The Cube

This was actually taken when flight took off from Singapore

I had about 2 weeks holidays just before Christmas to a week after new year - one of those mandatory leave. I started off with Luang Prabang, then KL followed with short stops in Alor Setar and Penang. Singapore was my last stop before I fly back to Melbourne. One of the main reasons was because there isn't many direct flights to and out of KL. Malaysia Airlines was too expensive, Air Asia wasn't cheap either plus they have now move to Avalon Airport which I am trying to avoid. Expensive and far isn't a tempting choice. I departed Singapore on Scoot and have some time to visit my friends in Singapore, which means food!


Dian Xiao Er
I landed in Singapore just in time for dinner on a Thursday night. To save time my friend travelled closer to the airport and we had dinner at Tampines One. For some reason I read Tampines as Tam-pines but it is actually Tam-pi-nes (the pi is not pronounced as π).

Herbal roast duck

Sambal squid and petai

Baby kailan

I think this is house made tofu

If memory doesn't fail me this is likely tian ji

Killiney Kopitiam
This time Moo moo cow brought me to the first Killiney Kopitiam on 67 Killiney Road, Singapore. The shop front existed since 1919 but the koptiam was only named as Killiney in 1993. The shop setting in this shop is still very traditional feel with hanging fans, wooden stool and white tiles wall.

Kaya toast with soft boiled egg. Curry chicken and roti canai at the back

French toast!

Crave
Lunch was at Crave to have some Malay style nasi lemak. Umm... I prefer Malaysian's nasi lemak, maybe my taste bud is trained so...


I had the kuning fish set and moo moo cow had the chicken wing set. Add on squid and spicy thai otah to try.


Heytea
Bubble tea is taking the world by storm. This one is from China and popular for their cheese tea. We shared the grapefruit boom tea.



Fishball noodles at neighbourhood food court
This was my breakfast... hahaha. No photos of dinner the night before but it was zichar at another neighbourhood food court. Hehe.



I am truly blessed with amazing friends. They took made an effort to spent time with me, not only that they paid for my meals too.


Side note: Please remember to carry your passport if you are shopping for tourist tax refund! ... I forgot :(

This is me being a little lazy but it summaries some of the food I had in Malaysia. Most of it you can get them all over Malaysia, after all good food must be shared but some I don't see in other states.

For example laksa. There are so many different types of laksa depending where you are from. In Sarawak, you have Laksa Sarawak. In Penang or the northern states, when we say laksa, we mean asam laksa but in KL laksa usually refers to curry noodles. They are not the same dish. If you want asam laksa, you need to be specify that it is asam laksa that you are looking for. The one I like and have in Alor Setar is a mix of asam and lemak laksa. Or you can get Laksa Teluk Kechai.

Or Hokkien mee is actually prawn noodles in the northern states but in KL, they are stir fry dark brown thick noodles. It is a different version in Singapore. Another version commonly found in the northern states of Kedah or Penang is hokkien lor which is a mixture of prawn noodles and lor mien (hokkien braised noodles) broth.


Side note: I'm still trying to "condition" my tongue and taste bud to accept Malaysian food in Melbourne...

Kids on Bicycle

Probably the most famous street art in Penang. It has been many years but I've finally managed to get myself to Lebuh Armenian to see it for myself. At least it is still there. I should probably make it clear that despite I travelled to Penang as a tourist but I have been to Penang a few times in the past and I just wanted to have a relaxing holiday, eat some good food and catch up with my friends.


Getting to Penang from Alor Setar
I tried out the train option this time. Tickets can be bought on the spot, just before getting on the train. Trains run hourly. Here's the link to the train schedule from Alor Setar train station. Train fare is RM7.10 and it takes just passed an hour to get to Butterworth. My friend sent me to the station at Anak Bukit (one station before Alor Setar) for higher chances to get a seat as it could get a bit busy at Alor Setar train station.
Note: I also took a train from KL to Alor Setar so you could take the train from KL to Butterworth.

Signs on the train

Get off at Butterworth station and walk towards the jetty to get on a ferry towards the island. Ferry ticket cost RM1.20 and it is only chargeable when one travels from Butterworth to Penang. It is free of charge if you travel from the island. The ride is only 15-20 minutes. It is a very fuss-free ferry that transports human on the upper level and vehicles on the lower.




Staying at Vintage House, Georgetown
I booked 2 nights stay at Vintage House on Lebuh Victoria. I booked a room with shared bath but never had to wait for my turn to use the bathroom. The place was clean and comfortable with great location. The host, Cheah was friendly and hospitable, she even sent me recommended food places on whatsapp.




Street Art in Georgetown
Dotted across town, you'll see welded iron wall caricatures and street art. The iron caricatures tell historical facts in comic form. The street art, though, was started by Ernest Zacharevic, a Lithuanian-born artist who stayed temporarily in Penang. In addition, I think there are more street art by other artists around town. Of note is 101 Lost Kittens project by a group of artists to create awareness of finding homes for stray animals.

Here's the link to the street art brochure. I got a hard copy map from the guesthouse.

Property

I noticed there were more on the map I was given compared to the one on the brochure though, but some are found on my random walks and not on the map.

Boy on Chair

Old motorcycle

Chew Jetty
Chew Jetty is a clan jetty and consists of 75 elevated houses, several Chinese temples and many tourist facilities linked by elevated wooden walkways.





Penang Hill (Bukit Bendera)
Penang Hill is a hill resort of a group of Peaks (online brochure link here). This is away from Georgetown but in the suburb of Air Itam. In English it is more commonly referred to as Penang Hill but in Malay language, it is known as Bukit Bendera which refers to Flagstaff Hill, the most developed peak. In Mandarin, it is 升旗山 (Shēngqí Shān), which is also the Flagstaff Hill.

I was informed by Cheah from the guesthouse that there is a bus to Penang Hill but was very lucky because my friends drove me there. On my second day in Penang, I caught up with 2 of my friends. After lunch they drove me around and to Penang Hill.

Funicular ticket, return, adult: RM30 for non MyKad holder. We went at some random time (I think was +/-4pm, so it was no queue at all but it was packed on our way down though. There are many things to do in Penang Hill and one of my friend previously did Owl Museum. We decided to do The Habitat as none of us has been. The Habitat consisted of a collection of rails and walkway to see our preserved rainforest. We got the standard entrance ticket (RM53) and would need to leave by 7pm as there is a more expensive sunset ticket (RM74.20) which allows one to stay till 8pm.






After we were ushered out of The Habitat, we had a little snack at Cliff Cafe then went to the Skydeck (east) for night view.



Penang Avatar Secret Garden
This is a project by MBI which turns a small park into a neon fantasy aka Avatar. It is found behind Thai Pak Koong Temple Tanjong Tokong. Entrance is fee but someone will approach you for parking fee collection. In front of the parking area is a beach area which is filled up with some statues of Chinese under the sea legend.




Eat Penang Hokkien food - Restoran Hock Chuan Heong
Penang is famous for yummy local food and there are lists all over the internet so I won't add to it. Besides I didn't specifically hunt down those. What I want to introduce is this place that my friend brought me to. It is a restaurant serving good Hokkien dishes, I quote what my friend said, "authentic Penang Hokkien food." The shop name is Restoran Hock Chuan Heong 福泉香饭店 (Hock Chuan Heong restaurant). Address: (Gat Lebuh Cecil), 344-G-5, Pengkalan Weld, 10300 Penang.

I didn't have any photos as we were starving and they are not into taking pictures before eating. I'm going to put a link to a Penang food blog that shows food pictures. We ordered the same thing except tau kua suan na (beancurd and leeks). All the other tables pretty much ordered similar dishes actually. The dishes to try are or chien (fried oyster omelette), fried tanghoon (fried cellophane noodles), or mee (oyster noodles), hei kean (deep fried prawn fritters), bak kee tng (fried pork pieces soup). Not only I don't have photos of the food I don't even remember how much it cost as my friends paid for it upfront and we split the bill after. Sorry!


Merry Me Ice-cream
If you want ice-cream with local flavours you can try Merry Me Ice-cream. In terms of ice-cream they are ok (but I think it is expensive). If I want to eat ice-cream, by all means they are a good try. I also applaud them to be creative. If you want to eat tau sar piah, just go and eat the real thing. I'm old school in that sense. Single scoop RM7.90, double scoop 12.90 + RM1 for salted egg cookies. They are on the sweeter side of spectrum.

When you are glutton, you had 2 ice-cream by yourself - salted egg cookies & cream and kacang tumbuk

Side note: I'm really enjoying this travel show - 周遊東京 (Think you know Tokyo?). Wonder why I didn't try watching before lol.

Old meets new meets newer

It has been awhile since I make a trip back to Alor Setar but there's no place like home. I am currently residing at another country now but Alor Setar is always home.


A walk in the city


Alor Setar isn't big. One of my English teacher in secondary school once referred Alor Setar as a 10 minute town (see - to us, it is always a town) because one can get to anywhere in Alor Setar in 10 minutes.

I started my walk from around City Plaza, it is one of the older shopping complex. The "newest" kid in town is Aman Central (at the top of the map).


I made a detour to see a school with a big patch of field just because.. but it is not exactly an attraction. Anyway, from here you can walk to the square which houses a big fountain and some historical buildings. Along the way, you'll pass by many shophouses, some older than others.






If you are walking along Jalan Langgar and reaches the crossroad with Jalan Raja, you'll see an old post office building.


Turn right into Jalan Raja, i.e the post office will be on your left after turning and you will see more shophouses on your right. After a row of about 6 shophouses, you'll see a small laneway named Lorong Thean Kee. These are residential area, right smack in the city.



If you didn't turn in to have a look and continued on Jalan Raja, you will reached this structure to commemorate Alor Setar's 250th year.


See the tower at the background of the photo? Walk towards the direction of the tower. The building with yellow banners is Kedah State Art Gallery (Balai Seni Negeri Kedah). The building was built in 1912 for a courthouse and is one of the earliest modern building built in Alor Setar. According to the website, entrance is free and open daily from 9:00am to 5:00 pm with a short break on Fridays from 12:30pm to 2:30pm. This is likely for the Friday prayers. Weekends in Alor Setar is Friday and Saturday. Also close on Hari Raya Aidilfitri and Hari Raya Aidiladha days.


Facing this art gallery stands a big fountain. I was there during daytime so I am not sure if they still light up at night. In the past, there were lights at the bottom of the pool and different colour lights lit up when water shot up, the crown at the top would rotate concurrently.

Spot the yellow dome! That's the stately clock tower

On the left back stood Zahir Mosque (Masjid Zahir). I am bias but this is one of the most beautiful mosque. Zahir Mosque was built in 1912 with design inspired by Azizi Mosque from Sumatera. The grounds where this mosque stood was a graveyard for passing soldiers who protected Kedah from Siamese attack a 100 years prior in 1812.


On the right back of the fountain you can see a tower, that's the Alor Setar Tower. It is actually a telecommunication tower and officially opened on 14th August 1997. I've been to the outdoor observation deck that is at 88 metres high but not the 360° revolving restaurants. Non mykad (Malaysian identity card) holder adult pays RM18.

Opposite from Zahir Mosque, i.e. back to the square where the fountain is located, you'll also find Kedah Royal Museum (Muzium Diraja).


This is the archway to get into the museum. This is not the state museum but one that exhibits collections from the Kedah royal families. The building was completed in 1735 and was formerly a palace. A few of the Kedah's Sultans previously resided here. Subsequently it was taken over by the Japanese soldiers during the World War 2. In 1983 it went through restoration and officiated as a museum in 1983.

Adjacent to this is Balai Besar or possibly can be translated as Great Hall. It was built in 1735 to handle royal official functions including wedding ceremonies and installation of a new sultan.



A little to the right of this building (your left if you are facing Balai Besar) is Balai Nobat or Hall of Drums. Nobat refers to royal orchestra. The initial building was opened in 1735 but this one here was rebuilt in 1906. It is octagonal in shape and used to store musical instruments of the royal orchestra. It is not opened for public.



Paddy Museum (Muzium Padi)
Kedah is Malaysia's rice bowl so naturally this is also where you can find a museum on paddy. This is a located in Gunung Keriang, 8km from the city centre. It was opened on 12th October 2004 by Kedah Sultan. There are 3 floors exhibiting things related to paddy. There is a rotating platform on level 3 showcasing a panoramic model of traditional village with paddy fields. Adult entrance fee RM5. It was raining so we didn't cross over to Gunung Keriang.






Wat Nikrodharam
This Siamese Buddhist temple complex is pretty much referred to as Siam Wat in Alor Setar. I'm not even sure if any one I know is aware of this name of the wat. It is a Buddhist temple but the structure has strong Siamese influence. There are 2 long low tables in one of the buildings where students can use to study.





Caffe Diem
One of those newer hipster cafe in Alor Setar. Definitely only in recent years. My friend recommends this cafe for cakes. I didn't take a photo of the cake but here are a couple on the interior. It is located in Pekan Cina (Chinatown). It is literally Chinatown when translated to English but nobody calls it Chinatown in Alor Setar. We went at night after dinner but on the way there I saw this Lau Tak Kee chinese restaurant where my father used to buy hainanese chicken or char siew rice when I was a kid. It was yummm... It was been many years and if they are still in business, they must be good!




This is how you can spend a day in Alor Setar and you will still have time to shop in Aman Central and run errands haha.


Side note: Do you know that on average Europeans use 6kg of rice a year while Asians use 50kg a day?