Penang 5D4N Getaway: Part 2 - Spice Garden, Helena's Cafe, Living Room Cafe Bar & Gallery

Kicked start our 2nd day bright and early! Since we didn't took breakfast in the hotel, we went out searching for some food first. Stopped for roti prata along one of the shop houses, about 3 minutes walk away. 

Mr Lin with his roti prata :)

Started raining heavily so we went back to the hotel to hide awhile from the rain.

First plan of the day was Tropical Spice Garden (which was listed #1 attraction on TripAdvisor). It's quite a distance from Georgetown, so we need to take Bus 101 from Komtar Bus Terminal (10 minutes walk from Hotel). The whole journey will take about an hour half to reach so you can enjoy the scenery along the way (or sleep).

You will be able to recognize the garden as many cars will park outside. You can just ask the bus driver to drop you right in front of the entrance.

At the Tropical Spice Garden

Each person cost RM35 (inclusive of entrance fee & guided tour). I strongly recommend guided tour as the guides are knowledgeable and you really can learn a few new things. 

The Tropical Spice Garden
Lone Crag Villa, Lot 595 Mukim 2, 
Jalan Teluk Bahang, 
11100 Penang, Malaysia

It's about 1 hour tour and after that we make our way back to Batu Ferringhi for lunch. Initial plan was to eat at The Living Room Cafe and Gallery. However, they're closed for the day so we dropped by Helena's Cafe (right beside only). 

They served mainly Indian cuisine, of course satay and penang food are also available. 

 

Our lunch, satay, Tandoori chicken and fries. 

The curry for the Tandoori chicken is homemade and awesome! I super like. Thick and fragrant. The satay comes with big chunks of chicken, unlike those in Singapore. Small pieces of meat with lots of fats. Ohh, it's actually ranked #5 on TripAdvisor. :) Not too bad, reasonably priced, will be back for other food too! :)

Helena's Cafe
43B Jalan Batu Ferrenghi | opp Yahong Gallery, 
Batu Ferringhi, 
Penang Island, Malaysia 

Took Bus 101 back to Georgetown as the rain keeps coming. Took a break before we leave for the Living Room Cafe again. Do take note that the traffic is quite bad in the evening time, so our bus ride was longer as compared to morning. 

We were quite lucky that we do not need to wait too long for a seat. That's the good thing about traveling as couples! *YAY!* 

Cosy atmosphere, and the furniture used are some old sewing machines and tables are craved straight from the wood. There's a live band that night, but I'm not too sure whether they're always there or happened to be performing that night. 

 Satay again! :) The sauce is slightly more watery.

Our sumptuous dinner :)

We ordered a stirred fried mixed vegetables and a thai-styled fried dory fish. The fish is quite similar to the normal Fish 'N' Chips, but it's the sauce that really make it very appetizing! :) We spent about RM49.90 for this meal. I would say it's slightly more expensive compared to the street food, and rest assured that freshness is guaranteed! 

Just so you know, The Living Room cafe is ranked #1 on TripAdvisor! :):):)

This is definitely my favorite shot at the cafe. 

The lighting just blend nicely with our smiles! *LOVE!*

The Living Room Cafe & Gallery

43 C Batu Ferringhi, 

Batu Ferringhi, 

Penang Island 11100, Malaysia

After dinner, you can continue walking towards the Holiday Inn Hotel, and right in front is the Batu Ferringhi Night Market. It's similar to our Singapore Pasar Malum, selling clothes and "branded" bags, etc.

Bus-ed back to our hotel, and we called it a day. Slow day, but it was definitely interesting because we sort of asked our way through the bus route and also getting all confused because the arrival time on the bus app is not quite accurate. *LOL!*

I guess that's what make budget traveling so adventurous.You don't know whether this bus you're taking is correct until maybe the bus driver make a turn and went into some wulu place. Of course, safety is number one, so make sure you're traveling with someone you can trust. 

I know I can count on my boy to bring me back safely. :):):)

Penang 5D4N Getaway: Part 1 - Arrival

:) This was a last minute trip as Mr. Lin needs to clear his leave before embarking on another new job. Initial plan was to drive up to Port Dickson and laze around at the beach side. But we decided to change to Penang as we heard lots of good feedback from friends. 

We got our air tickets from Jetstar Asia during their Friday Frenzy Sale. Return trip cost us $226.44 for 2 pax with checked in baggage. Definitely cheap cheap! :)

It was an evening flight, departing 6:55pm and arriving around 8:20pm. So we can't plan much for the 1st night. 

 On board flight, waiting for the plane to take off! :) 

PS: It's been a long time since we our last trip together, just the both of us. So we're very excited!

Upon arrival, we found an airport taxi which cost us RM44.70 to get to Georgetown. It's about 20 minutes drive from the airport (depending on traffic) to our hotel stay at Sunway Hotel Georgetown, which was just newly renovated

I definitely recommend this hotel because of it's location and also there's a night market just outside the hotel. The night market has one of the best street food there. :)

After settling in with our stomach crumbling, we made our way down to the street market. 

Lots of local food there, Chee Cheong Fan, Wan Tan Mee, Poh Piah, Fried Carrot Cake, etc

 Something light first, egg pancake. Nothing fancy, taste so-so

The poh piah has different fillings as compared to Singapore's. Here the auntie add mashed tofu together with the normal poh piah must haves. The overall taste is good, soft tofu and crunchy peanuts together!

Most of the shops and malls are closing so we didn't explore much. Right after the supper, we turned in for the night as we wanted to kick start early the next day! 

Spice Garden on the list! :)

2天1夜马六甲之旅

Weekends are indeed precious nowadays. Especially when you have to face your boss' angry tone everyday at work! Shall not complain about it, cause this is supposed to be a happy post! ^_^!!!

Early March, the Dearies' planned a 2D1N Meleka trip just for a short getaway (from W.O.R.K!).

Plan for the trip: EAT. SLEEP. PLAY. RELAX. NO-WORK!!!

Since there are 9 of us, we decided to coach down instead of driving there. We booked our coach tickets from 5 Stars, $50/pax return tickets. Our 1-night stay is at Hatten Hotel, which is besides the Mahkota Parade Square. Very easily accessible to different parts of Melaka. :) 

We booked a 2-bedroom suite for RM$715.40 (all inclusive for 4 breakfasts, service and hotel tax). Quite worth it as each of us only pay about RM$80 for it. The room is quite big and can fit us all in and sleep comfortably!

The Living Room - Spacious 

The Master bedroom & twin bedroom

The splendid view of Melaka with the sea in front of us :)

By the time we are settled in, our stomachs are growling like mad. It's like 3 pm in the afternoon so it's too early for Jonker Walk to open, thus we decided to settle our lunch nearby. Directly across our hotel is a Korean Restaurant: Daorae Korean BBQ Restaurant.

The place looks quite like a authentic Korean shop, with people sitting on the floor like the tatami style. They have this huge exhaust thing about the table to suck all the smoke from the BBQ-ing.

BBQ-ing all the meat! *SINFUL!* The usual side dishes from any Korean restaurant.

Dearies looking happy after going hungry for so long! ^_^!

We ordered the typical Korean food like BBQ pork slices, marinated beef, tteokbokki, kimchi stew, stir-fried glass noodles (on the house from the manager ^^). Initially thought we ordered just nice for everyone, but turn out that the food portion is super big that we couldn't finished all the food.

After lunch, we went back to Mahkota Parade to shop around and digest our food. We found the famous Nadeje Crepe! HAHAHA! I missed it on my last trip so was really glad to finally giving it a try! :)There's so many flavors to choose and we just couldn't decide on it. ^_^! In the end, we bought 7 slices and the rest were giving me a O.O!! look! HAHAHA! Anyway, those for meant for our desserts cause we were too full! :):):)

Before our trip, we  saw on TV about this rotating  observation tower that offers the bird eye view of Melaka. It's just across the road from Mahkota and because the weather is super hot, we bought our tickets to relax up there. It costs RM$20/pax.

Bird eye view of Melaka, from different views.

It only took about 5 minutes and we're up at the top. :) 

Christchurch is next on the list! :) That's also another iconic feature in Melaka and it's just about 10 minutes walk from the Observation Tower. Notice that we walked around rather than cabbing. :):):)

It was still quite early for Jonker Walk. Only some stalls are setting up, so we went to the 三叔公 to hide away from the HEAT! A cold drink for everyone and also candy-crushing! ^^ It's really funny cause everyone is holding their own phone and starts asking for requests.

Lots of interesting stuff along the street, food, bags, some local products, etc. Just spent a while to take a look at some of the stalls and you'll see some of the really old school things.

Ate some street food and we went on for our dinner: Satay Celup! It was a mad queue so we decided to forgo it and went ahead for desserts! We're still full from the afternoon lunch too! -_-" 

Our 1st dessert cum dinner for the night! :) 

This dessert shop is just a few shops away from the satay celup and since we're still feeling hot from the weather, a big bowl of ice sounds good to us! We ordered a 6-pax mixed fruits ice and managed to finish everything! ^_^!!!

More food from the second day, woke up early to queue for the chicken rice balls! :) And of course before leaving Melaka, a bowl of Chendol is a MUST! :)

Dearies' 1st overseas trip after graduation! (Or maybe after everyone starts to work?) :)

Looking forward to our next trip: Phuket? My all-time favorite beach getaway! :)

1st "overseas" trip with Qianwen! :)

As promised, here's a brief post on my first Batam trip with Qianwen! :) 

We got this package from the Deals.com (again!) and it's quite convenient caused I can make our hotel reservation & ferry booking via online. Save me a lot of time, just need to reply email here and there! :)

Booked our room at Harris @ Batam Center, which is just 5 minutes walk from the Ferry Terminal. So it's quite safe for us girls to navigate to and fro the terminal. Opposite our hotel is the Mega mall, so we can go shop anytime we like! *HOHO!* 

It's a real getaway because not much we can do there. And it's not like both of us can just grab a cab and move around. Anyway, the surprise we had on this trip was met my colleague in the supermarket! *LOL!* 

We got invited by them out for dinner with their whole gang and after that went in search for a nightclub. HAHAHA! Seriously, this is the first time I went overseas to a nightclub. Nothing fancy just a place with live band and beer. 

HAHAHAHA! Lots of laughter in the van, and best of all, we made some new friends that night! :)

:) Now I can't wait for July trip with Qianwen again! It's going to be purely a SHOPPING SPREE! LOL!

Memorable Weekend

Super packed weekend! Or should I say my weekend started since Thursday? :)

Thursday: Checked in chalet - Work - RWS party - back to chalet - Sleep

Friday: Wake up (almost late for work!) - Work - FULL OF ISSUES! - Chalet (to collect the BBQ food & grabbed some 15 minutes of power nap! *SHIOK!*

Started the evening BBQ when colleagues started to arrive. Lucky we prepared earlier if not 大家 is going to get super hungry! And surprisingly I don't feel hungry at all (must be all the smoke). I didn't ate anything at all. HAHAHA! Wii-ed with the kids and after that mahjong-ed till wee hours. I'm not the one playing, I'm the scorer. Sleeping, watching MI:4 and getting 吵醒 every time the guys finished 1 round. -_-""

Slept at 4am. Woke up at 4 hours later from the insistent loud knocking on the door! *AHHHHHH!*

Just don't understand why the guys can wake up and watch TV when they only slept for 4 hours only?! Anyway, went back to sleep and lucky Mr Lin called and gave me a morning call so that I can prepare for check out! :)

Checked out at 10am and rushed down to Harbor-front to catch our ferry to Batam! First trip overseas (literally) with BFF! ^_^!!! Lucky Mr Lin fetched me down cause I was running late.

Batam trip started and it was a enjoyable 2D1N with BFF & some new friends! Funny bunch of friends and I'm really envious of them! :) 

Shall post more on the trip in the next post! :)

What an adventure! ^_^!!!

Just came back from Malacca! Indeed, this is the first trip that I encountered so many adventures! Some good, some bad, some scary! *LOL!*

:) A walk into the Christ Church, Melaka

1st adventure: Drove straight into the Police Station

We rented a car (Proton Persona) so that we can navigate easier around and also to find some good places for food besides of the City. Unfortunately, it was a last minute decision, thus only left with Protons. Once we gotten our car, we decided to go back to the Hotel first to sleep a bit more before making our way down to A'Famosa (Water World) since it's quite a long journey. I set my Goggle Map on iPhone and set off but it seems like the road from Google Map is short-cut and in actual fact we aren't allow to pass through. Thus, we ended driving into the Police station! >.<""

2nd adventure: Reversed cars are DANGEROUS!

I had my first car accident! O.O!!! Yeah, my clean record is now NOT CLEAN! :'( I almost scared the car park attendant to death. But then her expression made me laugh till the stomach dropped! O.O!!! Anyway, lucky Mr Lin is alright, and no one is injured, but the poor car has some scratches on top of it.

>.<"" Quite a bad scratch and till now still feeling guilty for causing it!

3rd adventure: Washing the car under the scorching hot sun!

We found quite a big patches of yellow paint on the injured car, thus we decided to do our own cleaning. Using the Dettol wipes (that's the only wet tissues on hand), we slowly removed all the paint from the car. By the time we're done, we're almost half dead. Poor Mr Lin, he had to accompany me all the way due to my careless mistakes!

4th adventure: Illegally driving into private estate

I kept asking Mr Lin to drive me to find the Beef Bah Ku Teh that was highly recommended online by many. So during the 2nd night, he drove me right to the exact point shown on the GPS. However, surrounding us was just rows and rows of private houses. From the blogs, we knew that the shop is surrounded with bamboos. So when we saw that the house is also surrounded with bamboos, we thought that the shop is inside. So we drove in through the gate slowly and while Mr Lin is parking the car, I got a surprise! 

There were a few Muslims guys praying in the house. That's when I knew that this is not the correct place. Lucky, Mr Lin already switch off the headlights before driving in. If not, I think we'll be arrested! 

After making rounds and rounds and on the verge of going back to City, we finally found the Bah ku teh!

The soup is thick and very 够味! Something different from the usual Bah ku teh! Both of us finished the whole pot! *YUMS!*

Weather at Malacca is dreadful! Super duper hot and humid! Once I gotten my room I don't even feel like leaving the hotel to walk under the big hot sun! Anyway, it's purely a eat-walk-sleep-eat trip. HAHAHA! We just kept on eating and non-stop eating. O.O!!!!

And the thing about this Persona is that the signal is on the left, which is opposite of what I'm used to (right signal). So every time we wanted to signal, the wiper turns on and it irritates us so much!

No more holidays till November! O.M.G!!! How to tahan till then? >.<"