Trip to Penang

2015 will be a year full of travelling. Just went to Tangkahan on Mei. Went to Penang & Kuala Lumpur on June. Will go to Sibolga on July. Pockets are also getting thinner and thinner but it's okay because whenever I travel, I live. I can work and getting back my money but travel when I am still young and able to walk can't be postponed.

As usual, after traveling there will be stories to tell and because I was good at telling stories through writing so here it is.

13 June 2015

Flying with Air Asia QZ 106 me, my friends and her niece arrived at Penang safely. After getting our baggages we went to our hotel by taxi. We book the taxi from the counter at airport. It cost RM 44. We stayed at Georgetown Hotel in Jl. Larut. I didn't take the photos of the room so I can't write review about  the hotel here but I don't really like this hotel since the room was so small and it's not too strategic but there is coffee shop in front of the hotel and it made us easier to get our foods.

After check in, we have our lunch at coffee shop in front. The foods are delicious but sorry guys no photos since I didn't think of writing again my blog. I ordered something more like chicken rice but I forgot it's name, and a "liang teh" (something like tea). They cost RM 5.5 and RM 1.4

After having our lunch, we went to Komtar, to book our bus tickets to KL on 15 which cost RM 40. Because this was my first trip to Penang by myself (usually I just do transit or go to doctor with mom), I was a bit confused on the transportation. I read on internet they said that if you want to go to somewhere, you have to stop at Komtar first and take another route but when we went there, I didn't see any rapid Penang. But when we ask the security where can we book ticket for bus and he showed us the way, there we see the rapid Penang. So, after booking the bus, we went to Wellings, a pharmacy at Jl. Burma to buy medicines for our family. We didn't use rapid Penang since we still blur about it so we used taxi. After finished with medicines, we went to Gurney Paragon and Gurney Plaza which stand opposite each other. There are nothing to do at mall besides shopping and window shopping. Because I have to control my money, I decided not to spend here at the first day. We had our lunch here in the foodcourt at Gurney Paragon. I ordered fried beehon (RM 6.9) and blackcurrant (RM 1.8). The foods are delicious, pretty much same as Medan's food and it was not too pricey also.
After finished our dinner, we decided to go back to hotel and have rest since it was already 9.30 pm. We planned to go back using rapid Penang but waiting for 30 minutes we didn't find any bus back to Komtar (maybe it's us that didn't know how rapid Penang works) so we decided to use taxi and it costs RM 15, quite expensive but we have no choice because we brought little kids with us (around 6 or 7 yo) and it was 10 pm already.
Arrived at hotel at 10 pm something we take a bath, relax for a while, using hotel's wifi and then sleep.

14 June 2015
Waking up in the morning feeling refresh and charged, taking bath and having breakfast in front which cost RM 4 and RM 1.4 for drinks. After breakfast we go back to hotel and check out, moving to another hotel, Super 8 hotel. Again we use taxi that we book at the hotel since there was no taxi in front, cost RM 18, quite pricey too :'(
Again, Super 8 hotel was a small hotel with affordable price, same with Georgetown hotel, but I like it here. The lobby may not be big but I like the room, bigger than Georgetown, more comfortable and there's minimarket below, beside the hotel and they give us 2 bottles of mineral water, free baby! FREE! *dancing in background* *ignore it*. Oh, and we can walk too from here to Komtar so it's easier to ride rapid Penang.
We arrive at the hotel in the morning, before 12 pm so we can't check in first but we can put our baggage in the lobby so we put our baggage there and we went to Penang Hill, our first destination for today. We walked to Komtar and wait for rapid Penang ( I will call this as bus) number 204 if I was not mistaken. Tips for riding rapid Penang :
1. You must have small money (uang receh) because there will be no change for you. Example: go to Penang Hill which cost you RM 1.4 and you give the driver RM 2, the driver won't give your RM 0.6 back because all money will directly go into the box beside them so the drivers have no money for change.
2. After you arrived at your destination, press the button at the pole. Don't yell for the drivers to stop. This is not Indonesia where you can use angkot and yell the driver "Pinggir bang!"
3. If you don't know which bus went to where, simply check the website (http://www.rapidpg.com.my/journey-planner/route-maps/) or you can ask the drivers is the bus going to your destination or not. You can also ask the drivers to tell you whether the bus has arrived your destination or not but please, sit or stand beside the drivers.
And remember, mind the manners. Give a seat for those who need it. If you see old people, pregnant women or women with children, please give them a seat.

For approximately 30 minutes, we arrived at Penang Hill. It was a sunny day that I don't feel cool at all or maybe because it was June aka summer so it feels hot.

(the entrance)

It cost RM 30 for adult and RM 15 for children. Kinda pricey but still worth it. If you are local people you can get cheaper price. After buying the tickets, we went to queue for the train to go uphill. It was really crowded that day and I can't even stand well in the train, too much people there. We seems unlucky that day, have to jostle in the train and the weather is not too good, it was really foggy in the uphill that we couldn't see the view and it was too bright until I can't open my small eyes. I regret I didn't use contact lens. If I use them I can use my sunglasses so it won't be too bright.




Because we can't get any better photos at the deck we proceed uphill. Passing Daddy Brown cafe and telescope area but we didn't use it because it was foggy but when we went back downhill, there are so many people and we decided to try. Well, the result is I won't try it anymore because I can see nothing except the buildings.

There are owl museum, playground and cafe uphill but too bad I didn't know that there is cafe so I didn't enter and proceed to upstairs. And there I saw so many padlock of love. Again, I was unlucky because I didn't go there with my boyfriend so I just walk passing by that area and proceed to the playground, sitting at the bench and let my friend's niece (Angel) play there. It was nice sitting there and let the wind blow your face. It's too bad there was no park in Medan. Next time if I visit Penang again, I will definitely come here but I will try to come at night.

 (this is located in front of the owl museum and the cafe. Upstairs is padlock area)


After Angel played there, we decided to went back downhill and went to Kek Lok Si Temple. Going downhill using the train again and went back to entrance and wait for Rapid Penang to go to Kek Lok Si. For your information, the road to Kek Lok Si and Penang Hill are in the same direction so you can go to Kek Lok Si first then Penang Hill or Penang Hill first then Kek Lok Si. We didn't know the location of Kek Lok Si so we ask the driver to tell us when we have arrived but it's too bad we should walk a little bit further because the bus didn't go in to the temple. So, we walk pass somewhere like market confusedly and we met 1 aunty asking us where we are going. We said we are going to Kek Lok Si and she kindly explain how to go there and asked us to have lunch here first because if you have lunch at coffee shop near Kek Lok Si, the price will be more expensive for tourist. So we had lunch there and it cost RM 4 for laksa and RM 1.8 for drinks. After lunch we walked to Kek Lok Si.

Here is how Kek Lok Si looks like.

Without delaying much more time, we go in and passed somewhere like markets and we see this tortoise pond. There are so many tortoise there. We can buy them food and give it to them but we didn't do that. Sorry tortoise.

Proceed our journey upstairs and we use train again to go uphill to see the Kwan Im statue. Too bad again (seems like that day is our unlucky day) the stairs to the statue was blocked maybe they are doing some renovations (or it was not allowed to go up there?) so we can't see the statue clearly.

Walked again and see a fish pond. Seeing the fish were so active we went to buy its' food and give it to them.

(eat like there is no tomorrow)

Relaxing there for a while and decided to went back to hotel to clean up ourselves. My body really feels so sticky. After cleaning up, I don't feel like doing anything, I just wanna lay in my bed *Bruno Mars dancing behind* so I lay in my bed until it's time for my tummy to eat then we went to 1st avenue mall near komtar. Finding the foodcourt there and have our dinner there. I ordered Pattaya fried rice (RM 6.3) and blackcurrant (RM 2.4). After that, we do shopping there, my friend bought the vincci shoes as I didn't bought any because none of them fit my annoying big feet. But something catches my eyes when I entered Charles and Keith. It's a blue bag and when I see the price, it was discounted price, from RM 200 sth to RM 170. In Indonesia, you will only have a wallet with that price so without second thought I tell the staff to take a new one and proceed to cashier, money moved from my wallet to the cashier *goodbye money, see you again*.
Satisfied with the shopping, we went back to hotel, pack our stuff since we have to leave early tomorrow for KL and have a nice sleep.