Travel Time

The weather is forecasted to be rainy on the first 3 days of our arrival . Averaging between 25 to 30. Hot !

Much as I prefer to come here during CNY, who am I to complain right ?

Been here a total of 4 times yet never once have I found it boring. This one makes it the fifth.

Definitely need an umbrella or two. Light showers expected.

Haven't even packed, yet I can still find time to tap away at the keyboard. Cheesed off with myself and how I prioritise things at times.

Passport. Tickets. Hotel voucher. Money changer.

Taking a break for now.

Village Coffeeshop - World's Deadliest Tomyam

When we heard another patron holler for a Pink Lady today, we followed suit.  This ended up in front of us.

Stirred the leong fun jelly, syrup, evap milk, canned sweetcorn together.

It's basically an icey cold hybrid between air bandung and a rich ice kacang drink.

Super cold,super nice refreshment for a super hot day.

The drink acts as a kind of tongue extinguisher,in case you go ahead and order the world's deadliest Tom yam served here.

Seriously, if cannot stand chillies , this is NOT advisable.

Even if you do, Village's tom yam will give you a reeducation on what HOT really means. 

The spiciness of this dish is on a pyscho scale, meant only for the suicidal.

But I still like to get a little risky and put my life on the line, every now and then.

Cooked with instant noodles, quails eggs, meatballs, mushrooms .

Of course, you can always opt for the plain soupy version with fish meat and other 'safehouse' ingredients.

Not to worry.

Most Penangites will be too busy manouvering around their volcanic bowl of death , and will turn a blind eye to your sheer cowardice.

The deep fried sandpiper is another must order here.

Good if you need to catch your breath.

As eating the Tomyam is like running like the wind away from a man eating tiger, on the edge of a jagged cliff.

Total : no more cheap nowdays. Cost us $34 for 3 bowls of noodles and 4 small sandpipers. Not inclusive of drinks

Location : Weld Quay

Chowtime : Lunch to 10pm

Directions : Turn left from the ferry terminal, go straight.  Towards the end of the clan jetty area, keep a lookout on your left for a green signboard.

Bee Hooi, supper time

It's 10pm and business is still going full swing 

The assam laksa is my favourite.

I think they use a certain amount of sardines here, but I don't mind because they're extremely generous with the vegies such as mint, cucumber,lettuce, bunga kantan and onions.

Yum !

Popiah sold by the same seller has a fantabulously thin membrane for the skin .

Filled to the brim with sweet turnips, chopped omelette, carrots and very tasty filletted small prawns.

Never dunk mine in sauce. The operator obliges.

A bowl of Loh Mee.

Doesn't really need introduction as this stall is already famous.

Hardly draws a huge crowd because the opening hours are reliable, supplies never run out and fans pour in slow and steady from evening till night.

In case you don't fancy such sticky noodles, you can try out the tender Chicken feet that are also sold by the same person.

Something different for a change.

Location : Pulau Tikus

Directions : from Berjaya Midlands hotel, go towards the direction of town. Pass by a church on your left. Look out for a Hong Leong bank on your right. The coffeeshop is on your right

Chowtime : 6pm to 11pm

Sin Lean Heang, Block 360

It's not that easy locating Sin Lean Heang at first try as every block of flat looks almost the same. But it's certainly worth the effort when you finally find it.

We don't come here often as waiting time is excrutiating. But when we do have the time, we always order the Fried Glass Noodles .

This is the best, that you can find up here in the north. Nobody cooks this better than them.

An extravagant dish cooked with fish meat, oysters, sawi, egg white, prawn and pork. Such a lipsmacking experience.

Their most famous dish is the very humble Taukwa with leeks. They have elevated it to another level altogether which nobody can immitate.

You will be rather surprised to discover that the tofu is soft rather than hard, very fragrant, with equally delicious garlicky sauce and the leeks do not have that strong smell associated to stir fried leeks.

Real Ho Liau dish that should never be underestimated.

Oyster Mee or Oh Mee is up next.

Oh my god, I Love this so much I would drink up all the sauce if no one were watching.

This is the average size of the fresh juicy local oysters that goes into every noodle based dish here. Bursting point !

Location :  Gat Lebuh Macallum

Directions : coming out from the ferry terminal , turn left, follow the road till you see a road sign that says Harbour Trade Centre. Turn left at the traffic light immediately after that sign, pass by a D'Orient Mall on your left. When you come to the end of the block, turn right. Continue straight to the end, to the last block of flats. When you see Star City Foodcourt start looking for parking. Best to walk into the flat area.

Chowtime : Lunch till around 4pm

Contact : 04-262 6954

Chicken Nuggets - GSC Cinemas

Came here to watch Men In Black 3 tonight.

That was just the pretext.

This is the real reason why I chose this place over others.

Chicken Nuggets

Can't get enough of the hard, crunchy, puffed up crust.

Large size please.

We settle into our seats in the cinema hall .

Noom noom noom....until we realise that we've finished them even before the show has started.

A quick run outside for a second order, soon fixes that.

Happens that I was seated next to a girl with 3 kinds of odours. That kind of spoilt it for me.

Till it didn't matter if I thought Josh Brolin's acting was like kayu. Nor that Will Smith's timing seemed a little off.

Everytime she bent forward, she released the heat from the drawers she had soaked for 3 days before washing.

And when she lifted her right arm,every now and then, I smelt car freshener.

She also bought a box of popcorn with her.
I was ok with that.
It was when she opened her mouth to pop one in, that the right side of my body wilted from her garlic breath.

Maybe next time we should get Premier Class tickets.

Either that or she was really Boris the Animals sister in disguise.

Panasonic Leica Lens - FX80

I'm not about to splurge on a pricey Leica camera. At least not yet.

Even if their cheaper digital compacts like the one below, costs less than a wad of $5000 ONLY.

However, did you know that Panasonic have point and shoot cameras that come outfitted with them ?

Without costing an arm and a leg too, that's quite awesome !

Look at that. See the LEICA brand name across the lens barrel of the 24mm wide angle DC Vario-Summarit ?

Yes. You heard right. Wide angle lens on a compact. Is that more than nice or what ?

The Fx80 is a camera that is slim and lightweight. With a 3" touch screen panel that makes editing options such a breeze, as well as a CCD sensor, to grant you low noise, high quality images .

Perfect for slipping into a purse , neither is it too cumbersome to strap onto your wrist.

Observe how the charger head, is way thicker than the camera itself.

The best thing about this camera, are 2 features that I like very much. Beauty Retouch and Defocus.

Beauty Retouch makes it simple to digitally add on make up, slim your jawline, widen small eyes and airbrush the worst complexion so that it ends up looking magazine worthy.
No need to use a computer and spend hours doing that, making it a piece of cake for anyone, to look instantly made up, slimmer and most radiant even .

While Defocus, helps achieve DSLR looking pictures, by blurring out the background for you .

Retailing at $899, it's a 12 megapixel full HD dream, compatible with 3D viewing equipment .

There is a ton of fun to be had, with a mike on top and a speaker at the bottom . A whole lot to discover and record.

Duck rice in New Lane

Sometimes I wonder how come our many excellent roast duck rice stalls, are hardly featured on the must try list for tourists . 

Every neighbourhood on the island, has at least 2 stalls that specialise in this, with operators coming from as far as Kulim to tempt islanders tastebuds .

New Lane is no exception.

There are two rivals here, operating on the same street, opposite one another.

Although I prefer the younger man's juicier, more tender version, hard luck. He's sold out.

Thus here I am today, at the stall run by this older guy .

Check out the bottom left corner .

See how many duck heads there are ?

Eaten by Penangites not tourists .

My order.

Duck drumstick and breast meat $10 only for the entire plate.

Super cheap .

The thing about this older guy's version is, it is best to eat it on the spot .

Try not to take away, as the meat starts to get very greasy the longer it stays wrapped .

Where's my rice ? Who needs rice ?

Look, you're in New Lane.

Take the duck to a bowl of Curry Mee, together with not one but TWO spoonfuls of sambal, so you are guaranteed to spit fire.

Dragon breathing hot.

Extinguish the heat with a cooling bowl of Si Koh Thng

Location : Duck rice and si koh thng -entrance of Maxim Cafe, New Lane .
Curry Mee- the first stall on the right row, nearest to Maxim Cafe.

Directions : from Traders Hotel on Magazine Road, take the middle road at the intersection and heads towards Sunway Hotel Georgetown. The road is right in front of this hotel.  

Chowtime : the younger man who operates from starts at 5.30pm, the older around 7pm. Both sell out in 2 or 3 hours.

( NH ) Hong Kong Kim Gary Restaurant - new look

It's been ages since I've been here. They've closed for renovations for so long, I've almost forgotten they even existed on this floor .

We followed the waitress into the area where the cushioned seats were.

Chin Ho Chiak Charity Food & Fun Fair 2012

A word of caution before I start, the event happened in the middle of April and I have been sitting on the pictures I snapped, all this while of something related to it. Not the actual fair itself.

Laugh all you want but it's been bugging me and I just have to get it off my chest already.

It started when I spotted this sign below, 2 weeks before the actual day.

Due to the fact that they didn't label it as CHIN HO CHIAK , I thought that there was a new makan spot. Thus I followed the sign.

Gleefully rubbing my greedy hands . I imagined I was going to be among the first few to try it out ! Whatever it was. Yeah ! Wow, got unloading some more. Must be a nice restaurant.

To this next one.

Inspiring.

Onto this one.

I'm pumped.

But scratching my head because I just realised the signs go either way.

Drive till we see this small one at the corner.

Must be close.

Nope. Wrong.

But I'm not giving up.

Just follow the sign.

Gems take some unearthing.

Until we come to this.

Now I'm confused.

Because the direction points to this place.

Which, as far as I know, does not have a restaurant.

Still, I wanted to be 1000 percent sure. Thus we drove in only to have to make a red faced u turn to exit this entrance .

If you think we were alone, other 'treasure hunters' followed us in, up and down, the u turn slope . Last I counted, there were 5 cars tailing us.

I don't know about the others, but I certainly felt like such a big fool. Went home to eat bread with jam. Shy only.

Next time, can someone tell the organisers of this event not to put motivating signs like this so early ?

5 boxes of Happy

Received this via courier services today.

Thank you very much. Gifts like these motivate me in every way.

Pegaga Juice ( U )

The local name for this drink is Cheh Chao or green grass. Some people mistake this drink for wheatgrass when it is really Indian pennywort, or daun pegaga, a bitterish ayurdevic herb.

This herbaceous creeper is known as brain food that can heal and protect the nerves, heart and skin.

Malay and Indian people eat this raw like a salad, to reap its maximum benefits.

Penangites on the other hand,turn this into a juice, served with ice and syrup, for instant relief especially when the weather gets too hot .

As you can immediately feel the heat lifted from out of your head, it can be quite addictive.

Beneficial as it may be, it is better to go easy on the juice as you can develop giddiness if you consume this on a regular basis. Once a month at the most .

I know of only 3 places in Georgetown where you can get this drink.

Lebuh Cecil's afternoon wetmarket , a stall along Lebuh Keng Kwee and another stall at the entrance of  Datuk Keramat wetmarket before a fresh coconut water shop and the police station.

( NH ) Hokkien Mee, Lebuh Cecil

What I love most about Lebuh Cecil wetmarket, is the adjoining hawker centre, where prices of hawker fare is still so incredibly low.

My favourite Hokkien Mee stall is this one.

A short step away, in front of a Malaysian flag hung up on the roof. Nearest to the two red lanterns. Next to a small yellow telco booth.

( U ) Satay Ah' Basri - Bayan Lepas

I have to say I was a bit apprehensive before stepping into this satay outlet.

From the outside it looked like a cafe but once inside it resembled a fast food outlet .

Oh oh.

On top of that, it was also clean, brightly lit,with sweet, well mannered staff....hmmm.... I was truly prepared for the worst.

( NH ) Keat Duck Rice, Fettes Park

Update : I've found them again .
They were the couple that was pictured inside the viral picture in the surau after the floods .
 They are now operating from a corner kopitiam also in Fettes Park just 3 or 4 shops away from their old premises .
Open during lunch , you can find this couple in the back of that shop .
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To me, this is the best chicken rice shop in Penang.

The irony is, he sells more chicken,char siew and siew yoke, than duck, although the shop name denotes otherwise.

But that doesn't mean that his duck isn't good.

It is. The skin is crispy. The meat most delicious.

 Just that Penangites prefer to see more ducks hanging not just 1 or 2 .

More as in 20 ducks hanging before taking your duck rice claim very seriously.

But who cares which is the best seller, when what they serve here is so good, they even get Mat Sallehs as regular customers.

(NH ) Ming Xiang Tai, Jalan Burma

Ming Xiang Tai was featured in todays newspaper. How come I didn't know even about this place until today ? I just had to check this one out.

The writer raved about the Trishaw Egg Tarts sold here.

Am about to put this to the test.

( U ) Tutti Frutti Frozen Yogurt, Island Plaza

Today,it was so unbearably hot . Time for a yogurt treat

2 Missed calls - Lumix FT dot dot

Organisers like to pick the busiest time, to convey the good news to you. And I never seem to be able to pick up the call in time. A dial back did the trick.

Waterproof. Shockproof. Freezeproof. Dustproof. Just what I need.
And apparently I still do as they have decided to give me a newer, more stylish model.

Summer Garden Food & Bistro, Vale of Tempe (NH)

What makes this restaurant so arresting and stand out from all the rest, is this cascading wall of water at the entrance.

While the inside is no less elegant as it is cozy.

View from the wine bar.

( U ) Nameless Tomyam shack, Tanjung Tokong

Update : Closed down due to the development in Tg Tokong
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This is another tomyam shop operated by a Thai-Malay husband and wife team.

Always friendly and obliging, they even help cook fish, that local villagers bring to their shop, for a small fee.

Tanjung Tokong Rempits often hang outside this pathway for a drink and a smoke.

Hot Wheels collectible toy from Mc Donalds

I'm not embarassed to admit that I often pop into Mc Donalds to check out the collectible toys. Neither do I hide behind a cloak and explain that " I'm getting this for my kids"

"It's for me " is the answer anyone will get, should they ever ask.

Today, I stumbled upon one of the finest Hot Wheels cars they have ever offered . Nice !

( U ) Tomyam at Mutiara Ombak, Tanjung Tokong

Update : the outlet has changed hands . This review is no more relevant . As the other operators across from Tesco are Indons and Cambodians , if you want Southern Malay Thai cuisine , Nurmee Seafood just outside Fettes Park is the closest to this 


The people that run this Tomyam outlet are Thai-Malays .

This restaurant attracts a sizeable number of chinese customers because the chef whips out seafood dishes as if he had been under the tutelage of a chinese sifu.

As it is located along the main road

frontal, fringing the 100 year old or more, kampung Tanjung Tokong,

I don't know how much longer they can hold fort before UDA Holdings takes back the land.

( NH ) Tapioca Fried Fish Noodles,Min Jiang, Air Itam

When the rare tourist comes here, they tend to take locals word for it, that the tomyam stall is the best there is.

I beg to differ.

Most locals are enraptured by the tomyam because the level of spiciness is on a psycho scale of a gazillion sweat beads and a paralysed tongue .

This you can savour in one of the many small mom and pop stalls in Prangin Mall.

However, nobody on the island has been able to replicate what these men have been churning out night after night.

Teenage Suicides

There is plenty of advice on how you should counter the Terrible Twos but not on how to survive a teenage meltdown.

Simply because there is no right formula on how to deal with the mood and temperament associated to that peculiarly complex stage in their lives where they like to maintain a ten step distance away from you .

I was saddened after a wonderful Mother's Day weekend spent with my family, to hear of 2 heart wrenching suicides, which involved 2 boys. One 11, the other 14.

Both suicides have a commonality.They are linked to the deaths of their grandmothers.

( NH ) Supper at 999 Seafood, Fettes Park

999 Seafood is a cheap place for a great home cooked meal . Run by a husband and wife team, many singletons come here as they offer one dish rice meals that are cooked on the spot .

The sambal, belacan and gulai dishes are awesome but I seriously think that they are not from the northern states as it is not typical Penang fare. The lone cook whips out everything on his own and has given an edgier,more exciting take on those kinds of dishes Penangites love so much .

Lick & Win yourself a Paddle Pop Surprise

I knew that Paddle Pop was giving away 670 Units of X Box 360 Kinect, an unbelievable 4500 Units of Nokia basic handphones as well as a massive amount of their comics.

But I had to rub my eyes again and open them wider when I thought I saw this .

Nando's Cataplana feast, Gurney Plaza ( PF )

Penangites have fallen hopelessly in love with this Portuguese chicken franchise from day one.

Us included.

 We want to try out their signature dish, served in this very cute but strange looking copper/brass like container.

( NH )_Look Yuen Restaurant, Bukit Mertajam

This is the famous Look Yuen.

It's located just next to a busy highway