Journey to the North Part 3: Pearl of the Orient

Continuation of my posts from last week. You might want to check out Parts One and Two first. Lots of pix, not friendly to dial-up and the current Screamyx situation… I wonder when are they going to fix that problem?!

Right. Last off, we were leaving Perak and going further North. Ipoh to Penang is only a short 2 hour journey, and the traffic was good in the mid-morning. After lots of open fields and small kampungs, we finally reach the [tag]Penang Bridge[/tag].

I have always thought that the bridge, being a two lane on each side (except the third climbing lane at the ascend) was too narrow to handle the traffic, even when I first used it when the bridge was opened back in the 80’s. No doubt, the design of the bridge by the late Prof. Chin Fung Kee is an engineering achievement, but in my mind, the dual carriageway was too narrow for comfort, and it was only a matter of years that the traffic will outgrow the 2 lanes. Anyway, economics and engineering aside, having a bridge is better than a ferry, and two bridges are better than just one, and two bridges PLUS a monorail…

This is the centre of the bridge, ascending to allow tankers to pass under, between the island piers. Yep, I read the report by Prof. Chin many years ago, edited by Neoh Cheng Aik.

On to the island.

We missed a turning, and went round the whole island. I called it the ‘informal tour’ of [tag]Penang[/tag].

So after stopping in New Lane for lunch (next to Sunway Hotel), we reached our Hotel. I thought we were going to stay at ‘Tanjung Bungah Resort’, but it turned out to be ‘[tag]Tanjung Bungah[/tag] Beach Hotel’… What’s the diff? No idea. Resort sounds much cooler, I suppose. But one step into the lobby and I had my doubts. I thought, “OMG, did I just check into an Ah Beng Hotel?”

(No offense to Daniel whatsisname and is horde of million screaming fans…)

Actually, it was a pretty nice hotel ([tag]Malaysian Idol[/tag] endorsements notwithstanding), and since it was quite new, we didn’t have much to complain. (Except the parking in front of the hotel. Don’t get me started on that.)

(I couldn’t get a decent shot of the entrance without excluding the two posters of Daniel ‘I’m-SO-Cute-it-Distracts-From-My-Singing’ Tan.)

The hotel pool was a little small, but that didn’t stop my group from frolicking in it more than 3 times over the weekend…

They built this quaint little rock island just about 200m away from the beach. I wonder if it represents something…

View outside my hotel. The whole stretch of coastal road from Tg. Bungah to Feringghi is under going massive development, mostly upmarket condos and luxury homes. I’m not sure if Penangites are entirely comfortable with this, but on the other hand, where there is demand…

In the evening, we decided to go to the Batu Feringghi beach. Followed by the night market.

Two of us went parasailing. A few rules, though. Don’t wear loose clothing. Remove all valuables before going up. Be prepared to get soaking wet up to your chest. And watch out for jelly fish.

After that was dinner at the end of [tag]Batu Feringghi[/tag]. One thing I must say that over the weekend, we enjoyed the seafood very much. It was quite cheap on the whole, considering that Penang is a tourist haven.

After a tiring day, we scooted back to the hotel, SOMEBODY didn’t one to miss her HOLY HOUR (Korean drama series dubbed in Bahasa Malaysia). Just joking aah…? 🙂

And check this out. Our hotel is 3G ready!!

I’m always happy to go on holiday, especially to the beach. I don’t really go into the water much (Straits of Malacca is a lot dirtier than the South China Sea). When I was a kid and I first came to the beach (my town was only a river side town), I loved the feeling of the waves eddying the sand below you feet. Still love the feeling now.