Both of Ben’s aunts visited us at the hotel around 10PM to pass us some Penang goodies for us to bring back to Kuala Lumpur to share with Ben’s families. They got the best of the goodies from their favaourite stalls. They are very sweet. Thank you so much.
Not sure of the name in English; direct translation from the Chinese name is Sun Cookie.
Another version of Heong Peah; Penang style. (more…)
After the round island tour, Ben’s aunt brought us to visit another of Ben’s cousin. He is the oldest in his generation. He is 20 years older than Ben.
He was delighted to hear that Ben has been working in Beijing. He shared his experience during his business trip in Beijing while he was working with Lin Ho. He also shared his experience visiting the village where their ancestry came from China.
For dinner, we met up with Ben’s cousin sister and family again. They brought us to another hawker center.
A BBQ stall with seafood and vegetables.
We had grilled fish again. (more…)
After the visit to the Tropical Spice Garden, we continued our round the island tour.
The white sandy beaches are so tempting but we were not prepared to get wet.
Along Teluk Bahang, we came across a lot of durian plantations. Ben’s cousin sister’s husband asked us to look out for durian fell along the road. It’s finder keeper. We were so lucky that we found two along the way. Look at the happy finder.
We decided to stop at a fruit stop to enjoy the durian we picked from the road side. (more…)
There is even cooking class conducted inside the Tropical Spice Garden. It is RM200 (CAD70) per pax where three dishes will be taught. We were invited into the class to have a brief look.
We found a jack fruit tree with jack fruits hanging almost near the ground.
A huge reptile in our way.
More pond scenery. (more…)
Our self guided tour turned our pretty good as Ben’s cousin sister and husband are quite knowledgeable about herbs as they have a herbal tea shop. They recognized a number of the herbs in the Tropical Spice Garden.
They pointed out to us a fruit from a plant that tasted very sweet as shown below.
He asked to suck the sap from it and after a while take a sip of water. We were amazed that the water tasted so sweet in our mouth.
Bamboo growth along the way. (more…)
In the mid morning, Ben’s cousin and family; with Ben’s aunt picked us up for a round the island tour.
Along the way, we stopped at the Tropical Spice Garden.
The entrance fee for a self guided tour is RM15 (CAD5) for adult and RM10 (CAD3.50) for senior and children.
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…)
On the second morning in Penang, we explored along Jalan Burmah in the neighbourhood for breakfast.
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.
Ben had “Lum Mee” with prawns.
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…)
A convoy of a few families proceeded to Northam Beach Cafe for dinner.
It’s a hawker center along a beach. Too bad it’s too dark to have a better view of the ocean.
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.
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.
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…)
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.
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…)
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.
I bought a deep fried yam filled with new year cake (nian gao) and deep fried banana fritter (kuih kodok).
We also bought a couple of red tortoise cake (angku).
Glutinous rice cakes coloured with bunga telang (pulut tai tai). It is served with coconut jam. (more…)