the sweetest PAST. the crumbled PRESENT. the uncertain FUTURE.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Weekend Trip to Penang =)

Been counting down to this long weekend from weeks ago. 4 days to throw work out of the window and just eat to our tummies' fill. What more do you expect from a trip to Penang?

Shall let the pictures tell the story:-

Masked for protection.

Rented this lau pok car, which cost 80RM a day. Had a laugh driving it, especially whenever we needed to wind down the 'semi-automatic' driver-side window.

Rojak is good stuff - or maybe I was just so hungry.

'Ban Mee' - There's a choice of flat or round noodles, served with dark sauce and shredded black fungus.

Afternoon treat: Steamed yam cake. Now, this is heavenly! Classic example of simplicity is beauty.

Took an accidental detour across the Penang Bridge.

Super heavy traffic.

Dessert before the main course at 9pm at night - There's my fave Almond, Red Bean soup, 8 treasures dessert and 4 fruits something (pardon the direct translation).

And now... The main course! Mee Tai Mak Th'ng with something like Soy Sauce Chicken - That chicken is succulent and juicy, cooked just right. And when dipped into that chilli sauce? Man!

There were 4 halves of boiled egg in dark sauce too - Not a big fan of hard boiled egg but hey, anything goes with the dark sauce and chilli. =p

Penang version of kway chap - The kway is rolled up instead of in sheets like in Singapore. And strangely, it tastes good like this!

A close-up shot of my Almond 'soup' with freshly fried, crispy and thin you cha kway (fried doughsticks) - Don't think I've tried anything as crispily thin and fried just right as this one.

Day 2 breakfast - Dim sum. This huge stall works 'canteen' style in the sense that you get a tray and pick whatever you want to eat, then pay later when you're done eating.

The HK style chee chong fan and the crumbly egg tarts are simply fantastic! In fact, I loved it so much that I 'begged' to return here for our final day breakfast. =p

That's the weekend crowd at 9plus am on a Sunday morning.

Made a trip up to Penang Hill via the 45degree tram in the late afternoon.

See that speck of white just between the 1st and 2nd flag poles? Yeap, that's the tram.

Ran into the train headed downhill twice on our way up. Wonder how they built this thing. Impressive engineering, I must say.

There's a tunnel mid way uphill too.

Welcome to the cool windy Penang Hill.

Do as tourists do - Take a photo with the life-sized 'model' of the tram.

Hindu temple with intricate architecture at the top of the hill.

Headed to Gurney Drive - another must-visit place for tourists - for our dinner/ supper. Fortunately/ unfortunately for us, it was a rainy night, so there wasn't much of a crowd to jostle with.

This Orh Luak doesn't seem to be the famous one judging from the lack of queue, but nevertheless, the taste is just so delicious and so different from the fave stall at Chomp Chomp!

Assam Laksa! Hmm.. Not a great version - didn't tingle my taste buds enough.

Nutmeg and Lime drink - My guide commented that the nutmeg is too diluted. I still like the taste though.

Da bao-ed Muah Chee back for dessert. Penang style have fried shallots on it. Gives it a salty-sweet taste. Hmm. Unique and I kinda like it!

Day 3 - Slept through breakfast and headed to this famous duck rice kopidiam for lunch. Waited AGES and the service was biased towards the wealthier businessmen. Got a little grumpy partially due to the hunger.

Almond Drink - only took a photo of this cuz just tucked into the food straight when it finally arrived.

Drove to Air Hitam side to visit Kek Lok Si temple. Came to the conclusion that religious people love to build their religious buildings on top of hills and mountains probably to test the devotion of their believers.

Different style of architecture from the temples visited in Tibet, HK, Taiwan and Japan. The basics remain though - like 8-storied pagodas in the sprawling grounds.

Impressive prayer hall carvings - plated in gold.

Always a good view from the top.

Strangely and interestingly, the good folk at the temple seem to have commissioned cute animals/ cartoons as benches for the weary to rest their buttocks on. Take a look:-

The Panda

Mickey Mouse - They have Minnie Mouse as well.

Donald Duck!

Thought I spotted a not-so-accurate version of Winnie the Pooh but didn't snap a pic of that.

Next up, took an inclined lift to see the newly commissioned 120feet Guan Yin Statue, housed by an 8-sided pavillion still midway in construction.

Tickets.

The pavillion was still covered in scaffolding with a tower crane at the side heaving materials here and there.

Coming down from the temple, my guide brought us to have the famous Assam Laksa just a 5min walk away.

This version is so much better than the one we had the previous night.

Seeking respite from the heat with a bowl of lime and sea coconut. 2.50RM seems a tad bit expensive though.

Food's prepared bare-handed (is there such a word?) on a 'push-cart' along the street and served on make-shift metal-top tables and stools. I'm sure the Singapore Health Ministry would jump if they ever come across a stall like this in Singapore. But hey, the food's good!

Someone ordering take-away.

Headed to Gurney Plaza to catch a couple of movies and to hide from the unbearable heat. Eyes lit up when my guide pointed out an A&W restaurant on the 2nd level of the complex! Made a beeline for the place immediately. =p

Good ole Root Beer Float served in an A&W mug. =)

Yeap, I'm absolutely delighted with the find. Kinda brings back memories of the good ole Secondary school days when A&W was just a lift ride away.

Of course, what's A&W without their famous curly fries? Hehe.

Caught 'On His Majesty's Secret Service' and 'The Proposal' back to back. The former was a nutcase of a movie which provided loads of brainless laughter, while the later was a romantic comedy, starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. Quite like how the family theme was woven into the storyline and how the old gammie was a blast!

Day 4 breakfast - Dim Sum =)

Tried a couple of new stuff, along with the Chee Chong Fan and the Egg Tarts.

Close up shot of Chee Chong Fan - version 1. You take the plain (white) stuff pipping hot out of a big bamboo steamer and lavish as much soy sauce on it as you want from a kettle, followed by the shallots and the fragrant chilli. Scrumptious. Miss it already. =p

And then, there's this other Chee Chong Fan-like thing, stuffed with chicken (I think), but comes without the copious amount of sauce and chilli. I just mixed it with the version 1 above and woffed both down. ;p

Saw the shrimps in this dim sum and just decided to try it. Have no idea what's it called, but it's definitely to our liking!

Drove about town picking up boxes of various versions of Tamban Biscuits, Tau Sar Piah and Almond Cookies for mommy-dearest. Took less time than we expected and the Sun was maddeningly hardworking, so we nipped over to another famous Teochew Chendol stall for another style of Chendol.

No tables, just chairs, so we had our chendol standing up. Kinda like this sort of back-to-basics thing.

Couldn't take the heat and the temptation of shopping during M'sia's Mega Sale, so decided to head back to Gurney Plaza to check out the bargains. Kept coming across these 'Rest N Go' massage chairs both in Queensbay Mall and Gurney, so decided to give it a try.

Pretty shiok 3mins for 1RM.

Well. 4 days passed in a flash just like that and it was time to head back to Singapore.

Nevertheless, enjoyed the trip despite the sore throat/flu/phlegm and definitely will head back to Penang for the food!

josh, signin off.

Labels: food, travel

02:10;
- vagabond -

Thursday, June 25, 2009

2nd Attempt at Conquering Mount Kinabalu

That's right, folks. After last year's brush with bad weather on the KK trip/ Mount K climb, I found myself back in KK again over the weekend plus 2 days' leave on my 2nd visit to Mount Kinabalu in "the land below the winds".

A couple of changes. First up, the Trekkers' Lodge that my friends and I stayed in previously is undergoing renovation work:

Being a working adult now on a trip, the different bunch of people whom I went on this trip with decided to stay at Ang's Hotel, located just opposite where Trekkers' Lodge used to be. The classic lift at Ang's Hotel:

Don't be fooled by it's ancient look. The sliding gate is as smooth as it can be and the system is from Schindler!

Went for lunch to pacify our roaring tummys after checking in at the hotel. The guys led us on a long walk to this old coffeeshop where we had some traditional Sabah noodles (sorry, forgot the name):

We had a choice of dry/soup, mee/ kway teow/ beehoon. 5 of us sitting at the same table ordered kway teow without much delay, but were left wondering why our orders took ages to come when the guys at the other table were already hungrily tucking into their food. The reason? The shop has run out of kway teow and the owner had sent someone to the market nearby to get.

The long-awaited kway teow:

Close-up of the pork meat soup:

Tired out from the early flight, we then trooped back to our hotel to catch a few winks.

Evening.

Woke up refreshed from a 2 hours nap. Walked about a little and snapped a couple of shots before our magic school bus came to pick us up:

Our magic school bus, complete with friendly and smiley bus driver, which comfortably fitted all 13 of us:

The friendly uncle even drove us to a couple of sightseeing places before dropping us off at 1borneo, the largest shopping centre in KK.

Our steady photographer:

@tmosphere:

Climbing Day.

Woke up at like 7am, just in time to take a quick shower and change into our climbing gear. Had an unusual breakfast on the 2 hour bus ride to Mount K National Park HQ:

What's that? That's bah kwah with charcoal bread, courtesy of Chin Lee. The combination tastes pretty good together I must say.

Upon reaching the HQ, we had our toilet breaks, put on our deep heat, snapped a couple of shots and collected our lunches before getting on another bus which took us to Timpohon Gate, the starting point of our accent up Mount Kinabalu.

The 13 of us had a total of 3 guides/porters, the ratio of guides to climbers being 1: 6. Auntie Ann and our very cool lead guide, Roudy:

We were blessed with good weather this time round and it was a warm, sunny hike up to Laban Rata, with the exception of a light drizzle towards the top:

Taking a rest at one of the Pondoks (aka huts) along the way:

Even with the comfortable weather, it was a tiring hike which requires mental strength to keep pushing yourself onwards When we finally heard CL's voice and looked up to see her smiley face when we were all wondering when we will reach Laban Rata, all 3 of us broke into a wide-faced grin:

"So GLAD to see you, CL!"

A couple of us were not used to the high altitude (Laban Rata is at 3000+m above sea level) and experienced splitting headaches and nausea. Luckily for me, I guess previous experience and the slow accent helped and I was alternating between grabbing a few bites and heading to the balcony area to snap photos of the beautiful sunset:

Tried to turn in early for the night as we had to set off for our summit bid at 2.30am in the morning, but the high altitude and thin walls which made every movement up and down the corridor irritatingly clear caused us to sleep fitfully.

Still, we had no problems getting out of bed at 1+am to get ready for our summit climb. Getting ready for the summit basically involves putting on layers of clothes that you hope would keep your body warm, in addition to donning headlights and glowsticks for visibility.

Top: 2 t-shirts, 1 vaude windproof jacket and 1 wind/rainproof kailas jacket;

Bottom: 1 running shorts, 1 3-quarter pants and 1 long trekking pants;

Hands: 1 pair of white cotton gloves and 1 pair of black (army market) gloves over;

Head: Beanie from Daiso;

Feet: Trekking socks and trekking boots from China.

Brought: Trusty black Urban waistpouch with waterproofed valuables inside and trusty green nalgene bottle, mini first-aid kit and Canon SX100is camera hooked on the waist strap. Slung the combination across my body, sling bag style.

Group shot before heading off:

The start of the summit trail up Mount Kinabalu consisted of a series of wooden ladders and rocks, all the way til Sayat-Sayat Hut, the final checkpoint and the highest mountain hut at3810m above sea level, where the true edge of the tree-line is reached. First to reach the hut:

The trail continued upwards on with granite slabs, some parts requiring use of the thick white rope to pull yourself as you walk up the 70degrees surface. Following the steep ascent was a comfortable walk upslope, all the way to the summit where the trail became a series of 'stacked' rocks again. Lost sight of CL as the energetic one surged ahead to the summit. Walked on and chatted with Petros, one of our 3 guides along the way up.

I guess the true challenge lies in pushing yourself forward as the higher altitude meant less oxygen which makes one feel sleepy. The trick is not to stop and rest for too long, else it will be harder to start your engine again.

Was the 2nd in our group to reach the peak and caught the start of the sunrise - the orangy lightening of the horizon:

That's us, Team V people on the summit of Mount Kinabalu:

And this is me, in a must-take photo at Low's Peak, 4095.91m above sea level:

Video at the Summit:

Petros and myself:

And here's CL, looking totally adorable:

Love the background:

CL and myself with the ultra cool Roudy:

Spent about 1 hour plus at the summit despite the frozen fingers.

Snapped even more photos of the beautiful landscape as we headed back down to Laban Rata:

It was pretty scary heading back down the 70degrees steep portion though, especially since your legs might feel like jelly at this point.

Relief, upon reaching Laban Rata:

It was a torturous 5hour hike down from Laban Rata though, no thanks to the rain which caught us about 1/3 our way down. The knees were complaining and the rocks were slippery. Couldn't afford to stop and rest for long, else the legs won't listen anymore. Reached Timpohon Gate where we started our Mount K bid, cold and weary, but with a sense of achievement, especially having carried my own load up and down.

Had a (lousy) lunch/dinner as we had effectively missed the scrumptious buffet lunch included in our package. Knocked out as the magic school bus ferried us back to our hotel for the night.

Last photo at the airport:

Wonder when shall I head back there again? Would love to take the Mesilau trail once again. Have already fallen in love with the beautiful scenery and the fresh fresh mountain air.

josh, signin off.

Labels: mountain climbing, travel

11:24;
- vagabond -