2017CNY trip D7,8 - Penang

I would do whatever to avoid hotel breakfast whenever I travel back to Malaysia. I would rather tried BKT and whatever noodle outside rather than the standard continental breakfast plus nasi lemak. Well, on D7, we had our only hotel breakfast. Simple 3 star hotel breakfast, toast bread, fried bee hoon, fried egg… Nothing to shout but yet a nice one.

We reached the airport 2 hour before the take off. We did our last minute pepper buying tour. GSW had told me that the white pepper is produced by soaking ripen pepper in water until the skin break up(another words is until it is rotten). So he recommended black pepper over white pepper.

The flight was on scheduled and we reached Penang at 11am. I checked out and get our car from rental. After a few meal of food court, we decided to try out some restaurant food. I found a Chinese restaurant near Bayan Lepas. The food was up to the standard. The lady owner had recommended that we took the balik pulau road to enjoy another kind of view. I followed her advice and we had a great view of Teluk Bahang Dam. We stopped over the Batik factory and grabbed some load.

We reached Holiday Inn Batu Ferringi at about 3:30pm. We were given an upgrade by the hotel, instead of the crossing the road Ferringi wing, we were given room at the main building. The environment was great with the beach and lobby.

When the sunset, we had driven to the town for dinner. Penang had changed a lot and most of the major road had become one way. Komtar was no longer the highest building around Penang. Lots of Condos were being built and the price is fairly expensive.

After dinner at the new lane food court, we had stopped by the local shop for some shopping. There was a durian seller nearby the food court and Ving decided to try out the Musang King….Well, a hole in my pocket but still worth every penny; it would be a memorable taste that would last for a long time. (we did it once many years ago; my bro-in law, took me to a roundabout around PJ ..)

I had a dipped in the sea and enjoyed a short relax time on the recline chair along the beach side. I wished we had spent more time in the hotel.

We had done a city tour around George town on D8. Penang is indeed a good place to live; it is definite a good place to enjoy retire life.

We visited Penand Hill and stopped by penang road for a batik sweeping round. The chendol is nice but nothing to shout about. A must visit for anyone that like batik as Ving does are the Sams Batik and Asia co.

Both shop were located at the Penang road. The Asia co is manned by a friendly old Chinese couple; batik is local price and the souvenir is cheap as well. They sell traditional batik.

The Sams is an Indian shop and batik price is 1/2 of the Batik factory. Only thing to shout is the parking fee….We had stopped for 1hr 40mins and the fee was RM20….the most expensive I had paid over the last 10 years….

Gurney drive was one of my favorite spot during my childhood; it had changed over the year and the hawker had relocated to the food court…Food was still ok but I missed the feel of walking along the jetty and enjoying the breeze from the sea.

I hit dreamland early as we had to move out early the next day;the hotel staff had told me that it would be rush hour in the morning along the bayan lepas route….

2017CNY - Sri Aman D5,D6

I woke up and found out that all my ip cams were back online. The only explanation was my router in the 3^rd floor had been touched by the great one…

GSW had tugged six of us into his good old UNSER early in the morning. We had stopped by the orang utan rehabilitation center and crocodile farm before we proceed to Sri Aman.

The ride was a pleasant one through the pan-Borneo highway. We had made multiple stop along the way and we reached Sri Aman late in the afternoon.

We had stayed in GSW bungalow. It was a great night with all the sharing and laughing. Both of us share the experience of doing housemanship during the doctor shortage era. Housemen were trained to become all rounded medical officer and later distributed throughout Malaysia. Medical officers were the core for the medical service. The story is different nowadays; 20% of the houseman quit and many of them got extended.  

We had enjoyed a good city tour on D6 and left Sri Aman after the Sunday church gathering. GSW is current the elders for the local church.

We left Sri Aman at 3pm; a church senior had sent us back to Kuching.  

We had put up in the Jinhold Service Apartment which is nearer to the Airport. There is a shop lot nearby with a few food court. We had ordered a load of food from various hawker store...

2017CNY trip - D4 Cat city cont....

D4 was a relaxing day, we had an early start. Breakfast was average; “Kolok Mee”(as is Gan Lao Mian->dried noodle) and Sarawak Laksa. The Laksa was curry base with shrimp as it main ingredient. Indeed the taste was different from what we have in the west.

GSW had taken us to the Sarawak cultural village after the breakfast. The village is well maintained and a good source for understanding the traditional living style of the Sarawakian.

We left at noon and enjoyed a grand seafood meal at a restaurant (Teo Seafood), near the village. Standard Ye Har Hai (Fish, Shrimp, Crab) dishes supplement with drink to you drop coconut juice.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the forest museum and cat museum. During the tour, I had called up CTBO airasia and the staff told me that Xian’s baggage is still in limbo.

The dinner was a memorable one; GSW had taken us to “the.Dyak”; a restaurant famous for Iban’s food. GSW told us that the Jani Kasam pork was actually pork buried under ground for 1 week before it was taken out and made into dishes. The dishes had a particular smell....acceptable but I won't give it a second try...

Luckily tempuyuk was not available at that time (not durian season). the.Dyak is a good restaurant if you ever drop by Kuching.

We had a quick tour at the supermarket next to the imperial hotel and found that food price had gone up significantly compare to 2 years ago.

It was an easy day for me….thanks to GSW and his brother in law, they had given us a good tour around Kuching.

2017CNY trip - D3: Cat City

I got up at 4 and wake up the rest of the team. There was a couple who served in our church that participated in our trip. The trip become complicated as I had to charter a 7-seater rather than a sedan. I managed to get an Innova from Hawk and surprisingly the drive was smooth with acceptable pick-up. We arrived at KLIA in time and there was a 30 minutes window for us to have breakfast at the mamak store around the gate.

The flight was smooth and I grabbed a good nap on the flight. I had pre-informed GSW about my plan of getting passport renewal at Kuching.

GSW is my classmate in medical school. He is a Sarawakian who completed his housemanship in Kuching and proceeded to Sri Aman for his medical officer service. He had later opened his own practice in Sri Aman. His wife is a dentist and they shared the same building for their private practice. I had met him during our graduation anniversary and he had invited all of us to pay him a visit at the calm town of peace. I however decided to be the first to do so….Frankly said, I had never been to Sarawak. It was a good time to do so as GSW promised to give me a good tour.

In the past, the west Malaysian would need a passport to enter Sarawak and nowadays, you just need the IC. However, I was curious when I saw many passengers queuing in front of me at the immigration that taken out their passport. I got my answer when the immigration officer took my IC and started to fill up a form. Those who shown their passport had a more express entry; the officer just scanned it and let them passed. It was like 10 secs vs 3 minutes….

GSW and a serving brother were waiting for us at the exit. He had borrowed a 13-seater minibus from the church to take us around the city. After a quick lunch at the local food shop. We were taken to the local UTC for the passport renewal.

The process was really fast and we got our passport in 40 minutes (not from the time that we paid up, but from the time we entered). Grace from the great one….We proceeded to Sarawak Museum and small city tour before dinner.

We had dinner at a local steak house and enjoyed a good time with some local church members (most of them were GSW relative…).

I had booked a 3-room service apartment at Imperial Hotel. It was a good bargain (those who are interested can search for A-10 Imperial Apartment) for a group of 6. It is well furnished and maintained with 3 room + 3 bathroom. It even had a washing machine.

Everyone was worn off after the 2 days intensive trip. It was a relief for me as I had settled the passport issue. The rest of trip was planned and I don’t ha

2017CNY trip - Day 2: Passport run

The second day of the trip was the most disturbing for me…I had to deal with the immigration department. It is a real pain in the past when dealing with passport matter. I recalled that we had to spend a whole day getting my passport done and pick it up few days later during my childhood. Getting to the department early was essential to secure a number; there was a big chance you would be turned down and ask to return tomorrow if you arrive late as there was limited quota/number per day in the past.

Things became better later and I almost get it done on the same day on my recent few renewal. However it is different this time as we were going at the peri-CNY period. Well, I have no choice, Xian, Yun an Ving’s passports expired in less than 3 months and I have a packed schedule to follow during our trip.

My brother in law advised me to go early, get a number and enjoyed our bakuteh as brunch. I complied with his advice and we arrived at the Port Klang Immigration department at 7:40am. My heart sunk when I saw the queue; the queue was long enough to encompass the whole building 1 round. Ok, I decided to have my BKT first and came back later. My bro-in law took me to the famous Teluk Pulai BKT shop and we have a great bite. I knew it would be my only BKT meal during this trip. During the breakfast, I called up immigration department at Kuching and confirmed that the west Malaysian can renew and get their passport within the same day. We returned to Port Klang immigration department at 9am and found that the queue had shortened and decided to join the lineup. After 20mins of waiting, a security came out and started to counting head. Xian was first in our group and the last who received the head count; 3 of us was left out. We decided to forfeit the queue and proceed with the plan of getting the passport done at Kuching. Tough decision for me as we were in more trouble if we can’t get it done there; the final location would be Penang which I definitely resist.

We had proceeded with our trip up to KL, visited Muzim Negara, Jalan Petaling and Central Market.

As in the past, Jalan Petaling is no more China Town, but Bangala Street. However the Kun Kei Wantan Mee at Jalan Petaling is still manned by the original owner and I considered it as one of the best in Klang Valley. Although the environment was considered as very unpleasant but it is worth to give it a try. We headed back to Klang after a shopping tour at the central market.

We reached Klang by 5pm(no Jam as it was FT day). Enjoyed a greartvariety of food in the local food court. That night was an unpleasant night for me; I had to worry about the passport renewal and also the trip to KLIA2. Our flight to Kuching was scheduled at 9am and we need to arrive early. I decided to leave Setia Alam at 5:30am so that we would be able to arrive at KLIA2 at 6:30am and proceed with check in. This is not the first time I regret about my planning of the trip. To many place to visit and the schedule was very tight with no room of mistake.

2017CNY trip.....the journey begin

The drive back home was a smooth one and I was able to do my final packing. The rest of the members were actually partially ready and I had to do the whipping job. We were a little late on schedule but were still able to hit the airport on time. It was a long queue waiting for the airasia counter to open. We were lucky as we are eligible for the premium counter check-in. A middle age lady had asked me to not to jump queue when I squeezed my way to the counter. I was too tired to argue and flashed my travel itinerary and make my way through the crowd. She was unpleased but some of her friend had stopped her further from approached us. Paying more getting better service seems fair and unfair…..

We completed the check in and proceeded to the immigration clearance and passed with no difficulty. While having my lunch in the food stall around the gate, I found that I was unable to connect to 4 of my dlink ip cams. Those cams were connected to my 3^rd floor router via wifi and I had lost connection to them. I was confused as I had done a final check before leaving and everything was in order….Well, nothing could be done and I had to live with it as we were 1 hr away from boarding. Not a good start and the worst await me later….

I had encountered some rude senior citizens during the boarding stage; 2 elderly Malaysian couple had tried to barred me from loading my luggage to the upper compartment as they wanted to reserved it for some friends who were late behind the queue. I was too tired and ignored their request; others passenger had done the same….

I entered dreamland on the flight and awaken 30min before touchdown.

The immigration was crowded and I had waited a good 30min before we passed the autogate.

We met our worst nightmare at the baggage claimed. Xian luggage was not seen after the last baggage arrived. The local lost of found staff were helpful and we had made a report...

Luckily the luggage was filled with Xian’s cloth only…

The event had made us 90min behind our schedule. Xian was very depressed about the incident….We had our dinner at the mamak store beside the Setia Alam Tesco as we had to do some shopping for Xian.

Food was up to the standard; it was one of the great event of the day.

We managed to grab some Cloths for Xian. My bro-in law had also given him a load of goodies; You lost some and you gain some.

I had a sense of uneasiness….bad start with bad ending for that day…

I knew the Great One is preparing something for me during this journey but I was not prepared.

CNY trip D-0....

1 hrs till the end of the shift….I had struggled for the past 4 days; the shifts were stressful during the last 3 days. I had slept less than 30 minutes during those 3 shifts and preparing for the trip had taken up most of my alert time in the house…

The last call was better as I had a total amount of  4 +hours of sleep (minor interruption of coz).

 It would have to be a smooth process after my shift as I had to drive back start the final check, pack all my 3C (cell phone, camera, surface, note8…) into my back pack, load the luggage and hit the road. Any delay means a disastrous rush during the process.

The airport should be crowded and I have to do counter check in as the passport expire date is less than 6 months for Ving and the children.

I had read my blog again and found that I had not been home for over 2 years instead of 1….Well, I really missed the land, hopefully I could enjoy some Maggi Mee Goreng + teh ais by 9pm today at a mamak store near my in laws house…