Super Star Gemini: Penang.

It has been a while since I last visited Penang. On this trip, I really want to go and have some Penang hawker food. So, we signed up for a shopping tour that would bring us to a hawker centre as well.

The tour started with a visit to the second Penang bridge which was completed last year in March. Not many drivers use this bridge because it is twice the length of the first bridge!

Start of the second bridge.

Could the crooked bridge proposed by Mr. Mahathir have looked like this?

Back to Penang islang using the first bridge. Big difference in road traffic.

We made a stop at Queensbay Mall. I like this huge shopping mall more than the ones at Gurney. Definitely, I prefer this to Prangin Mall which was messy and reminded me of People's Park Complex in Singapore.

Queensbay Mall

Police post outside the mall.

Don't buy too much here in Penang if you are going to Langkawi (which is duty free).

Inside the mall.

Of course, the tour bus would stop at some tourist traps. I didn't buy anything from them this time.

Penang hawker food next!

Penang Fried Kway Teow!

Assam Laksa!

Prawn Mee! They call it Hokkien Mee.

We have our own name for this but they call it Lor Bak in Penang.

Wanton Mee is different from Singapore's but I like it. RM4.00. Cheap!

Now, you know another reason why I went to the gym (while on the cruise) twice. Sedap! Burp!

Related post:
Star Cruise to Penang and Phuket.

Scenes from Penang.

This is something we don't see in Singapore: a truck selling cut fresh fruits just like any fruit store in a food centre!

The yellow vehicle is cute but the photo was taken to capture the parking meter and the phone booths, things we do not see in Singapore anymore:

We were told that the trishaws are kings of the roads. They could go even if the traffic light was red and all vehicles had to stop for them! As good as an ambulance or fire engine!

 Here, we see proof of how the trishaws in Penang are truly kings of the roads:

 Going through Chinatown. See the quaint cobblestone road?

 This is truly amazing! Delivering LPG on a bike!

 My laps. ;-p

 A Buddhist temple in Penang:

And we thought a $10 haircut in Singapore is cheap! It's RM15 (S$6.50) in Penang and my dad could not resist getting a haircut there:

Star Cruise to Penang and Phuket.

I was just sorting through my SD cards when I found one which has some travel photos and videos taken while I was on holiday on the Super Star Virgo some time ago. Nice memories and I would like to share some of these. I could just plonk these in my investment blog, ASSI, but since I am trying to declutter that blog, I started a new blog for these:

This is the ship's pool deck with their new water slide:

Penang's Cruise Centre which was still under construction on this trip:

 

A spanking new mall, Queensbay Mall:

 

A must whenever I visit Penang is a visit to this shop to buy Nutmeg Oil, which is good for muscle aches, headaches and stomach aches. Apparently, Penang makes the best Nutmeg Oil, being home to vast nutmeg plantations. My Malaysian friends tell me to only buy Nutmeg Oil from Penang and not Melaka:

These were the tenders which ferried us between the ship and Penang. Now, it's no longer necessary as the cruise centre in Penang has been completed and cruise ships could dock next to the cruise centre. So, passengers could just walk down a ramp from the ship to go on land. My parents and I used the new cruise centre when we took the same ship to Penang earlier this year.

Our ship, Super Star Virgo, as taken through the window of a tender on our way back to the ship:

A beautiful sunrise as we got into Phuket, which was a lot more fun than Penang:

Plenty of these wooden boats with propellars on very long shafts in Patong Beach:

 Taxis or "tut-tuts" in Phuket:

Lunch in Phuket Town, authentic "Pat Tai":

Nothing like a cool glass of coconut juice topped with succulent coconut flesh in the sweltering afternoon heat.  Guess what? It was only 60c a glass! I had 4 glasses!

Patong Beach in the late afternoon:

Very reassuring. The Thais are ready if a tsunami ever hits again:

Beautiful, isn't it?

Makes me wanna pack my bags and go off on a holiday again.
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