Looking out our window on the 23rd floor of Traders across at the Towers and KLCC, I can see a steady rain falling. Not a good day to be driving 4 hours north to Penang but that's the plan.
We grab the hotel buggy across to KLCC and have breakfast at one of the cafes. The shops don't open until 10am but already the cafes are busy. There is the Gobo Chit Chat cafe at Traders but like most big hotels, their charge for breakfast just isn't good value, notwithstanding the food and service is first class.
As we've done on previous trips, we've grabbed a cardboard box from the hotel, and packed most of the clothing and bits and pieces we've bought along the way. The tip is to buy a roll of strong packing tape and a felt pen and wrap it yourself as they don't have much in the way of parcel post here. Taking the box to the Post Office we pay $30 and save exhorbitant excess baggage rates when we fly home.
After breakfast we head off in the rain to find the Hawk car Rental office which is located behind the Eastern and Oriental Hotel. But they are doing construction work and in the rain, we get totally lost until a kind cabbie stops and drives us 500 metres to the Hawk office which was in the opposite direction to where we were heading. He wants nothing for the ride but we slip him 10 ringits (about $3) for being so kind.
I'd not previously booked the car online but Farad organises a small 4-door sedan and says he will deliver it to the hotel for us. In future, we'll book online... much easier and you get a better choice of cars. We used Hawk last time we were in Malaysia when we drove 3000 kms and they were good to deal with.
So back to the hotel and pack again. After a while you get organised and know where everything is and can pack well. It seems that most of my bag is taken up with chargers for phones, cameras, ipods and all the conversion plugs and cables! If not for those I could get by with a small backpack!
Promptly at 12 noon Farad arrives at the front of the hotel with a black Proton Wira. It is raining hard and the hotel staff are busy with private cars and cabs coming and going. He needs photocopies of out passport and drivers licence, so our car causes a bit of a problem blocking the driveway while the concierge send the documents upstairs.
Soon enough we bid Traders goodbye and we stop just up the street and fit the new TomTom GPS I bought a few days ago. There is no way I'd be able to find my way out of the city traffic without it. Hey Ben... I wonder if this one will send us around the Twin Towers a coupleof times... LOL!
The GPS is spot on and despite the heavy traffic and rain, we are soon heading north on a 3-lane highway heading for Ipoh. The traffic is fairly light and it's just like driving back home except these freeways are much better. There doesn't seem to be any cops around as the black Mercs, Beamers and Ferraris spin past at close to 160 kph. They are impatient too... they fly up behind you with lights flashing... I just tootle along at the 110 kph speed limit.
We can't get over all the high rise apartment buildings in the outskirts of the city... and they are building more all the time. But the architecture of the buildings is different to back home. There is a kind of pleasant look about them. But it is obvious why all the roads are becoming clogged.
We drive north through occasional heavy rain and after about 2 hours we stop at an R&R... gas station, toilet facilities and small many food stalls selling traditional Malaysian food as well as the odd Western chain like KFC. We choose Nasi Nemak which is about $3 and very tasty. Liz finds 1... yes just 1, western toilet in the extensive ladies washrooms! Lucky that... she refuses to use the squat toilets. Amazingly, there are a whole line of western toilets in the cubicles in the mens washroom.
Continuing north we are suddenly stopped about 30 kms from Penang... seems there has been an accident as ambulances and police cars rush up the breakdown lane. After a half hour delay we pass 2 cars total wrecks. No wonder, the speeds they do on these freeways is insane. I wouldn't expect any survivors from this prang.
We are about 10 kms from the Penang Bridge when the low fuel light comes on. I hope and pray that we'll make it across without running out of gas... the bridge is 11 kilometres long! The GPS tellsus there is a Caltex just 3 kms past the end of the bridge so we gingerly drive to conserve fuel and make it to the Caltex. Over here you must pay for fuel in advance so I top the tank with 100 ringits ($30) worth of fuel... not bad for a 5 hour 250 km trip.
The GPS is programmed to take us to the Yeng Keng Hotel in Chulia Street which is right in the heart of Georgetown's Chinatown and after winding our way through the narrow back streets lined with old Chinese shophouses we arrive at our hotel. It's a refurbished old heritage building and is an oasis in the middle of the bustling hive of activity of Chulia Street.
It's about 6pm and the old town is coming to life with
the street hawkers setting up and the night lights blazing. There are
people everywhere, many walking the streets and many more sitting on
plastic chairs enjoying the amazing flavours of Penang's street hawkers.
We choose to eat at the Tek Sen Restaurant, a famous old Penang eatery down in nearby Carnarvon Street. A 5 minute walk and we arrive to find it packed but they quickly find us a table. No plastic chairs and tables here... only low, 3-legged metal stools and metal tables. I've not been here but I've read about it and they say the food is sensational so we order friend rice and a couple of other dishes and find they were right. This is Haianese cooking at its best and a couple of cheap Tigers washes it all down.
Back out on the streets and we watch the street hawkers whipping up dishes at the speed of light. The smoke from some of the woks is overwhelming as the cooks wield their flat cooking spoons with dexterity and skill to produce amazing, and cheap food.
We pass by Love Lane on the way back to the hotel and ironically a couple of working girls are standing nearby. Some may call all this seedy but it's life in an Asian city and adds to the charm and excitement of it all... the street hawkers, the street girls (and some boy/girls too!), the tourists and the locals who often go about with a bemused look, makes it an adventure and one that we love.
Liz falls into bed and is immediately asleep... the torrential rain starts outside and turns into a tropical storm. I look out the window by the yellow light of the street lamps and neon signs, see water spearing off the roofs and the gutters overflowing. The streets will get a good cleaning tonight.
We grab the hotel buggy across to KLCC and have breakfast at one of the cafes. The shops don't open until 10am but already the cafes are busy. There is the Gobo Chit Chat cafe at Traders but like most big hotels, their charge for breakfast just isn't good value, notwithstanding the food and service is first class.
As we've done on previous trips, we've grabbed a cardboard box from the hotel, and packed most of the clothing and bits and pieces we've bought along the way. The tip is to buy a roll of strong packing tape and a felt pen and wrap it yourself as they don't have much in the way of parcel post here. Taking the box to the Post Office we pay $30 and save exhorbitant excess baggage rates when we fly home.
After breakfast we head off in the rain to find the Hawk car Rental office which is located behind the Eastern and Oriental Hotel. But they are doing construction work and in the rain, we get totally lost until a kind cabbie stops and drives us 500 metres to the Hawk office which was in the opposite direction to where we were heading. He wants nothing for the ride but we slip him 10 ringits (about $3) for being so kind.
I'd not previously booked the car online but Farad organises a small 4-door sedan and says he will deliver it to the hotel for us. In future, we'll book online... much easier and you get a better choice of cars. We used Hawk last time we were in Malaysia when we drove 3000 kms and they were good to deal with.
So back to the hotel and pack again. After a while you get organised and know where everything is and can pack well. It seems that most of my bag is taken up with chargers for phones, cameras, ipods and all the conversion plugs and cables! If not for those I could get by with a small backpack!
Promptly at 12 noon Farad arrives at the front of the hotel with a black Proton Wira. It is raining hard and the hotel staff are busy with private cars and cabs coming and going. He needs photocopies of out passport and drivers licence, so our car causes a bit of a problem blocking the driveway while the concierge send the documents upstairs.
Soon enough we bid Traders goodbye and we stop just up the street and fit the new TomTom GPS I bought a few days ago. There is no way I'd be able to find my way out of the city traffic without it. Hey Ben... I wonder if this one will send us around the Twin Towers a coupleof times... LOL!
The GPS is spot on and despite the heavy traffic and rain, we are soon heading north on a 3-lane highway heading for Ipoh. The traffic is fairly light and it's just like driving back home except these freeways are much better. There doesn't seem to be any cops around as the black Mercs, Beamers and Ferraris spin past at close to 160 kph. They are impatient too... they fly up behind you with lights flashing... I just tootle along at the 110 kph speed limit.
We drive north through occasional heavy rain and after about 2 hours we stop at an R&R... gas station, toilet facilities and small many food stalls selling traditional Malaysian food as well as the odd Western chain like KFC. We choose Nasi Nemak which is about $3 and very tasty. Liz finds 1... yes just 1, western toilet in the extensive ladies washrooms! Lucky that... she refuses to use the squat toilets. Amazingly, there are a whole line of western toilets in the cubicles in the mens washroom.
Continuing north we are suddenly stopped about 30 kms from Penang... seems there has been an accident as ambulances and police cars rush up the breakdown lane. After a half hour delay we pass 2 cars total wrecks. No wonder, the speeds they do on these freeways is insane. I wouldn't expect any survivors from this prang.
Liz falls into bed and is immediately asleep... the torrential rain starts outside and turns into a tropical storm. I look out the window by the yellow light of the street lamps and neon signs, see water spearing off the roofs and the gutters overflowing. The streets will get a good cleaning tonight.
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