Part 2: Penang Trip 4D3N (Day 2)

To see full list of itinerary, you may refer to Part 1: Penang Trip 4D3N (Day 1)

Day 2 :
0730-0900: Breakfast at the hotel (The Coffee House)
0900-1300: Free and Easy Tour by Ocean Pacific
1200-1300: Wai Thai Lim (Buy foods)
1300-1400: Lunch at Restoran Pinang Peranakan
1400-1430: Famous Teochew Chendul @ Lebuh Keng Kwee
1430-1800: Free and Easy Tour (Continued)
1800-2000: Dinner at Gurney Plaza
2000-2200: Shopping at Paragon Mall

Note: Day 2 is all about food and cultural tours by Ocean Pacific Tour Agency!

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As I planned the itinerary, I discovered that the hotel does not provide shuttle bus services as what I experienced in my previous overseas trip, and the downside is that there is only one public bus around my hotel area so getting around would involved a lot of walking and waiting for bus which is entirely waste of time. Hence, I decided to use tour agency instead after discussion with le bf and his sister. I found Ocean Pacific through googling and got some mix of good and bad reviews but majority of the reviews were good. Steven, the OP manager, responded to my email really fast and promptly and gave me the list of attractions that I will be interested in (I told him I am interested in food and cultural tours), and after some emails here and there, I am satisfied and Steven assured me that it will be a very pleasant trip. So we booked free and easy trip with them (RM320 for 10-seater van -8 hours).

So back to my trip, we paid breakfast + room so we had breakfast at the hotel, The CoffeeHouse, and I must say that the reviews were all true with the fact that the food were really terrible. A 5-star hotel, I expected it to be better but seriously, it was really terrible. So no point buying breakfast if you ever want to book a room at The Northam Hotel unless you have to set out of hotel early (hard to find breakfast outside in early morning though).

Mr Lee was our driver for the free and easy tour and he was about 15 minutes earlier than the expected timing (9AM). He was very soft spoken and he spoke mixture of Hokkien and English. I asked Steven for mandrin speaking driver because le bf’s parents couldn’t understand much English but apparently when I asked Mr Lee to speak in Mandrin, he replied in Hokkien, which was fine actually since le bf’s parents can understand 🙂 I remember the reviews said Mr Lee was just a driver instead of tour guide so the reviews wasn’t that good but perhaps he was able to guide better in Hokkien because he doesn’t speak much initially before I asked him to switch to Mandrin. Speaking in Hokkien, he started telling us about the buildings and pointing out while driving, waiting for us while we explored so we kind of enjoy ourselves.

Penang Hill

The first stop is Penang Hill which was known to be quite popular among tourists. We decided to go there early because it can be quite crowded in the afternoon which will create human traffic jam as you wait for a tram to bring you all the way up to the hill. Owl Museum and the Love Lock place where lovers put locks are situated at Penang Hill as well!

 

Kek Lok Si

The next stop is the Kek Lok Si temple  at Air Itam,  which is said to be the largest Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia, and arguably to be one of the most famous in Penang. From what I know of its background, the location which it was located was regarded as having all the right “feng shui” for the temple. I did not take much photos because it is kind of respect to refrain from photography as it is a place of worship.

We paid for wishing ribbons which costs RM1 each, and I bought 6 ribbons to ask for blessings and safety for my whole family, as well as having a good and booming business for my family as well. There is also roof tile where you paid RM30 to have your name written on it which will be placed onto the temple’s roof which signify good luck.

Wai Thai Lim

The next stop is buying some snacks especially tau sah piah which is a type of Teochew biscuits quite popular in Penang (豆沙饼 – Bean paste biscuit). We asked Mr Lee if he could bring us to Ghee Hiang (a very well-known brand) but he commented that they did not have car park so it will be difficult to park (Note: We went Ghee Hiang ourselves on our last day…there is a vast space of car park! We think that probably he meant other smaller outlet.)

We bought few boxes of tau sah piah (they tasted really good but somehow, they tasted normal when we brought back to Singapore). One thing I didn’t like about their packaging is that the tau sah piah were not wrapped with plastic packaging so they can get spoilt easily (maximum 2 weeks from purchase). We also bought white coffee and packaged bak kut teh soup (肉骨茶-Meat bone tea) which is a chinese soup which is popularly served in Malaysia. We love the sample of the bak kut teh that they gave us to try. 🙂

Restoran Pinang Peranakan

Mr Lee went  to bring us to a peranakan restaurant for lunch (Restoran Pinang Peranakan).

I am not at all impressed with the food if I compared them to those dishes I ate at hawker in Penang. The food so far is decent, not much “wow” factor. But one dish that stand out is that their assam prawns are really delicious! Chendul is not exactly very nice as compared to the Famous Teochew Chendul which will be mentioned in the next stop.

Famous Teochew Chendul

After that, he brought us to this famous chendul store (le bf’s family love chendul so we always have the stomach to eat more chendul). Personally, I feel that the chendul at the Famous Teochew Chendul tasted way much better than the one we had at the restaurant. It tasted saltier and somehow, it just taste right with the chendul. The restaurant chendul was too sweet for our liking.  We can see why it was so famous!

Tropical Fruit Farm

The next stop is the 25-acre Tropical Fruit Farm, which is located about 800ft above sea level on the hilly terrain of Teluk Bahang. Entrance fee is rather expensive (RM35), which included a fruit buffet spread and guided tour.

A funny moment occurred when le bf and I were queuing up for fruit juice.

Le bf: What drink you all want?
His sister: Papa 要 pineapple. (Translate: Dad want pineapple juice)
He: One papaya pineapple juice. (To the seller)

Papa 要 pineapple = Papaya Pineapple = Taste Horrible.

These two siblings never fail to make me laugh everytime whenever I am with them!

Butterfly Farm

After fruit farm, Mr Lee drove us to butterfly farm which was quite nearby. Entrance fee is RM27.

 

Finally we end the tour at about 6pm where he drove us back to the hotel. We ate dinner at Sushi King @ Gurney drive before taking a walk around Paragon mall. After that, we took cab home and hit the hotel gym!

Talk about guilty stuffing ourselves with sinful food after the day trip!