The pushcart food stalls cover only a little section along the whole stretch of roads.
From where we were seated. Tables are limited and queuing time can be very long if you go during the dinner hour so it's best to stagger your meal times to avoid the crowd. We went for the stalls which had the longest queue.
The Curry Mee stall where we waited for 15-20mins.
The Wanton Mee stall where we queued for 20-25mins. I somehow believe that there's preferential treatment for the locals because the people behind you in the queue can actually get their food before you if they were local.
But nonetheless the food was awesome albeit the bean sprouts…yucks… but every drop of the curry gravy was worth the every calorie.
The Wanton Mee, though it looks very simple here, the taste was probably one the best I have had.
Thinking that it is a food haven here, we went on to order more.
But we were left pretty disappointed. The satay was bland and the sauce was watery. Definitely not my kind of satay.
Some other random stalls that we tried for their small little stuffs.
But average all in all.
And as we head back, we came across the first of the many street art that is to come. And with that, it was good night and the gastronomical journey shall continue...
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