Yesterday, my friends and I went on a trip to Penang Island. We started the day by groaning and ambling to the V2 cafe at 6.15AM; yes, on a beautiful Saturday morning. After much dawdling, we finally made our way out of UTP in two cars at 6.30AM.

Our first stop was Ming Court, to grab some breakfast in the form of: dim sum! This was the main reason why we had to start our journey at the crack of dawn. At Ming Court - being one of the famous restaurants serving dim sum - it is only at this hour that we might have the slightest chance of occupying a table for ourselves. So we immediately found a table fit for ten.

Here is how it works in Ming Court:

1. Each table has a bill listed with all the dim sum and other food available. The minute you sit down, the waitresses swarm the table with trays and trays of dim sum.
2. They set the food on the table and you choose the ones to your liking.
3. The waitresses pick up the unwanted dim sum. Then, they write the number of bowls/plates of food you picked on the bill next to its name.

Now this would be a hassle in a party of ten, so we decided to split up into five pairs with a bill each.

• Me and Ham
• Yu Han and Kerry
• Isabel and Jeremy
• Ryan and Wai Chun
• Edmund and Ritchie

Isn’t that genius? :] So we ate and ate. Ham and I had siew mai, har kao, wu kok, chee cheong fun, brinjal, egg tarts and some porridge.

Me and Ham.

Yu Han and Kerry.

Ritchie, Edmund and Ryan.

Egg tart.

Porridge.

Overall a scrumptious breakfast.

After breakfast, we began our journey to Penang. It wasn’t very eventful, seeing as I slept through most of the car ride. Ham woke me up when we reached the Penang bridge, the longest bridge in Malaysia.

The mighty Penang bridge.

George Town is the capital of Penang. And that’s Ritchie’s car btw.

Our first destination in Penang was the Kek Lok Si Temple, the largest Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia. The temple is at the top of a hill, so we had to ‘climb’ to the top (by climb I actually mean climb stairs haha). Otw up, we came across the Liberation Pond (as they call it). It is a green and murky pond filled with tortoises of all sizes and it stinks. We took a group photo there and continued on up till we reached the peak.

Tortoises. I can still smell the pond just by looking at this photo. =.=

Group photo!

Mini pagoda.

Group photo before entering Kek Lok Si.

Me and Ham at the entrance.

I was taken aback by the scene in front of me upon entering the premises of the temple. Everything was so… artsy fartsy. In a good way, of course.

The buildings are sculpted so beautifully.

There were rows and rows of these Buddha statues.

The entrance to one of the the prayer halls.

Joss sticks.

Prayer candles.

We then proceeded to get on the first inclined lift in Malaysia to see the 30.2m-tall Kuan Yin statue at a higher point of the peak.

A to-and-fro trip on the lift costs RM4.

There it is.

View of the track from the lift.

The statue in all its glory. It is made entirely of bronze.

It really is huge.

Trying to mimic the little cartoon statues. FAIL. =.=

We marvelled at the Kuan Yin statue for quite a while. We then moved to what was a small prayer hall nearby, with a zodiac garden and a fish pond.

All of us born in the Year of the Horse - 1990. Yu Han too.

Ham and Edmund with the grouchy pig.

Ham has a collection of pigs so he really should frame this photo up. X)

Fishies in the fish pond.

On the bridge to the small hut above the pond.

FAIL because of thick lips lol.

My first bokeh shot with Yu Han’s Canon 450D.

We took the inclined lift down to a different part of the temple. We walked aimlessly and stopped in front of the biggest prayer hall in Kek Lok Si. Outside the hall is a garden with blooming flowers.

Artwork on the wall.

Coupled with some mantra music, the hall has a very calm atmosphere.

The pillars are carved out of stone.

A sculpture made up of a combination of different stones.

The very colourful ceiling. And I quote Edmund, “Everything is in 3D.”

Awesome flower shots in the garden by Yu Han.

Ham and I. *loves*

The garden led us to a pagoda which had four (or five?) levels. Feeling adventurous, the eight of us climbed all the way to the top. It was quite challenging as the steps were really small and narrowed as we neared the top. The pagoda had a different set of tiles at each level.

Tile set #1.

Tile set #2.

Tile set #3.

Tile set #4.

Tile set #5.

At noon, we left the temple in search for a hawker stall which supposedly serves the best asam laksa in town. We did find it, but it was closed. Boo. We ended up in another hawker stall having less-awesome asam laksa haha.

Penang asam laksa.

Our next destination: Bukit Bendera. But alas, it was closed as well. Frustrated, someone suggested visiting another tourist attraction: the Tropical Spice Garden. It is sort of like a national park, with a mini trail and some interesting flora.

The boys.

The girls.

Ham and I sitting on the hammock.

Mr. Photographer taking a well-deserved rest on the hammock.

Me on the huge swing hung on really tall trees.

Signpost.

More macro flower shots.

Us under the bamboo plants.

The trail ended at a gift shop and a cafe called the Tree Monkey Restaurant. I bought a souvenir for Mummy from the gift shop: a bag of spices. Will mail it back home soon. :] The restaurant serves local delicacies and also Thai food. I had Thai coconut ice-cream topped with jackfruit and sea coconut seed which cost RM8.80. The portion is small but trust me, it is very, very delicious. :D

Ritchie.

Wai Chun.

Ryan.

Me.

Ham.

Edmund.

Kerry.

Jeremy.

Yu Han.

Isabel.

Upon leaving the garden, we had nowhere to go as it was getting late. Where else could we go if not the all-famous shopping mall by the beach: Gurney Plaza. Due to time constraint, we window-shopped really quickly and headed off for dinner at Gurney Drive, just outside the mall. There were lots of hawker stalls there but most sold similar food, so it wasn’t really impressive. I had char kueh tiao with prawns. It’s one of Penang’s famous local dishes, and quite tasty too. :)

We spotted three Ferraris and a Bentley outside the mall. This is one of them. Superb.

Char kueh tiao at Gurney Drive.

After a hearty dinner, we headed back to UTP, all sweaty and sticky. X|

I would like to thank my friends for organizing this simple day trip to one of the places I have really wanted to visit ever since I stepped foot in UTP. Really appreciate all the effort put in. I will always treasure these moments as the best I have had with my friends, ever.

[Photo credits to Ong Yu Han]

[Less impressive photos were taken with my humble Nokia N78 phone]