Sights and Tastes in Penang

Photo taken with my iphone 4S, from the room balcony. As we watched how the ship was skillfully docked.

We just got back from a little vacation in a cruise ship with friends and docked off at our first stop in Penang. The time spent in Penang was barely 5 hours but it didn't stop us from going out to explore George Town! Well, in fact, we were just being typical Singaporean foodies and yearned to chomp down some good local food!

An interesting nostalgic sight for me to capture on my camera.

We were lucky that one of our travel companions, originates from Penang so he knew his way around. It was about an hours' walk from the pier (with a short detour to get some tau sah piah and a stop to poke our noses into a local chocolate museum) when we arrived at this old school coffee shop located at Libuh Keng Kwee lane, that was famous for their char kway teow. We were so darn lucky that we managed to order the last 6 plates for the day, before they turned everyone else away! And it was only 5pm.

The infamous char kway teow lady boss in action. I was told she is a fierce one!

What we came here for... mmmm I can still imagine the taste lingering in my mouth! Extremely worth the walk!

 Within the coffeeshop,  there was also the mouth-watering Assam Laksa.

Oh man! Look at that "hae gor" (fermented shrimp sauce). Still drooling.

And also the lor bak! 

Last but not least, we also sampled the chendol, sold at a roadside stall - which was apparently as famous. Very simple ingredients of the green jelly and red bean but thirst quenching and yummy nonetheless.

Satisfied Singaporeans.

Right after the meal, we headed back to the ship. Yep. We were that hardcore for the local food!

Captured this image along the way back.

And learned that Jimmy Choo originates from Penang as well!

Albeit the short hours in Penang, we felt our food hunting mission was completed. 

I shall be sharing what we did in Phuket, in another post. Stay tuned to find out what you can achieve in Phuket with the older children in one day. Guaranteed to make them really happy.

  Till the next post, have a blessed week!

Our Zombie Date Night @ Senoko Fishery Port

Weird. No. It was not Halloween. The only sleep deprived zombie was probably just me and with no make up on, one can visualize how horrifying I would have looked.

It was the first late night couple date we ever had since we had kids (let me count... ya 13 years) and we headed to Senoko fishery port!

Well, it was supposed to be a double date with another couple friend. However, their tiredness got the better of them way before the stipulated time to pick them up. (I don't blame them - one of them had just returned from a business trip and they have 4 kids to mind!) It was also tough for me to stay awake as I am so not a night person. But the hubs said, since we were both already up from our 2 hour nap, we might as well go ahead with the plan.  With much resistance (from me), we left home at 1.30am.

*Pardon my photo quality as most of the indoor shots were taken while I was just walking along. And authentically speaking, it was also how my vision was at that time of the night.*

First impression of the fishery, FISHY. The moment the hubs wound down his window to exchange for a visitor pass, the "aroma" filled our car. So be prepared to be smelling the same when you get home.

 It is basically like a wet market, just that all the stalls sell seafood. And they mostly sell the smaller seafood by a 10kg basket.

Uh-uh... it is NOTHING like the fishery in Japan where they auction their tunas! The fishes are mostly strewn on the ground like that.

 One of the fewer stalls that bother to arrange their catches neatly. This is as neat as it gets!

The highlight of our trip - prawns. 

We bought 3kg worth of 2 different kind of sized prawns. Some stalls were willing to sell at a minimum of 1kg while others at 2kg. It was not actually that cheap too. For an average of $16 per kg for medium sized prawns, we can buy it for about $18-$19 at the wet market. I think the prices are pretty fair at our regular wet market supplier. (As Adora from The Gingerbread Mum would say, "oh my! we're indulging in "auntie" talk again!")

 

 A lot of friends wondered why we didn't buy fish. It is because they are wholesalers and do not have fish cleaning services like those in our neighborhood wet market. Buying, handling and cleaning the fish, especially the bigger ones, would be a very daunting task for me as I am used to handling fish fillets. I was also certainly not prepared to have my kitchen reeking of fish perfume or decorated with scales.

So anyway, we learned some to-dos and not-to-dos while at the fishery. Perhaps you would want to take them into consideration if you plan to head out there one of these nights when you are bored at 2am or something.

• wear easy wash footwear. You wouldn't want your shoes stinking of fish.
• bring along bottles of water so that you can rinse your hands and footwear before you get into the car. You wouldn't want your car mat to be tainted with fishy smell too.
• bring along newspapers to line your car boot if you decide to buy seafood. Another idea would be to place your buys into a plastic container or pail.
• transactions are in cash only. So... you know what to do.
• Don't bother bargaining. They don't entertain.
• Don't expect much social manners coming from the workers. They are there to work so expect a little pushing around if you are in their way. Watch out for the trolleys!

The next time we go on a late night date again, it will probably to check out Jurong Fishery Port.

Oh the things I do for my husband.

Location :

Senoko Fishery Port
Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority
31 Attap Valley Road, #02-29,
Singapore 759908

Opening hours : 1am - 6am (closed on Mondays)

Till the next post, have a blessed week!

Things To Do @ Downtown East

We checked into Costa Sands Resort and escaped home for 2 nights earlier this week since it was the schools' September term break, but mostly to be away from the noise and mess since we were overhauling our master bedroom. Yes, overhaul! Because the previous contractor did not do a good job with the waterproofing of our bathroom and wreaked havoc on our laminated floor and built-in wardrobe.

We were not duly disappointed even though we visit Downtown East very often, it was different to be staying over and hanging out with the family without worrying about time, what to do and what to eat because they have everything to entertain us as a family!

The cozy room that we had with the basic amenities. I wished the beds were a tad less hard though!

Here's what we did to keep our children entertained and have some family fun apart from going back home now and then to monitor the renovation.

DAY #1 BOWLING & SWIM

DAY #2 

The kids caught up with their homework from school in the morning and had their favorite choice of breakfast.

 We went to Wild Wild Wet in the afternoon, mostly to please our resident adrenalin junkie!

Images taken from Wild Wild Wet site

Some of the slides and rides they covered. Urm, ok I'm no water babe of any sorts and certainly don't look like one. I was happy just to hang around the Tsunami and Jacuzzi but was convinced to try the Ular-lah. I screamed... and screamed some more while the three of them hummed to the smurf tune. Yep! That's my family for you, if you must know. Ah well, as long as they were entertained. -__-
 

We had an impromptu barbeque at the resort since the weather that evening was fabulous and caught up with a couple of friends, who were living in the area. We were glad that the convenient shops there had all our barbeque needs - including marinated meats so we needn't worry about the hassle of preparing the food!

It has been a good few days spent. I'm very happy to see my children enjoying the time together as a family - with no computer distraction. It is moments like these that makes me feel blessed to be a part of their lives and reminds me how far I've come in my motherhood journey.

  Till the next post, have a blessed week!

Sands Sky Park @ Marina Bay Sands

 It is odd that we seem to do the touristy thingy in Singapore during the National Day holidays. I guess its a re-affirmation of how much we love our country. A visit to Marina Bay Sands Sky Park was one of them!

Breath-taking view from the 56th floor! Shot taken with my Olympus Pen.

It was supposed to be a surprised visit planned by the hubs and kiddos. All I was told to do : "just bring your camera! You wouldn't want to miss this!" ... although the love of my kiddos to me couldn't bear the test of keeping a secret before we arrived. :p

I wanted to include the beautiful crescent moon and a single star in this photo which we saw that night. It completes the scene of our shore's beautiful skyline.

  If you're planning to visit the Sands Sky Park, be prepared to queue for tickets and at the lift lobby for the going up and the going down!   

Ticket Prices:

S$20 for adults

S$14 for children (aged between 2 - 12 years*)

S$17 for senior citizens (aged 65 years and above)

Children under 2 years may enter for free.

Where to buy your tickets :

  Marina Bay Sands website

Ticketing Hotline: +65 6688 8826

Marina Bay Sands Box Offices 

• ArtScience Museum Lobby
• Concierge Desk, Hotel Lobby Tower 1
• Concierge Desk, Hotel Lobby Tower 3
• Retail Concierge, The Shoppes L1
• SkyPark Ticketing Counter, Tower 3 B1
• Theatres, The Shoppes B1

Alternatively, visit KU DE TA where you can dine at the restaurant or wine at the sky bar with no admission charges to walk around the Sky Park. Just remember their dress code : casual smart outfit - no shorts, singlets or slippers.

    Till the next post, have a blessed week!

Linking up with :

The Lion Door Knocker

I saw this door knocker at an old shophouse along Jonker's Street during a recent day trip to Malacca.  It is very cheena but if used fittingly in a nice modern home decor, I think it would add as an eye-catching contemporary art piece.

But did you know what it symbolizes?

In ancient China, these kind of lion door knockers on front doors symbolizes the wealth of families. It also means that no evil things can enter the household with the fierce looking lion face on the door. Quite the same meaning as some places having 2 lion statues beside their front door.

These days, am pretty sure they are sold as novelties which I think, is pretty cool to install if I ever have a BIG HOUSE, with A BIG DOOR and a grand entrance!  :p

  Till the next post, have a blessed week!

Linking up with : 

Food Glorious Food! Only in Bangkok

The family went for a short trip to Bangkok over the March school term break. Having not been there for more than 6 years and since the  hubs had mileage points to claim from his frequent travels, we headed out to the land of smiles!

Here are pictures taken from the gastronomic point of view. No less. For your drooling pleasure.

We had 2 of our meals in Chinatown. Great seafood at cheap rates! First time I tried barbequed blood cockles! I don't like those that are boiled but this one is different. Bottom right is birds nest with gingko net for dessert!

The hubs had pad thai at the food court in Mabukong shopping centre.

I had beef noodle soup which was too salty that I couldn't eat it halfway. I could literally feel my blood pressure rising to my head! maybe that's what the sugar bowl is there for... duh.

Oyster omelette! Oh we went to heaven and back while eating this. :p

Last but not least, my favourite mango sticky rice for desserts. They are the best of the best.

Three things I regretted not having time to indulge were their thai steamboat,  fishcakes and fried crickets! I didn't see any fishcake stall holders along the roadside this round and I so wanted to challenge myself to try the fried crickets to take myself up a notch in my gastronomy adventures. But I chickened out.

Oh well. I'd just have to make another trip to Bangkok soon, right?

  Till the next post, have a blessed week!

Linking up with : 

[Family Vacation] Sydney -> Blue Mountains -> Sydney

This will be my finale post!    Yah!! It seems like eternity since we came back from our vacation... and I am still covering it in my blog posts! None too pleased with my efficiency. Pffffffpt!   SO! Anyway... in the previous post, I blogged about our tour experience at Hunter Valley. And finally, we got to stay in Sydney the next two nights! This was the 4th day of our tour and it was supposed to be free and easy. However, since our trip didn't cover Blue Mountains, our tour leader decided to plan this route out for us (super expensive to get there at an extra AUD$120 per person... never felt so broke!) - with a special request to stop by the infamous Sydney fish market first!   

We had oysters and sashimi at 8am. Bliss!

Then we took another long bus ride to Blue Mountains just to see  'The Three Sisters'.

Breathtaking view together with some of our fellow tour mates! Weather was awesome up there!

 

We took the scenic cable ride across the ravines at 270m high! The coolest part of the cable was that the floor board was see through! Not for the faint hearted!

 By the time we arrived back to Sydney, it was in the late afternoon. Since it was free and easy, we walked around the shopping area where our hotel was, settled dinner with some of our tour mates (yes! we had sushi on the belt!) before settling in for the night. As it was our last night there and our next day's flight is in the early evening, we still had morning to go and explore Sydney on our own!

We left the hotel early after breakfast to visit Darling Harbor.

We walked through 'Market City' where there was a weekend flea market. It reminded me of our pasar malam here so I didn't quite bother to shop around. These days, souvenirs seem very cheesy to me.

I am personally impressed that we could cover Sydney Aquarium and Madame Tussard's within 2 hours while we were at Darling Habor. Here are just some photos we took!

The aquarium is very much like our Underwater World in Sentosa - except maybe 3 times bigger!

Some 'sampat' photos we took! Love this place. Can you spot my best friend? We share the same bad hair day everyday.

And that wraps up our trip to Sydney! We do hope to be back again in the near future - next time, we will explore the place on our own.

  Till the next post, have a blessed week!

[Family Vacation] Hunter Valley -> Sydney

This is part 3 of my travel journal! :)  So far, I've covered the first 2 days of our trip HERE and HERE.

At the last stop, we stayed over at Hunter Valley for the night. Upon our checkout the next morning, we were scheduled to head out to the vineyard for some wine tasting!

 

No I didn't have that much to drink! But I am glad I finished up a glass that was offered to us while we walked around the vineyard and were shown where they aged their wines. I still like dessert wine, if you have to know.

 After which, we were brought to have some cheese tasting! It's just too bad, we were all not really into cheese and couldn't really appreciate what was given to us at the table to try. And for the record, I.don't.like.blue.cheese.

Shortly after the cheesy break, we headed to the infamous Storybook Garden in Hunter Valley! The landscaping was beautiful but going there with the blaring hot noon sun deterred us from exploring much of the garden. 

 

Where nursery rhyme characters come to life!

No, those are not my children who came tumbling down the hill!

Snippets of the beautiful garden (and 2 lovely girls!).

We were off to a late lunch after the walk at the garden. We had MORE ang moh food... see what I mean below :

Don't get me wrong. The quality and quantity of food served were very good. But as a Singaporean Chinese, I think I cannot tahan having western cuisine everyday! And look at the dessert here... who would have thought the scoop of "vanilla ice cream" turned out to be butter! I wonder if they scooped out from the wrong tub!

After lunch, we continued our bus journey back to Sydney. It was at least a 3 hour ride! Didn't particularly enjoy this bus journey back because it was too long in quite a crampy bus without much leg room to stretch out. But one thing for sure, we were all looking forward to a sumptuous Chinese dinner in Sydney! Yes!! It was REALLY exciting!

Look at our "hungry hands" and all aimed for the roast chicken we know best! This particular day of the tour happened to be my husband's birthday and the tour leader was sooooooooo sweet to get him a birthday cake to celebrate with the group! It also happened that Nat, the other girl whom Megan had so much fun socializing with during the trip -  was also celebrating her birthday the next day so they both shared the birthday cake-cutting. So nice right? (The tour leader appears behind our family photo here, in blue tee)

After our dinner, we checked into the hotel located within the city. And since the night was still young, we decided to walk around the vicinity! However, the shops there closes early on most days so bummer... didn't get to shop at all.

There was a formal event at the museum which we walked past thus the lighted designs on the building. We also stopped a while to watch some Christmas caroling outside Queen Victoria building.

And there ends our 3rd day in this beautiful country! Stay tuned for my coming post on our 4th day tour! We headed to Blue Mountains!

  Till the next post, have a blessed week!