Road Trip Up North

1st November 2007, Thursday

Left Kelana Jaya with 2 cars at 7:00am sharp. Made a few stops. 1st stop were at R&R Tapah. We had nasi lemak & hot drinks . 2nd stop at Bukit Gantang cos huby wanna show my parents the 'resort' like R&R. We had fruits there and papa bought some mangoes. Then we proceed straight to Gurun R&R for lunch before we reach Alor Star. Checked-in around 1:30pm at Grand Continental Hotel in the middle of town. The reason we chose the hotel is because it is just walking distance to Pekan Rabu. We got a good govt. rate from my sis-inlaw who works in Tourism for 3 rooms.

Around 3:30pm, after refreshing ourselves, we headed to Bukit Kayu Hitam. It was decided last minutely, papa nak sangat pegi, so we obliged! The journey took about 45minutes. We parked our car at the duty free complex. We did the most crazy thing!! You wouldn't believe it!! All of us walked thru the Thai border town of Sadao, without our passports!!! Imagine all of us buat muka selamba jer walking passed the check-point of both the Malaysian and Thai immigration, as if we're locals!! Nasib baik takda masaalah...hehehe.


Jadi, sempatlah semua orang bershopping sakan. I think my bro and my sis-inlaw paling banyak membeli-belah. Huby and i bought a few shirts and t-shirts. The price is very cheap. Before we leave, we all stopped by a muslim restoran and had early dinner around 6:30pm.

We ordered Tomyam campur, telor bungkus, daging masak merah, kangkung belacan and kerabu mangga and some ulam with drinks and it only cost us RM60 for 6 of us.....cheap giler...plus sedap giler... The food really differs from the one that we usually had in KL, it is really authentic and differs in both quality and quantity. We all enjoyed it!! Puas hati!! We didn't order much cos we're still quite full and we didn't order chicken cos we bought 'Ayam Pulut'....a local delicacy that mama wanna introduce to us and we tapau it for supper.

Huby said we had to cross the border before dark cos he doesn't want to encounter any problems.....cos tak biasa mah!! Alhamdulilah, we reached back hotel at around 8:30 but not before having to wait a long time cos of the jam at the immigration.

At 9:30pm, mama, papa, bro n SIL came to our room for supper. I made tea while SIL peeled some mangoes and we all had the 'Ayam Pulut'. It is actually fried chicken to be eaten with pulut, bawang goreng and cicah with Thai sos.....okeylah, not bad. Dah kenyang, semua orang balik ke bilik hotel masing-masing.

2nd November 2007, Friday

Everybody meet at coffee-house for breakfast at 8:30am. After breakfast went back to the room to pack. At 10:00am, meet again at the lobby to walk to Pekan Rabu. Beli some kerepek, keropok and the famous asam jawa for own consume. Left hotel at 11:00am and drove straight to Penang. We all decided to take the ferry to the island for some nostalgic memories. Its been years since all of us took the ferry. Best giler!! Macam jakun, amik-amik gambar sampai tak sedar ferry dah nak dock. Drove to town cos the guys need to go for their Friday prayers. Luckily dapat parking sebelah masjid. While the guys went praying, i took the 2 girls jalan-jalan along Kings road to do some window shopping. Rasa macam tourist. Penang is going thru face-lift....some of the roads were being paved for a new look!

After prayers, had lunch at Yasmeen Nasi Kandar (just beside 'Line-Clear rest) A must everytime go Penang is having telor ikan and telor sotong and kari campoq + bendi and to be eaten with sirap limau....pehh....out of this world!!.

Checked in Vistana Hotel, took the 3 bedroom apartment, generously sponsored by beloved papa. While the food is fully taken care of us. We took the apartment cos they have a big hall for us to lepak, with dining hall where we can have our breakfast and a complete kitchen!! With 2 big rooms and 1 medium size room. I recommend this place for families!!

In the evening, visited my Uncle Lan who just moved-in to a new condo, Bayswater, just next to Tesco Jelutong. They've got beautiful pools and great facilities, nice place and very well kept. After that we checked-out Tesco and did some grocerries shopping for our stay in the apartment. We all had dinner at Restoran Khaleel which is just behind Vistana.....the food kureng sikit lar, just like the one in KL.

3rd November 2007, Saturday

Huby n me woke up at 7:00am to go out and buy breakfast at the Pasar Bayan Lepas (near Sunshine supermarket). Huby expert cari jalan and cari places to buy food so we reached the place in no time. Bought roti canai, roti telor, tosai, upuma, apam telor, some kuih. Price is still cheap and food sedap. Had breakfast at the apartment. 10:00am, went to Chowrasta to have takua-rendang, mee goreng and mee rebus. Shopping and bought some jeruk-jeruk and ikan kering at the pasar. Then jalan-jalan Lebuh Campbell.

Lunch at Uncle Man's place at Island Glades. Anty Nora cooked kari ikan, udang sambal, daging black pepper, fried chicken and some ulam-ulaman with sambal belacan kelapa with the help of her 2 daughters, Riffa and Farra. All of us berselera makan home-cooked food, dessert was fresh n sweet watermelon. They will be moving to KL end of this month. After lunch we all adjourned to Queensbay Mall, the newest mall in town. The place is huge but most of the tenants can be found in KL....kira oklah, at least Penang people have somewhere to go lar. Nak pi Jusco but papa said, kat KL pun ada Jusco jugak...hahaha. We spend about an hour there. Penat jugak jalan cos the place is quite long. The mall got a nice sea-front view, very airy and beautiful landscape.


After Queensbay, went to town to eat Mee Sultan at Swatow Lane. Oya, the day before we all semua sempat pi Swatow Lane, ingat nak pi cari Popia tapi unfortunately dah move somewhere else. The New World complex is very nice but we didn't eat there. We all had Mee Sultan at his restoran, just a few roads away from the New World, itupun huby yang jumpa the place. Perut pun ada tempat lagi, so we all had mee goreng and mee rebus...memang tiada tandingannya!!

Before going back to the hotel, we bought 6 packets of nasi lemak for dinner at the apartment. We didn't go out that nite cos its resting time furtheremore its drizzling.

4th November 2007, Sunday.

We're supposed to check-out today and leave Penang. But my parents rasa tak puas duduk Penang and huby pun okey plus the rest pun unanimously agreed to extend another nite...yahuu!! Huby surprised me in the morning, said wana buy breakfast, instead he took me to Jalan Dato Keramat to look for POPIA!!! yayyy... I'm so impressed with him cos he managed to find the place and memang rezeki!!! We found the POPIA guy! My parents punyelah seronok dapat menikmati popia yang paling sedap dan enak di Penang...hehehe..


Lunch at Restoran Deen at Jelutong, memang sedap!! We used to frequent the place tapi now the food is a lot better and more choices. If you wanna go there, go early. By 2pm the lauk dah tak berapa banyak.

Went to Gurney Plaza. I just love the mall cos they have shops that are not found in KL. Lepak there for about 1 and 1/2hour. Went to Mee Sultan again!! Tak puas makan sekali, kena pi dua kali, hehehe. Then went to Chowrasta cos papa wana eat Sarbat and takua rendang but unfortunately the stall is closed!! Takda rezeki. Balik apartment and rehat.

Since got plenty of time before dinner, sempat went 4 a massage at Salju Sanctuary wit mama while huby,bro & SIL went 4 swimming at the hotel pool. Massage was good n price reasonable. Lama tak massage, rasa badan lenguh2 needed to be rejuvenated!! We all went for the 'Tradisional Massage' and it was good indeed. Both of us are were very satisfied. Nak pi for spa but masa takda pulak...hmmm...maybe next time.

After maghrib, went to Penang road for the famous Sup Hameed. Had nasi lemak bungkus with sup ekor, sup ayam, roti canai, murtabak....memang best!! An incident happended, Penang was hit by a freak storm. We were caught in it. Never in my life, seing plate flying, chairs flying becos of the strong wind and rain. Mama takut, so we all went inside the restoran cos earlier we had our dinner at the kaki-lima. Our next agenda was to go to Batu Feringghi for their famous pasar malam but it was cancelled cos of the storm and rain. In the end, we all went back hotel. Tapau pasembor and roti from Malia Bakery for supper. Don't eat Hameed's pasembor, tak sedap!

5th November 2007, Monday

Time to pack!! All of us had Nasi Kandar at Pasar Bayan Lepas for breakfast, kira last kopek lar...pagi-pagi dah bedal nasi, hehehe. But people in Penang, really have nasi kandar for breakfast. In fact at the stall, people are queuing up for the nasi kandar as early as 7am.

Then singgah and visit mama's cousin's house just nearby. Balik Vistana to collect our bags. Checked out around 12:30pm and went to Bukit Jambul complex just behind the hotel. Jalan-jalan till 2pm. We took the bridge to go back to Seberang Jaya. Bye-bye Penang, we all had a great time, food is good and hope to visit again in the near future.

Make a stop at Juru R&R for lunch. Had a leisure drive back to KL. Made a stop at Bukit Gantang R&R to buy some fruits. Made the last stop at Ulu Bernam R&R for early dinner around 7pm. Had the so-called famous Zul's mee kari....okeylah. Then head back to KL. Alhamdulilah reached Kelana Jaya at 8:30pm. Dropped our parents, had supper there and around 11pm reached Shah Alam....home-sweet-home...