Final Invasion of Penang

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Sorry. Necessary post-bioactive chemistry paper frustration blow-out. Studying past-years didn't help. The questions were totally different. Not much on mechanisms and processes. Asked too much about other small, little stuff. I'll be grateful if my B.S. turn out not to be B.S.

Where were we? Ah yes, Baba Mansion. That was probably the highlight among all the places we've been in Penang. We wanted to go to Batu Feringghi's pasar malam after that but decided against it, knowing that the taxi fare would be a killer. Then, we thought of the pasar malam at Jalan Dato' Keramat which a kakak, whom Adillah met at City Bay View, recommended to her.

Calling her for directions, she offered to drive us there. Which we hesitantly accepted. It's not really safe to accept ride from strangers these days. Who can we trust these days, really? Thankfully, the kakak turned out to be really nice and friendly. Seriously. All the Penang people we met on the streets were super-nice and super-friendly. If I encounter these kind of people on KL streets, it would be one in a million if the person does not have other sneaky intentions playing at the back of their minds.

The pasar malam was seriously not well-litted and over-crowded. I think the main reason why it seemed over-packed was that half of the crowd there were on motorcycles, not on foot. And it wasn't really safe because half of the motorcyclists were unlicensed and underage. Seeing the way they "balance" and manoeuvre their machines, nobody in their right minds should allow them on the road.

Fifth Stop: Penang Hill


I think this was the earliest we got up in the three days we were there. Adillah, as usual, got up the earliest for her sembahyang. I got up probably slightly before 7, and Suzan around 15 minutes later. We've been getting up in that order every morning. Hehe. No pulling of hair or catfight over who gets to use the bathroom first.


We got on the first tram up to the peak of Penang Hill. It was so early that our sleepiness were quite apparent on our faces and our lack of chattiness on our way there and up. Well, it was also the last day of our trip. Who doesn't get tired?


There was nothing much to see though. The view (as you can see from the picture) was rather blurry. Don't know if it was due to the haze or the early morning mist. It was kind of lonely up there too. Not many people on the first tram.

Of course, there was the breezy and cooling climate up here which was a welcome change to the hot, humid and ruthlessly scorching weather down there and back in Kuala Lumpur. Maybe next time we'll escape to Cameron.


Final Stop: Kek Lok Si Temple

From Penang Hill, we walked to Kek Lok Si Temple which was nearby. We were looking for the entrance, imagining it to be a huge 20-feet-tall gate with magnificent, detailed gold carvings from top to bottom on each pillar and a huge signboard written "Kek Lok Si" in gold. Well, no. You make your way up the steps to Kek Lok Si through many, many sidewalk stalls with really, really aggressive saleswomen who tells you, "First morning business is good luck". Hmmm.



Adillah and I only walked outside in the gardens, admiring the view while Suzan was the only one who went inside the main hall and up the pagoda. Not that our beliefs and religious teachings prohibit us to enter other religion's worship sanctuaries but it was our own personal choice :)

The forecasted weather was rain and thunderstorms everyday. But not a single drop of rain came down until two hours before we were heading back to Kuala Lumpur. God is good, isn't He?


Goodbye Penang. We had a great time there. We'll definitely do this again. This as in going holiday together. Just not sure if we'll come back to Penang so soon. Our next destination... Langkawi? Terengganu? Bali? India? Haha.

But for now, home sweet home.

Penang Invasion (Part 4)

I am supposed to be studying Bioactive Chemistry right now. Reserved last 4 days for the protein sequencing, DSP, protein design and engineering. Today, tomorrow and the day after were, according to the timeline I scribbled in a piece of rubbish paper, booked for CYL's part.

Very oddly, I actually finished all his topics today. All in one day alone. Think I'm going too fast. Maybe I'm fast because I went through all his topics a month back. So maybe it's the revising mode now. Good for me. I hope. But will have to practice nucleophilic attack more to familiarize myself so that I won't get lost during the exam. and to save time as well.

Anyway!!! Back to Penang. Yes, I'm not done with pictures just yet. Looking at the rate I'm going, there's gonna be at least one more Penang post after this one too. After Fort Cornwallis, we walked to nearby hawker centre at Padang Kota Lama to eat. Not many eateries in Penang are open during the day though.


This is mee soto penang mamak-style fried mee (correction by Adillah.. hehe). Of course it was about 10% eaten when this was taken. We did have every intention to snap photos of what we ate while we were in Penang. After all, Penang is supposed to be the food haven right? But of course, being the hungry active and energetic young girls women that we were (and since we walked all day), we only think of eating when the food is set in front of us and remember about the camera after they've gone down to our stomachs. So these are the only pictures of food. Don't they look good?

And they taste just as good!


Penang and their variety of ABCs! Hehee. I must have ate at least 3-4 different kinds of ABCs while I was there. Some gave more red beans, some gave more corn, and some gave ice-cream! Yum. Happy.

Fourth Stop: Baba Mansion


Via trishaw. Courtesy of two really friendly uncles who was really nice to send us all the way to the mansion from Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion (we missed the tour time for that one), OFFERED to wait for us while we tour the mansion and sent us back to YMCA for only 20 bucks per trishaw. Despite what we heard about Penang being dangerous and all, we were pretty blessed I would say because all of the people we met there were a really, really friendly and nice bunch. Maybe like Adillah said, we probably have muka kesian (pitiful face) that everyone feel compelled to help the pitiful us.

Aha! Senget pictures.. guess who took them?


This is the Baba's bilik pengantin (newly-wed's room?? or bridal suite? tak tau). Apparently the Peranakan in Penang spoke Hokkien, not Malay like Malacca's. So that was the difference, according to our guide. This mansion once belonged to a Kapitan who controlled tin mining in Taiping back in those days. He had not one, not two, not three but eight wives. EIGHT WIVES!!!

And if it wasn't for the tour guide who told us, I would have thought "Man.. these Babas need to eat so much har?" due to the dozens of dining rooms and thousands of eating utensils we saw on display there.





Before that, I thought that this family actually had these many dining rooms. After all the Kapitan had eight wives and goodness-knows how many children all living under one roof. One wife per dining room perhaps. So that cat fight and food fight can be minimized. Hahaa. Our guide said that they were all merely exhibitions of different dining rooms among Penang Peranakan. Thank goodness. If they really had these many plates, they don't need to wash their plates for a year!

Now that's just plain gross.


Baru aje makan, so fast nak cari food. Heheheh. The only reason why I'm not posting pictures with me in it is because I had become a giant red lobster due to hours boiling under the mercilessly-scorching sun. And the redness, my goodness, was bad. Really really bad.


But I'll entertain you with one - and just one - picture that has me in it where the redness was not apparent. Hahaa. Taken at the sanctuary built at the side of the house for family ancestral worship. Even with my wearing jeans, I have to awkwardly take a big step over the wooden panel at the bottom of the door... imagine the nyonyas with their nyonya kebaya. How ah?

Us: How do the ladies come in here with their nyonya kebaya?
Guide: Don't know. Just walk in, I guess.
Us: Har? But it's so high wor. Won't the skirt rip or something?
Guide: Hmmm. Then the men carry the women in lor.
Us: HAARRR??
Guide: *mischievous grin*
Us: ....... Baba men very strong hor.

Penang Invasion (Part 3)

Penang has mosques, churches and temples at every single corner!!!


One of the many many MANY mosques, temples and churches we saw on our way to Fort Cornwallis. Yes, we walked again. And while we're at it, I was in the process of being chronically burned chilli-red by the sun. Now i have horrible tan lines. I don't know how angmohs, gora and goree could actually love our hot sun and willingly sunbathe all in the name of beauty. Siao! The burns were so painful. SPF30 sunblock didn't help. Next time I'll use SPF100. If i can find any. is there such a thing? Hhmmmm.

Third Stop: Fort Cornwallis


Fort Cornwallis is a really old fort built in 1786 during the British colonial era, supposedly to protect Penang from being attacked by French (a big enemy) or Dutch (another big enemy) or other big shots (why do they like to make enemies so much?). But the first thing we saw was this Sepoy Hut with this mysterious tall, dark and handsome man. Hahaha. Adillah was teaching Suzan and I how to play congkak. Yes, I was born a Malaysian, raised up in Malaysia, lived my entire life here and YET have no clue how congkak is played. So memalufying.


The funny part was while they were playing, the other tourists there started watching them play and snapping photos of them playing. Overnight stardom :P

Then there were many galleries there with dozens of historical artifacts which the archaeologists found on exhibition there. There were also a great many charts with all the history of Penang, Syarikat Hindia Timur Inggeris (sorry, only know this in Malay)... and especially on Francis Light - where and when he got married, who he was married to, how many children, how many grandchildren, his parents, what they do for a living, who his wife remarried to after he died... seriously, you want to know Francis Light, go there.


Adillah and I went through the exhibition galleries pretty quick because it was like a Sejarah revision course all over again. Seen them all, read them all, and were even tested on them. And I hated Sejarah the most back in high school. Not so fascinating for us as it was for Suzan. We went to play masak-masak, while waiting for the princess to be done exploring the exhibition.


Brylcreem found among the artifacts?? Wah. Francis Light used Brylcreem.


Penjajah #1: Go bomb the lamp post! It's blocking the beautiful sight of the sea!
Penjajah #2: Ay-Ay captain! (turns to penjajah #3) You heard what the captain said! Destroy the lamp post!


Penjajah #3: Lerr.. sabar lerr. The cannon takes a while to load and warm up. Around 10 more minutes, ok?

Tak sempat bomb.


Penjajah #3: See.. ask you all to invest in machine gun, don't want to listen. Kan lebih senang.
Penjajah #1: No money mah.
Penjajah #2: Nevermind. Kita bersuka-ria bersama-sama di penjara (let's be happy together-gether in jail)!

Penang Invasion (Part 2)

Going through the pictures again one-by-one just made me realized that what Adillah said about my style of taking pictures is true. (1) I like to capture landscape pictures and (2) I like to take pictures senget (tilted). So when you come across any senget pictures, that would be me with the camera.

Anyway, we only visited the Botanical Garden on the first day since we arrived in Penang close to 3pm. Can't really go anywhere else since they would be mostly closed. We actually walked from the garden all the way to Gurney Drive for dinner, approximately an hour's walk (few kilometers). Burn calories to eat more calories. So no win, no loss.

The very next day...

Second Stop: Khoo Kongsi


Again, we walked from YMCA to Georgetown. Yes, we are nuts. Blame it on Monash air :P

But the air isn't as dirty or smokey as the ones we breathe in KL. We took probably almost two hours to find this place. Turning corner after corner, walking road after road. Asked some uncle for directions and he replied me in Hokkien much to my dismay. Had to send an urgent "S.O.S." signal to suzan via optical communication.

I would say the three of us were quite a good combination. Suzan understood and spoke Hokkien. Adillah, having been educated in Langkawi, understood the northern Malay accent. And I understood and spoke Mandarin. So in whatever language the locals reply, one of us would be able to manage. Unless of course, the person spoke to us in Tamil. Then we're in big trouble.


Basically, there are many kongsi's in Penang - Cheah, Yeoh, Lim, Tan, etc. These kongsi-kongsi are built by these clans - whereby the bigger it is, the more magnificent it is. The more magnificent it is, the more rich and glamour your clan is. The more rich and glamour your clan is, the higher your status. The higher your status, the more powerful you are.

In other words, kiasu lah.


The biggest and the most popular kongsi in Penang happens to be Khoo Kongsi. It is really huge. And really, really (I can't stress enough) difficult to find. There are 5 big halls - 3 of them were filled with furnitures, details of genealogy, history, items.. while the other two were infested with wooden signboards all over the walls detailing descendants of the clan and their achievements. The main hall has all the papan-papan nisan in there. Papan nisan made of gold... don't play-play.


Found this mural in the hallway just behind the main hall. Don't know if this picture actually tells a real story. There wasn't really a guide there though. It was more of a self-exploring kind of place. Hence we didn't spend much time here.


Some of the old buildings we saw on our way out. It's a long way in to the Khoo Kongsi main building from the entrance.

Penang Invasion (Part 1)

Well, it is our final year together. We, MUFYians and Monashians, decided that we just have to have a holiday trip together. You know.. do something together besides discussing assignments, reports, tests and more reports before they become all we ever talk about. Science students!

Talk about boring. Hahaa.

After much needed planning and research, in the end only Adillah, Suzan and I could make it for the Penang trip during the mid-sem break in April. Of course, we hop on the bus there and back. Nobody else knew how to drive except for me. I'd never wanna drive all the way there, around there and back here by myself. I need a break too! Have mercy!!

Anyway. Due to a case of unfortunate event (motherboard kaboom), I only managed to get the pictures few days ago. And there are tons of them. Which I will edit and post them up slowly.


We stayed in YMCA, which we paid around RM60+ each for 2 nights. Good deal? Cheap leh... that *points to the picture up there* was the view from our room. At least we didn't get some dirty back lane view. We're glad to report that the bed is clean, there is air-conditioning, no cockroaches (yay!), toilet bowl and toilet seat are intact, bathroom is well-litted, the TV has all six channels, and despite having three single beds already, there is plenty of room for 3 others to roll out their sleeping bags.

Yes, the room was that big.

First Stop: Penang Botanical Garden, otherwise known as monkey park.


Look! Suzan has a new friend. But seriously, that is just one of the hundreds of monkeys wandering freely in the park. As long as you don't provoke them, they will ignore you. Which was good. Except for this particular small mischievous Malay boy purposely shouting and throwing stuff at the monkeys and then hiding behind his parents from the furious monkeys with this frightened look on his face.

You'd think he'd learn his lesson and stopped at his mischievous antics there but no. After the monkey calmed down and walked away, this boy came out from his hiding place and shouted some more, infuriating it even more that a whole gang of monkeys ran towards all the homo sapiens nearby in a confrontational manner, thinking we're all threats. We walked quickly in the other direction, each praying to our own God that the monkeys won't follow us.

I have their distant relatives wandering in my backyard. No thanks to the construction of the KL-Putrajaya Highway which cleared the forest behind my house. there goes their home. Now they're the Los Lonely Monkeys.


This is how you show your love to the environment Adillah's way. Hahaa.


Each of these trees you see along the way as you walk through the garden has a small signpost with its common name, scientific name, characteristics and other details. So it is educational and maybe fascinating for people who come here.

For me, I've had enough of plant scientific names, purposes and uses when we did Agriculture & Biotechnology subject. It was more than a year ago but definitely was the most wayyyy hazardously overloaded with coursework subject ever. Plus, doing that subject alongside other hardcore subjects like Instrumental Analysis, Biochemistry and Health Physiology didn't help either. It was, by far, the worst and most nightmarish semester i've ever had. Ever. EVer. EVEr. EVER.


OK. The bad part about visiting this garden on weekdays was that all of the mini-gardens were all locked up. All we could do was see, point and marvel at the plants from the outside.


And take pictures outside. Since we can't go in. What great "fun".

Well, at least we need not worry about tripping over our own shoelaces, falling and landing our butts onto the cactus.


Goodness gracious. My fingers are so chubby... so non-pianist-like (long and lean). Who would ever believe that I actually play the piano with fingers like that? Unless, of course, they actually heard me play before. Sigh.

Come let us revise the whorls of a flower. From the outermost to the innermost - sepals, petals, stamens, carpel. Hehehe. That alone wouldn't help much in genetics finals.

That's it for day one.

Annoying things people do

on the road (when you're behind the wheel)
@ not signalling before cutting into your lane just three feet in front of you. ask them why and they might sheepishly mumble something under their breath about simply "i forgot" and being troublesome. hopefully not "ohhh. you mean that stick thing is for signalling?"

@ hogging two lanes.. being neither in one lane nor the other. and slow. making it entirely impossible to deduce which direction to overtake it and overtaking it itself.

@ tailing so close behind. it would be like his/her car is trying to kiss my car's rear end, and i'm desperately trying to save my car from being a victim of car-molest.

@ cuts in few feet in front of you from your right when you're already going fast with no intention to turn at this junction, and immediately brakes super hard to turn left. i swear this was the first time i thought i was going to be in a serious accident. my own neighbour did this to me. i don't know if he knows.

@ (traffic light's green) drives ever so slowly; (traffic light turns orange) suddenly speeds up like crazy; (traffic light's red) you are the one left behind waiting for it to turn green again.

@ parking their cars as though their great-grandfather owned the road.

@ driving their cars as though their great-grandmother owned the road.

@ don't look left, don't look right, just turn. yahhh, nyawa tu tak nak ke? gila.

@ turning a three-lane road to five lanes. others in the line have waited a fair share of their time in the traffic jam.. what makes you think you're above them? if you were running late, you should start your journey earlier. don't jump queue. line up and wait your turn.


on the road (when you're walking)
@ speed up when they notice that you're attempting to cross the road, then honk loudly when they have to brake for you (right!) as if it was your fault.

@ drive by dangerously near you, honking loudly to get your attention by shouting "aaahhhhhh mmmoooiii! mau pigi mana????", and flashing their cheesy miang hamsap nauseating smile at you when you glare at them. the trick is to never glare at them.


in the cinema
@ talking loudly with their friends or talking back to the screen. trying to be impressive? bleh. so un-cool.

@ mr. know-it-all-storyteller.. you know, the one who loudly (and proudly while at that) informs his family/friends what will happen next, who dies, etc. why bother coming if you already know the story. i didn't pay ten bucks to sit in the movie theater for you to narrate the story to me.

@ parents bringing kids to the movies for a 2-hour plus show. ok. i'm not against family outings to the movies. i would understand if it's shrek or lion king or finding nemo. what i don't understand is why do some even bother bringing kids as young as one or two-year-olds to watch spiderman or pirates of the carribean where..
(1) they won't understand a single thing that's going on (even i don't understand lord of the rings, you think they would?)
(2) it's a freaking long movie. with a short attention span kids have, you can't expect them to be able to sit still for long right?
(3) scary monsters/creatures (like those seen in pirates) would definitely send a child trembling in fear and crying with nightmares, rather than giggling with glee at their utter cuteness.

@ even if you must bring, please at least make sure that your child...
(1) don't go and massage-scratch-whack other people's head, kick the chair, pull their hair... can have traumatic head injuries and concussion one you know.
(2) is able to sit still and quiet for that long. but i highly doubtlah. it's not wrong. it's not their fault. they're just kids.
(3) is not afraid of the dark that once the lights go off, the baby choir starts.


phone calls
@ call you via the house phone after 10pm when he/she very well has my handphone number.

@ refuses to hang up the phone even though i keep reminding him that i was eating my dinner and had more IMPORTANT (stress that word) stuff to do than keep him entertained just because he was bored and had nothing to do. firstly, it's not my job to entertain you because i'm not your girlfriend. secondly, how good can his prospect be to be a boyfriend if all he does is ignore and dismiss whatever you say as if they're insignificant, acts as though he's the most important in my life, and giggling all the way with no respect for me? zero. immature.


life is as interesting as it gets. i can tell you that this list will never end... any other suggestions?

A Milkzardous Experience

i knew i was somewhat lacto-intolerant.

my mom is lacto-intolerant. the chineses are known to be lacto-intolerant.

but all this while, i thought my intolerance level was rather mild because the worst i've only gotten so far was bloating and slight stomachache.

wrong!

this morning i was sort of running late for the morning lecture. so i decided to skip my usual morning breakfast before leaving for college - one big mug of hot milo and banana.

i arrived in college hungry. off to the cafeteria. bought milk and drank it to make my stomach happy or at least content. or so i thought lah. smart, right?

mana tau my stomach hates milk so much. felt its fury the whole day long, with the intensity adding on each minute. major bloating, major queasiness, major stomachache, on and off stomach cramps, nausea, big headache and running with fever...

could barely do anything but talk in the lab (like what i do in every lab session, hahaa). was trying to distract my mind from the pain and aches by talking my head off. i think those i hang out with everyday would probably notice me talking rubbish so much these days. now you know why.

super lacto-intolerant. man.

milk. so milkzardous for health.

thy name is daesi. from this day forth, milk thy shall consume no longer.