Play Play In Penang
I woke up around 10 something to see, of all things, people playing RISK. After a quick shower, a group of us went off to visit the beach at the Rasa Sayang Hotel.
I saw a lot going on the beach, there were some japanese folks sun bathing, some guy was parasailing (eee...parasailing...I wonder if I would have enough guts to do that one day.), there were also this lady learning to do tai chi from this old fella (I presume one of the hotel employees) and there were even people set up some kind of tent to provide foot &/or back massages.
Penang beach was kinda pretty cuz it glitters a bit from tiny pebbles. There was also boulders…I don’t know what’s my sakai fascination with the boulders on the beach. I guess my imagination subconsciously assumed that all boulders protruding from the waters has something mystical about it, something that’s just sitting there, begging to be explored. I mean who knows right? Maybe eons eons EONS ago a mermaid sat on one of these boulders while all her pretty mermaid friends swam and played around.
Okay, that may have been a tad overboard, heh, I mean if it’s long, long, long ago the boulder prolly was still part of a cliff or something.
The sand is very different from Brunei sand, ours are soft and powdery whereas Penang sand is kinda rough and exfoliates while you joyfully burrow your feet into it. It has more feel to it I guess. I wouldn’t mind being buried from the neck down in that sand, no need spa lo, 100% natural.
Still, have to be careful where you step, cuz joy of all joys there are horses on them beaches. A ride on them was about RM40 which was no fun since mostly what you do is sit on them while they lead the horse around by the halter. Bo-ring! Hee, I would rather ride the horse on a full gallop right down the beach, and perhaps break my neck along the way. XD Sadly though, the horses looked thin and malnourished even though they were all sporting shiny coats and a full mane. Cicak kinda got stuck on top of one. Hee Hee.
After visiting the beach, we had breakfast at one of the many cafes along the road. I dunno if I was hungry or what, but it was one of best omeletes I had in a long time. I love trying out omeletes in new places that serve them. I like to think a simple omelets can tell the diner a lot about the chef who made it. What I don’t like is the French fries. Why do people always serve French fries with omeletes? A toast would be nice or even a salad maybe, but French fries for breakfast? Meh.
Afternoon we all head out for lunch. Penang chow kuay teow wasn’t at all what I expected. I love chow kuay teow, next to kolo lau shu fen and kway chat soup, so I was kinda looking forward to it. Turns the Penang chow kuay teow is a lot of chow, little soy sauce and lots of little extras like mussles and small prawns. Keeps the meal interesting I guess.
Quin ordered laksa for herself but she let me have a bit of taste. Oh, that one taste was as good as it smells. I’m actually salivating from the memory.
Okay, that green drink right there, I have no idea what it is. I think it was either nutmeg or guava, or both, I dunno. The fella asked me what I wanted to drink first in hokkien then I went something like “Huh?” in mandarin, then the fella kindly repeated what he said in mandarin and I was like “Huh?” again. In my head though, I was thinking, “Siap!” I heard something like suan mei in there somewhere so I said, “Er, suan mei…” The man nodded and disappeared into the back of the café. What just happened? A few minutes later he brought my drinks along with the others. *sweat* It was green with one sad looking 'suan mei' blobbling in it.
I knew I should’ve ordered something simple like cendol or barley. Thing is they put black sugar or gula melaka in their cendol so it’s something I just haven’t gotten used to just yet. The cendol I usually have at Simpur KB contains syrup, not black sugar…although some of them do but I always request them not to…like I said, I haven’t gotten used to the taste of it yet.
We went biscuit hunting after that. Terror some of the shops there I tell you, a simple biscuit shop with a nice looking lau pan in front can also sell a shopping catalogue displaying the latest in samurai swords and katana. Steady la.
After we secured a few boxes of biscuits, we all went off to spend the afternoon at a shopping plaza. Again don’t ask me where it was, cuz I have no idea. Poor PB had this ridiculous verbal misunderstanding with the basement parking ticket booth attendant. I think they need to re-educate that guy cuz he can’t seem to understand a bit of what PB was saying, in malay or otherwise. In fact, I don’t think the guy is registering that someone is speaking to him at all. He could be an android repeating the same words over and over in his built in recorder. Then the smart fella, who didn’t have enough change in his cashier to pay PB the balance, went off to the other booths to look for change. Good. Smart. Rajin. BUT, he left his cash register full of $$$ wide open. Good. Smart. Rajin. Employee of the month I tell you.
We were going bowling but then last minute changed to playing pool instead. I was kinda relieved, cuz I have no idea how to bowl and not really sure if I would like it, you know, that a clumsy, accident prone person like me, tossing a heavy dangerous object around. Not a good idea I tell you. Pool, I really like cuz I injure less people that way, including myself. You see there’s a lot of pool & snooker places around Brunei, so my friends and I spent many our college nights out in them. (Of course, always during our free time when there were no classes held, when exams were either over or not due and especially after we all finished our homework and assignments.) :P
So, when we’re done with that, we all went back to the apartment to shower or just relax. Then Sala and gang presented Pictionary the board game.
Omg, Pictionary…rofl. The rest is history. We spent a good hour or so laughing our heads off pointing at each others’ artistic monstrosity. Poor Eekie, she was already not feeling well at the start of the trip and there she is laughing so hard in her hoarse voice. But she couldn’t help laughing and neither could the rest of us. Haha. Even now while I’m typing this I’m still smiling at the memory. God, I have to get that game one day and have a go at it with my friends.
Memorable Artistic Highlights of Pictionary:-
‘Da Foot’ by Sala
‘Dic-tator’ by PB & Eekie
‘Down Under’ by Mareen (me)
‘West Monster’ by Quin
‘Accelerator’ by Mach
‘Dysfunctional Dolphin’ by Quin
‘Shark Dog’ by Gary
‘Air Rage’ by Eekie
‘Tedious Teddy’ by Spire
Sala has the original drawings and if he scans some of them, I will put them up in this entry but for now you will just have to use your imagination. ^_^
Only hunger drove us all out of the apartment and into Gurney for more hawker food. I will always remember the roasted chicken feet PB bought for me. Eeee, I want to go back and have some more. We also had one ton mien, (wan tan mien or what we call kolomee over here) where they fried their wan tan instead of boiling it.
Before you know it, it was already time to bid Pozart farewell. As Sala, Eekie, Spire and Gary sent Pozart home, PB and Quin decided to bring me to do some tourist-sy stuff. There’s a street where vendors would set up their stall and er, vend. There was some usual souvenir stuff like carved out wooden boxes or arts and craft things made in Penang. Then there were also some UNusual stuff there as well, samurai swords, short yakuza swords, copper knuckle dusters and even a tazer was for sale. Interesting, no?
Then the storm came. I tell you that was really a treat. To see the lights, from the little town area and the hotel, diffused and blurred by the rain…it’s really…something.
With all of us cozy inside the apartment, it called for a few more rounds of Pictionary. This time we were joined by Ben who is a hell of a guesser. Don’t know how he does it. He didn’t stay overnight though, but Gary did as he claimed the couch in the living room.
As Sala, PB and Ben started another round of RISK (they tried to convince me to play but first, I dunno how to play, second, I’m crap at rolling the dice and third, I was damn sleepy.) so Quin in the end took over while I went off to lala land.
To Be Continued…
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