We decided to head to Penang for our family trip this year. Only Allan, Ethan & I took the trip as Justin's still in Japan and Brandon had committed to a prior engagement.
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| Look at the long stretch of road filled with cars |
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| Ethan chilling at the back. |
A typical 4-hour drive became close to 8 hours. Finally reached our accommodations, Carnarvon House at 6pm 😅
I immediately fell in love with our room and the whole heritage ambience of the house.
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| Armenian Room. The largest room in the house. Located on the 2nd floor. |
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| Not recommended for the elderly or the very young as steps are really narrow & steep |
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| Corridor leading to other rooms & to the shared bathrooms located right at the back. |
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| View of the breakfast area from the stairs |
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| The ornately carved wooden partition dividing the entrance from the inner sections of the house. |
At the time of our stay, they were renovating the house next door, getting it ready to receive guests by the 1st of January 2019. Hence the piles of boxes & beddings you see stacked up behind the wooden partition.
The business owner of Carnavon House, Terry, his mom & Betty (she's kinda like the operations manager...for want of a better description of what she does) are all very friendly & helpful. It's like staying with friends, yet still giving you your 'private space'.
After freshening up, we headed out looking for typical Penang hawker fare for our dinner. Betty gave us some tips & advice on where to go, and we immediately decided to walk to Lebuh Kimberley because it was the nearest. The moment we saw the crowds, we knew we had reached our destination. Every eatery (or coffeeshop as we call it in Malaysia) was packed to the brim and the din from workers yelling out orders and people chatting away was so unmistakeably the Malaysian makan culture scene :D
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| Long queue for the famous Kimberley Street Duck Koay Chap |
We were too hungry so decided not to queue & opted for other types of food instead. Will have to try this the next time we visit Penang again.
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| The 'phoenix claw' (a more refined name for chicken feet) was so smooth & delicious. Unlike their wrinkled cousins we get in KL. |
Allan ordered some type of soupy noodle (I can't remember the name), Ethan had Hokkien Mee (or Prawn Mee/Mee Yoke as we know it in KL) whilst I had my favourite...Char Koay Teow with duck egg! :D
In my opinion, it's almost impossible to find less than delicious hawker fare in Penang. All the dishes we ordered tasted great, even though they did not have the 'badge of recognition' of long queues of people waiting for their turn to order.
Happily satiated, we decided to explore the nearby streets as the night was still young. Luckily for us, we turned onto a street with some interactive street art along the road leading into the Grand Swiss Hotel.
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| Ethan trying his hand at being a 'penarik beca' (rickshaw puller) |
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| Mr Bean has an equally 'crazy' passenger lol! |
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| I personally like how this photo turned out. The chair is 2D yet Allan & Ethan look like they're actually sitting on it. Nice! |
We passed Lebuh Chulia, but the pub scene wasn't really our thing. So we headed towards the Clan Jetties instead.
The brightly lit entrance & walkway of this jetty caught our eye so we headed straight for it. Turns out, it was the Lee Clan Jetty. Not the biggest clan jetty I was later told, but still, I found it interesting enough.
Took the customary shots and then headed back to our lodgings to call it a night. We were tired from the long drive to Penang and wanted to be totally refreshed for tomorrow's adventure! :D
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| Panaromic view from the edge of the jetty. |
