Penang Fall 2012: Tropical Spice Garden Tour – Part 1

In the mid morning, Ben’s cousin and family; with Ben’s aunt picked us up for a round the island tour.

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Along the way, we stopped at the Tropical Spice Garden.

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The entrance fee for a self guided tour is RM15 (CAD5) for adult and RM10 (CAD3.50) for senior and children.

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A plate of various commonly used spice was displayed at the ticket counter. Mosquito repellent was provided before we started our exploration as there are a lot of mosquitoes in such tropical forest. (more…)

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Penang Fall 2012: Breakfast Along Jalan Burmah

On the second morning in Penang, we explored along Jalan Burmah in the neighbourhood for breakfast.

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We settled at a coffee shop with hawker stalls. I had a dry curry noodle with cuttle fish, cockles, tofu puff and pork blood. I left the pork blood behind as I do not eat pork blood.

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Ben had “Lum Mee” with prawns.

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Iced coffee to go with the noodles. Come to think of it, I only had iced drink in Malaysia. I always have hot drink in Vancouver, even in summer.

The above came to RM10 (CAD3.50). (more…)

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Penang Fall 2012: Dinner at Northam Beach Hawker Center

A convoy of a few families proceeded to Northam Beach Cafe for dinner.

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It’s a hawker center along a beach. Too bad it’s too dark to have a better view of the ocean.

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At hawker center, you ordered your food from the hawker stalls located around the common seating area. You paid for your order and the food will be delivered to your table. I wonder if there will be orders lost in the midst with so many tables.

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We came across a stall making peanut cake using traditional method. It starts with pulverizing the roasted peanuts with a bottle to pounding the peanuts with sugar with the back of a frying pan.

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Ben and I shared a drink called Ampula with plum. It tasted like guava. I was skeptical to share the drink with him since he had a cold but luckily I did not fall ill. (more…)

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Penang Fall 2012: Lunch at New World Park

One of Ben’s aunt picked us up for lunch from our hotel. The purpose of our trip to Penang is to rekindle with Ben’s relatives who live in Penang.

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Ben’s aunt brought us to New World Park for lunch. It’s a hawker center. Ben had “Har Go” rice roll which is his late father’s favourite. The sauce for this dish is unique to Penang.  RM3 (CAD1) for the above. (more…)

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Penang Fall 2012: Breakfast from Morning Market

Ben was still groggy this morning. He had backache due to the long bus trip. We did not want to go too far to look for breakfast. We just went to the neighbourhood morning market to get some food.

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I bought a deep fried yam filled with new year cake (nian gao) and deep fried banana fritter (kuih kodok).

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We also bought a couple of red tortoise cake (angku).

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Glutinous rice cakes coloured with bunga telang (pulut tai tai). It is served with coconut jam. (more…)

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Kuala Lumpur to Penang via Aeroline

We traveled from Kuala Lumpur to Penang via Aeroline. The bus departed at 2:45PM from Corusl Hotel.

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There is complimentary coffee at the waiting area in Corus Hotel. We bought the tickets online; return trip for 2 was CAD83.

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We booked the front row seats for more leg room space (on the dash board, :-)). We had great views. The seats also reclined comfortably.

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It started to rain once our journey started. We slept a lot during the journey with the rain drops soothing sound plus the humming of the bus. (more…)

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KL Fall 2012: Ah Koong Restaurant

Ben was not feeling well on the 3rd day. We were not sure if he caught a cold or caused by the drastic change of weather from the sub zero Beijing fall weather to the above 30 hot and humid KL weather. Perhaps, he had too much heaty durian. He had body ache and a slight temperature. We skipped breakfast as Ben continue to sleep after taking a couple of aspirin.

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We checked out from the hotel at 12:00PM and left our luggage at the concierge while we went out to look for a place for lunch. We wanted something light as Ben did not have appetite to eat while I had indigestion problem. We found a restaurant specializes in fish ball in the neighbourhood called Ah Koong Restaurant. We picked this restaurant because it is air-conditioned.

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We had their signature fried fish cake for appetizer. It was very bouncy.

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Ben had curry laksa with oil noodle. (more…)

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KL Fall 2012: Chiu Chow Porridge

Since my niece did not eat at the AYCE durian stall, we went for supper after the durian feast. The traffic from SS2 back to the city center was horrible.

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Initially, my niece wanted to bring us for beef tripe noodle at Jalan Alor. But, we were not certain that we can get a parking there. So, we changed our plan to eat near our hotel.

We went for Chiu Chow Porridge which is plain porridge/congee that goes with a  lot of side dishes.

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Marinated eggs.

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Lady fingers stir-fried with fresh chili and dried shrimp. (more…)

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KL Fall 2012: All You Can Eat Durian

We met up with Ben’s sister after the tour to Royal Selangor. Back at her house, the rain started to pour. After spending two hours there, she brought us to Ben’s brother’s house. We waited for everyone to get home from work before we went out for dinner.

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We went for All You Can Eat Buffet Durian in SS2, PJ. AYCE durian is popular here as there are several stores serving it.

It was a small world as Ben bumped into two if his Boys’ Bridgate friends in the store we picked for the AYCE durian.

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A descriptive banner of the various durian available.

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We had young coconut juice to cool down the effect of the “heaty” durian. (more…)

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KL Fall 2012: Royal Selangor Tour

After lunch, PL brought us to visit Royal Selangor which is the world’s largest manufacturer and retailer of pewter.

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The world’s largest pewter tankard as recognized by Guinness Book of Records in 1985. It was made to commemorate Royal Selangor’s centenary. Selangor Pewter (old name) was founded by Yong Koon in 1885.

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We had a guided  tour of the visitor center in the headquarter. We learned about it’s history to it’s present day as the world’s largest pewter maker.

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History of the lucky teapot. (more…)

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