Penang Hill & Road Trip with BFFs

Our initial plan for a day trip to Haatyai and Langkawi were scrapped.
The other plan to hike to Muka Head (Pantai Keracut) was also scrapped due to Cheng Beng season. Don't want to have the encounter with the 3rd kind la.

Instead, we decided to hike up Penang Hill on Sunday, 4/4.

We started our hike inside Botanical Garden and used the steps trail. I has been many donkey years since my last pg hill hike.
I looked up at the endless dirt steps and took a deep breath as I was about to climbed the first step to begin my journey. I secretly thought to myself, what have I got myself into?
I aimed to gain 5 kg this month and I am nowhere close to my target and now this?
Maybe 5 kg lighter after this....

Thanks to Cheryl who brought a bunch of bananas and some muesli bars to snack at the top.

Finally, we made it to no. 84 and coffee is served !! Oh, at No. 46, we had cool Pandan water, super refreshing.
They said that the coffee here taste better and I have got no change to taste it until NOW. It must be the natural spring water from the mountain they used to make the coffee. The coffee tasted SO GOOD here and it's FREE.

We thanked the coffee uncle for his delicious coffee on our way down. Uncle replied in hokkien, please donate if it's nice. We did already dropped a couple of dollars each to the
"coffee foundation" and may the best coffee remain.

Kopi-O face.

Kopi-O cheers !

*****************************


The next day after breakfast, me and cheryl decided to head down to Langkawi.
It's gonna be a day trip. If we miss the last ferry, then we could just get a motel for the night and return the next day. Adventure....

Just do it !

This is one of my breakfast in the morning besides a plate of char koay teow.
Roti Taiwan. A thick slice of bangali roti spread with 1 inche of butter, peanut butter and coated with ground peanuts.
Sinfully rich. I like it !

So we started our journey at about 12 pm and reached Kuala Kedah Ferry Terminal at precisely
1.37 pm. As we were walking towards the terminal, I joked "imagine the ferry just left when we reached to terminal, hahaha...."

Cheryl wasn't too amused....think positive, practice 'The Secret' remember ?"

Well, THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED when we reached the ticketing counter. We MISSED the ferry by 7 minutes !! and the next one is at 3pm !

Aiya, I thought that if we drove extra 2 km p/hr faster, maybe we could reach on time lor.....

PLAN B.....actually, we don't have plan B. We asked the parking guy what is nice here and
got a blank look in return.

Stupid question.

What is interesting in Kedah or Perlis besides padi fields ? After much thought, the parking guy told us that there's a famous laksa just down the road and suggested we visit Gunung Keriang.

So here we are, at the famous laksa place cam-whoring with a plate of hard boiled eggs. It's a hot and scorching sunny day in the middle of nowhere waiting for our laksa Kedah.

Laksa finally arrived. It was good but not great la. The soup is rather mild for my standard. Maybe I'm used to our Penang Assam Laksa, very intense flavour.

Close-up look at my Laksa Kedah. Looks appetizing, eh ?
So we continue our journey to Gunung Keriang and saw the the Padi Museum signboard on the way. Actually, Gunung Keriang and the museum is just nearby.
The Padi Museum is smack in the middle of hectares and more hectares of padi fields. It's in the middle of nowhere.

Inside the museum. An anatomy of our humble rice grain. Nice !

We headed up to the spiral staircase, excited to see what is up there. Looks like we are inside Gunung Keriang.

At the top, we did not expect to see a MASSIVE 360 degree mural. It's one of the largest in the country. The spiral staircase ends in the middle of the gallery and the scene as if you are standing on top of Gunung Keriang unfolds around you.
Super Happy.
Apart from the mural at Pudu jail painted by the inmates, I have never seen mural this huge before.

Feels good to be on top of the world...looks real or not ?

This is how I would look like if I'm a padi farmer.

My last day

31 March 2010 was my last working day at the Bank.

I recalled vividly on 14th May 2003, I packed my bags and left home for the very first time to work. Accompanied by mum and dad, we stayed with 2nd aunt in Klang.
Due to the short notice, if it's not for 2nd aunt and a good friend of mine who offered me a place to overnight during my 1st interview, I wouldn't have landed here.

And stayed on for the next 7 years (6 years and 9.5 months to be exact).

2nd aunt was generous enough to offer me the entire apartment to stay and her driver to drive me to work on my first day. I couldn't thanked her enough.
And because her apartment is just walking distance to her main house, I would go back there to have dinner with her and the rest of the family.

And they said, the rest is history.

I have grown so much with the Bank, but change is inevitable.

It is time for me to move on.

Felt a tinge of sadness, as I shut down my PC for the very last time and walked towards the exit door. I glanced back for one last look at the place I spent 10 hours a day for the past 7 years, took a deep breath and as I pulled the door lever to exit.

A little bit of chinese drama is intended over here.

Glad that a colleague of mine brought his camera and we took some photos on my last day for nostalgic reason.



Michelle was my good 'neighbour' in our 'semi-D house for about 2 years. We migrated to another sitting position 2 months ago. Used to joke that she was my next door neighbour, then become neighbourhood neighbour and finally become different 'town' when I shifted to different floor.

This is no longer our workstation, but we just sat there and pretend like the good ol' times when we were once neighbours. I know the workstation is messy cos it's not my place anymore. My actual place can be worse don most days of the month.


My good friends at the office. I will miss you all.