5 Nites In Penang

I went on a 5-nite vacation in Penang started from last week and went back yesterday. I was already planning since July because I wanted it to be worthy for all the money and time spent on it. Teda la lagi sia mau bikin something and waste it. You may get all the money back but not the time. Agree?

So what did I get from the trip this time? That sebaik-baik perancangan, there's no guarantee that it's gonna happen like what you expect it, and then I began asking myself if I was just too perfectionist, or was it all just greed? Sempat lagi sia self-reflect diri sia sendiri, cos everything that didn't go my way made me feel frustrated inside, like it was already incomplete before it was even done. But sia thankful yang sia still rational juga untuk fikir and adjust myself with the uncertainties and possibilities. 

If something doesn't go our way, it doesn't mean we should just bow to it and call it a failure. Why don't we make it a bit more exciting by anticipating better surprises to unfold. It made me think how I handle things in life. Walaupun I hate failure but I was never a stranger to it. Entah berapa kali mistakes yang sia bikin, yg lame, yg repeated, but still sia nda jera pun. Sia masih terus melangkah ke depan. Actually, when I thought I could not take No, I was underestimating myself ja selama ni.

Like this Penang vacation, banyak tempat yg sia mau pegi. Initially, bagi sia, kalau semua tu sia bikin, baru la trip sia successful. Tapi since it was a family trip, we have to adjust to masing2 punya plan juga. Ada yang more to exploring malls and shopping, which to me is a waste of time because malls are nothing new in Sabah pun. Bila pegi state yang top macam Penang ni, jan kita expect di setiap celah pun jauh lagi advance dari tempat kita. In fact, the first shopping mall yg kami pegi di Komtar, I was surprised tengok building yg begitu outdated, reminded me of dulu2 punya building time sia masih kecil. Not sure if it was done purposely since Penang has Unesco World Heritage sites kan, or maybe memang Komtar is among building yg getting old but never gets a makeover sebab it's partly offices of government departments di bahagian atas tu mall. But it was old bahh. Kalau check di google, Komtar sentiasa kena list antara shopping mall yg famous and must visit di Penang. Seriously sia rasa terkejut juga sebab macam sia balik pi zaman sia kecil2, round2 shop yang suasana macam tu. And then Prangin Mall was a bit better. And then Queensbay mall and Gurney Paragon Mall definitely Imago punya standard, which means bukanlah terlampau canggih sampai kita rasa kerdil. We have seen things like that in our beautiful land of Sabah.

One more thing yg sia upset is tempat2 makan yg kena cakap2, kena viral, kena suggest di google and social media, mostly Overrated bah. We went to Deen's Nasi Kandar, kedai tu walaupun baru buka masa tu tapi barisan sudah panjang. Itu tempat boleh dikatakan bukan di lokasi yang luas dan strategik. Tempat orang baris tu actually adalah jalanan motor, and selepas sempat berbaris di bawah panas, sampai ja tempat makanan tu, I dekat ndatau apa mau pilih sebab choice tidak banyak, sayur2 pun cuma ada satu dua, teda pun nasi briyani yang sepatutnya what Indian stalls are famous for, and I had to pick 3 lauk yg asal ada, untuk mau rasa ja camana masakan dorang. I'm not a fan of Indian eateries sebab makanan2 dorang jarang yg ngam di tekak sia. Signature dish macam curry pun usually rasa tidak mengena. So expected la nasi kandar ni won't impress me that much dengan nasi kuah banjir begitu but rasa statik ja. I prefer Malay and Indo foods yang more variety, ada masa merah, masak kicap, masak sambal, sayur macam2 jenis, ikan, daging, semua dengan macam2 variety masakan. That's my kind of foods. 

Ada satu tempat roti canai famous and recommended at Jalan Transfer, guess what, it was not even a proper outlet. Di tepi kaki lima ja dorg bikin. Orang yg makan pun asal2 kena taruh meja yg muat  di kaki lima tu. But orang berbaris juga gara2 viral dan selalu kena recommend. I stayed at a hotel nearby on the 3rd day and managed to walk there to buy the roti canai. Adeiiii. Sia tapau ja la sebab suasana di sana not inviting at all. Roti canai dia pun sembarang ja dorg bikin asalkan jadi. Teda sudah shape dia. Kalau di sini, order2 di restoren pun sikit2 kita complain liat la, keras la, at least shape dia nampak macam sedap, yg ni totally tidak peduli tu semua. Hahahaha.  So sempat tapau 4 roti kosong, 2 roti telur, 1 roti daging (roti yg kena simbah dengan daging curry yang cawir yang amat...Hahahaha). Kuah kari dia pun cawirrr la amat juga, macam kena simpan2 air untul refill ni. Uina, cewewet juga ka dat kemon? Hahahaha. Actually, even di Sabah pun kita buli jumpa juga makanan2 yang not up to our standard, tapi sia yakin tu tempat indalah kena viral, siap dikasi recommend sama tourists yang datang. Macamana la sia nda frust kan? Penang is famous for the foods bah urang bilang. Nda salah kalau sia expect high sama makanan dorg esp yang kena recommend. Ada sekali tu ja kami dapat visit ni street food hawkers di New Lane street food dekat Sunway hotel at Macalister road. Sana makanan dia ok, tapi semua Chinese lah. Dan kalau minta kuey teow, mesti mix sama pork and prawn ja. Chicken pula teda. Sia yang bukan pemakan pork ni ada limitation la, but still ok juga. At least buli makan walaupun not enuff untuk dapat pujian melambung dari sia lah. Hahahaha. Beli sana, beli sini, duduk makan di meja, pun lebih juga RM100 sebab drinks dorang mahal, like satu juice RM6 to RM7.50. Jangan expect anything cheap in Penang lah kan? Hahahha. One grab driver told us, tempat2 makan yang betul2 sedap, yang senyap2 dan bukan yg kena viral. So anggap seja u need to stay longer in Penang to find out mana yg betul2 ngam sama selera kau. Sepa2 yang claim that Penang has the best street foods may have better arguments to back up their claim la. Maybe they find the right spots and tested enuff foods everywhere. 5 hari tu sangatlah tiada untuk experience tu semua. Inikan lagi yg sehari dua? Atukoi.

Yang menarik pasal Penang ni, dia ada pulau dan tanah besar. They have bus ferry yang beroperasi macam ala-ala bas, means dia akan bawa kau seberang pi Penang mainland (Butterworth, Bukit Mertajam etc) ikut timing dia jalan, bukan tunggu penuh. Tambang pun baru RM1.20 tu pun time balik baru bayar. Means kalau kau pi mainland dan stay di situ, kau jimat lah RM1.20 tu. Hahahaha. Sampai di Butterworth, buli ambil KTM pegi destinasi macam2. Ke KL ka, ataupun pegi Perlis terus di Padang Besar yang dekat sama Thailand sudah. Kalau kamurang mau cuci mata and cari pengalaman, buli juga tapi jangan expect kamu buli shopping sakan di Padang Besar. Barang2 di sana mostly sama ja sama barang2 yang kita jumpa di sini. Baju2, beg2, except for dorang ada jual tshirt yg print Padang Besar and Thailand punya lah. Price pun macam lebih kurang sini ja. Sia betul2 ndatau apa mau beli sana sebab sia sendiri pun hari2 ni shopping mall di sini, dan memang kaki tegar Shopee. Almost teda benda yang menarik di situ untuk sia beli. Kami makan di satu kedai makan sana, dengan rasa makanan yang ala-kadar, bill dekat rm250. Kalau makan di KK, standard seafood sudah tu. But ya lah, orang cakap it's all experience. Sometimes selagi benda tu kau nda find out sendiri, kau akan sentiasa curious and anxious untuk tau. So begitu lahh realitinya.

One more thing, Penang definitely tapping on dorg punya status as tourism spot. Ala2 di luar negeri sudah when ada tukang ambil gambar yang akan snap gambar kau tanpa kau suruh, and dorg print sedia gambar tu dengan harapan kau akan pegi claim dan bayar. Dorg charge bukan murah tau, RM60, RM70 (RM70 at Penang Hill for 2 photos yg sudah kena edit background). Dorang sudah prepare equipments yg canggih, yang produce printouts dengan cepat dan berkualiti, and they store the pics di satu website and they give you the code untuk claim tu gambar later on. I wonder if Sabah akan mula bikin gini soon. Remember we have Mt Kinabalu, dorang teda kan? Hehehe. I still don't fail to appreciate our motherland even more selepas pigi tempat urg. Everytime sia upset with tempat yang sia lawat tu, sia akan terfikir, mesti dorang rasa awesome kalau pi tempat kami kan? Hahahaha. Sebab banyak benda yang memang awesome lagi tempat kita bah! Kompom!

Last but not least, tempat tinggal we booked online. At least sia tau and confident sudah mau book online selepas tengok reliability tu websites yang handle booking ni. Nda juga sia mau generalize but tempat2 yang kami pegi tu memang kebersihan tip top, security pun tip top, and walaupun orang sana fikir kami orang Indon, tapi they are used to outsiders dalam tempat dorang so dorg akan layan baik2 juga. One more thing, there's something about Penang yg buat sia rasa it's quite a safe place juga. One of the grab drivers pun cakap jangan takut jalan malam di sini sebab safe lagipun banyak tempat makan lebih rancak sebelah malam. One bitter fact about us Sabahans visiting Penang adalah ada yg tidak tau pun Sabahans are considered Malaysians. The first grab driver yg ambil kami dari airport pun sudah doubt yg we would be entitled to the free bus service Rapid CAT sebab "itu untuk orang local saja, yang ada Mykad". Sandi kan? Hahahaha. It's ok, we still get all the special price for Malaysians juga di mana2 kami pegi (from tambang to entrance fee) asalkan kasi tunjuk MyKad ja. Sia fikir minority ja kes orang2 seberang sana yg ndatau pasal status Sabah Sarawak as part of Malaysia bila kena viral di FB. Rupanya ramai lagiiii yang macam dorang cuma tidak diviral ja. Hahahaha.

So ok lah juga, camana pun, jauh perjalanan luas pandangan. Biasalah la tu kalau ada pro and cons. Tak kenal maka tak cinta kan? Next time will be better I'm sure. Lets travel more next year!