27-hour Tourist in Penang ~ ☺

So what can I say about my 27-hour stint of being a tourist in the state I was born in? Well, for starters: I ♥'d EVERY MINUTE OF IT! Thanx Shahnazzzzzzzz

Even managed to avoid thinking of something too ☺

Ini rezeki namenye, just when I needed a break. Actually the voucher was for Shahnaz and her friend but since her friend was busy, she asked me if I wanted to go with her for a night near the beach. At first I was reluctant coz I wasn't sure of my state of mind.. but after a moment, I thought, What the heck?

It started as promised around 11am on Sunday where I met Shahnaz at her home. After parking my car, we started our day as tourists ~ ☻

First Shahnaz took me to the Little Penang Street Market. Its a monthly flea market (last Sunday of the month) in the middle of Georgetown and this was the first I knew of it (Typical Penangite, I am!) They sold all things homemade like woven bags, little trinkets, antiques, soaps and such. There was even a small stage for some cultural shows as well as an information counter to promote all the happenings in Penang for the next month. There's a link here you can look at of you want more information.

Anyway, guess what I got:

Heheh.. I usually hate nutmegs (despite Penang being the state of the fruit) but the nutmeg juice was seriously refreshing and delicious, much to my suprise as I had initially taken the sample offered just to not be rude. Ended up taking a bottle home, eh.. thanx to Shahnaz!

For our lunch, Shahnaz took me to this vegetarian Indian restaurant which reminded me of the promise Rashid, Puga and me had about going to their favourite Indian restaurant. Her chinese friend had introduced her to this place.. Sgt Satu Malaysia kannn! Somehow, I've forgotten the name, Woodland or something. Situated pun jgn tanye la kat mane, I don't know the name of the street but I'm pretty sure I can still find my way back there.

I didn't understand the menu so Shahnaz helped me here and I settled for some mushroom beriyani that was absolutely yummy and suprisingly filling. Shahnaz had this fried roti (also can't remember the name), sorta like an enlarged version of puree with some chickpea sorta sambal and we had another dish of some cottage cheese cooked in sambal.

Serius kenyang, hokey!

Then we went to check into the hotel.. and where did we stay? Tadaaaa~

Okay, actually I took the wrong picture here haha.. but very malu wanna take the one in front of the hotel coz there were a lot of people around. But hey, there's the King of Pop whaaaattttt..

Our room still wasn't ready when we checked in so we had to wait. This was the first time I saw a hotel with a bar attached to the front desk. Sgt like perak, right! Hahaha.. at least they served everyone a cool drink while waiting, on the house!

We noticed that there was this group of car owners who must've had some sorta function in Penang.. you know the cars yg mahal-giler-leh-beli-10-PFK like these..

..and these..

Okay, I curik² amik these pictures while waiting for Shahnaz to park ~ ☺

When we finally got to our room, my first impression was I was a bit disappointed with the room since I think most normal hotels pun looked better, UNTIL I looked into the bathroom with this majestic kinda mirror in it.

But then I noticed you could actually see the inside of the bathroom from the room itself so I was a bit self-consciuos when I wanted to use the toilet SAMPAI la Shahnaz discovered that you just had to push the board aside and tadaaa.. the toilet would be as private as it should BUT with this singing guy (whom I still don't recognize) looming at the wall seemingly watching your every move.. creepy! And sgt la perak of me kaaaannn hahah..

We freshened up a bit before getting ready to go find some dinner. Ohhh, had a little 'fight' with the 'hidden' shower tho' hahaha..

When we arrived back at the hotel, it was nearly Maghrib and we met with Ray, the very person who had presented Shahnaz and her friend with the voucher we were currently using.. and the very reason Shahnaz chose this day to stay in the hotel as Ray and the Jazzhats were performing that night.

One word can be used to describe this 62-year old: ENERGETIC!

After performing Maghrib prayers, we went down to watch their performance. This was my very first time doing something like this and I was suprised at how much I enjoyed it. Shahnaz was right when she said you'd wanna sing along with them hehe..

Ray sang evergreen songs, most that I know. Maybe that was why I enjoyed it.. or maybe it was because of his infectious enthusiasm ☺

I went to sleep that night with some songs still playing in my head hehe..

The next morning, after breakfast, we went to fefeeling ala tourist at the beach behind the hotel. I forgot how beautiful Penang beaches can be and was glad to be reminded of it ☺

Here's the view of the hotel from the beach pulak..

Then when it started to get a bit too hot for us (but seemingly the right time for the tourists to go sun bathing) we went back to our room to pack our things and check out.. but first we went to the gift shop to look around first, not that I bought anything.

After checking out, Shahnaz took me to Leo's, a bookstore she's been raving about for months. I was excited until we realized the store was closed on Mondays. However my disappointment was not for long as the owner knew Shahnaz and she opened the store, JUST FOR US!

Sgt rase cam celebrity, hokey!

I was blinded but the choices they had in the store. It wasn't big like Popular or Borders but it was crammed with books as you can see here..

..and here!

Like bes giler kan!

In the end, I, who had said I just wanted to browse around, bought 4 books, one which I bought for Mama.. uhhh, sgt tak leh tahan the bookworm in me kan! Tu pun, the half hour we spent there didn't satisfy my hunger *sigh*

Our last stop for the touristy thingey, was to this Hokkien Mee stall near Island Plaza. This was my first time tasting it as I never was surec where to find a halal one.

Slurrppp.. it was superb! I took Shahnaz's cue and ordered some air Mata Kucing as well and both were good!

After that we went back to Shahnaz's to get my car and Shahnaz had to get ready for her class that afternoon. All in all, I enjoyed every moment!

To Shahnaz: Thanx sbb ajak sy! Didn't expect to enjoy myself so much with everything you introduced to me. Seryesly merasekan sgt kerdil di Penang sbb wpun lahir and besar kat situ, tp bnyk tak tau pasal negeri sendiri.. so since kite nye potluck is planned for bln pose, I suggest the NEXT one, kite ajak sumer buat something like this nak? Minus the hotel stay la, of course, kang mak sumer org marah tak tido kat umah kan hehe..