Hey Hive!
If you missed the last few posts, I started sharing about our short getaway to Penang Island, Malaysia, back in July 2022! It was our first trip post-covid and we decided to go on a short 3 day getaway there! It had been at least a decade since either of us have visited Penang so this was a semi-new experience for both of us.
Last week, we completed our journey through Malaysia's biggest Buddhist temple - Kek Lok Si Temple, where we rang a huge hydraulic bell and went through a nice garden surrounding this fancy prayer hall with these golden statues!
It was getting really warm and after we explored the temple we took a ride to the mall to cool down. We went to check out Gurney Paragon which had a really cool open concept bookstore on the upper levels!
There's still quite a bit to this day as we explored more of the malls here so let's continue!
25 July 2022. Monday.
So after we were done in the bookstore, we actually got a little lost since the mall was quite big and there were sort of multiple wings to it. We ended up in an area overlooking this empty atrium-like place.
There were still stores beneath us though, and we go to the basement to find some stuff that might interest us, like snacks! We walked through Daiso in case we needed anything but ended up not buying anything.
There were a lot of snack stalls in the basement and there was a waffle stand that I couldn't resist because the aroma was too strong!
So we decided to try one of the waffles as a snack. They had quite a few flavour options both savoury and sweet and a few different drinks as well.
We weren't super hungry and I wasn't sure if this stall is good so we just went with a basic peanut butter waffle, which is one of my favourites anyway.
After about 10 minutes, our waffle was ready! It came in a brown bag but was also nicely cut up into halves in these fan shaped containers.
The containers helped since the waffle was fresh out and very hot. It also served to catch the peanut butter which was too fluid for my liking and was dripping off.
There was also a large heap of butter mixed in with the peanut butter, so I think how they prepare it is they put peanut butter on one side of the waffle, and regular butter on the other side before folding and cutting it.
The butter was a little too much for me, and I would've preferred just peanut butter on both halves, but on the plus side the waffle itself was nice and crisp with a little fluffiness. The waffle was pretty good, but the peanut butter consistency was too wet for me and as a result was too thin. It was still a pretty good snack though.
There was a big supermarket on the basement floor so we went to check it out and get a few drinks as well.
There was a new restaurant opening in the basement called Stanley HK Restaurant with these boards put up that had characters from Lao Fu Zi 老夫子! It's an old comic book series that we used to read when we were younger and it felt like such a throwback to see these characters again!
After that we were pretty much done exploring this mall so we headed back to the entrance.
Just beside the Gurney Paragon was another mall called Gurney Plaza, so we made our way there to go check it out.
Unfortunately the malls were not linked internally underground or otherwise and was about 200m away so we had to walk out in the sun to get there. But we did pass by a nice atrium/park on the way.
We must've gone to the wrong side of the mall since this was a side entrance of sort and was a little hard to find our way in. It seemed like there were a few condominiums here so I guess this must've been the residential entrance.
This mall also seemed to have multiple wings and we started at this older area with lots of pillars.
They did have this small display with a throne-like chair that was a goof spot so I couldn't resist.
Other than that It didn't look like there was anything interesting here so we headed onwards and found this outdoor area with a few bars and restaurants that looked pretty hip and modern.
Then we arrived at this much newer-looking section of the mall with so many floors! It was pretty impressive, especially when we thought this was a neighbourhood mall at first.
Already it seemed like there were a lot more people in this side of the mall compared to the whole of Gurney Paragon, so we knew we were in the right place.
We went to check out some shops trying to find a new swimsuit for me but I didn't end up buying anything.
We ended up taking the escalator all the way to the top (since the lifts were too slow) to see what was up here. It was pretty clear that the ventilation did not reach the upper levels because it felt warmer as we went up.
Thankfully there was a bubble tea shop up here along with a cinema so we decided to chill out here with a nice cold drink.
Tealive is the household bubble tea brand in Malaysia and they have quite a selection of flavours! I think we used to have Tealive in Singapore too before they got phased out by so many other competing brands.
We decided on their signature brown sugar milk tea, which was pretty alright. I'm not well versed in bubble tea since I hardly drink it but it was okay for me.
We sat there for a bit to rest our feet and enjoy our drink before heading off to see what else was in the mall.
And while walking around we found this nice open area with an art gallery!
Turns out this was an exhibition by a gifted young artist known as Tan Jun Jie who paints these very vibrant paintings!
There were a lot of paintings, and they all had his same signature in the bottom. I wonder how old he was when he did these since the signature reminded me of when I was in elementary school. Some of the paintings were pretty impressive if he was really that young.
Not too far from the gallery was this hipster-looking food court withquite a few different stalls and cuisines! It had some very cool designs too.
I'm not sure how the food was though since we didn't eat here but I did see quite a few patrons.
After that we decided to go get another snack from the basement and came across Jay Chou's Liang Sandwich Bar! We previously tried it in Melaka when we were there for my cousin's wedding a while back and we really liked it but unfortunately it's not in Singapore anymore so we make it a point to try it when we find it in Malaysia.
The sandwiches are not with actual bread but more like paratha or Indian flatbread. And it comes with different fillings but I'd say it's more like a prata taco than a sandwich.
Anyway, we decided to try a different flavour this time and went with a Cheese and Egg sandwich! The staff made it fresh for us on the spot and after about 10 minutes our order was ready!
It smelled really good and was pretty hot so we tried to pace ourselves even though it was really yummy! The prata had some spring onions in it and the egg was nice and fluffy.
The cheese was practically oozing out every time we took a bite! It was a subtler nacho cheese too, and complemented the egg and prata well although it was a little overpowering at times with how much cheese there was. It was still really yummy though!
It was getting late so we decided to head back to the mall opposite our hotel since there was a supermarket there we wanted to go to for fruits and we weren't sure what time they closed.
The supermarket is called Village Grocer and looked pretty clean and modern.
It was quite big and spacious too which I really appreciated, since Singapore's supermarkets can get pretty cramped with our smaller land area.
They had all sorts of stuff here from fresh produce to frozen food and various household items. We just bought some fruits and snacks to bring back to our hotel.
This mall was pretty simple-looking compared to Gurney Plaza but also had quite a few floors.
There was also a food court here but since it was late most of the stalls were closed. It looked like there were quite a few different stalls though!
Since it was getting late we decided to head back to our hotel to drop off our groceries before going for a late dinner! Our big brunch and the snacks earlier made us less hungry so we ended up having supper instead.
We decided to head back to The Jetty food court, which was the big food area we found the day before with live music!
There are plenty of food stalls in this huge building and although it wasn't air-conditioned they did have huge ceiling fans which provided more than enough wind.
We found this place by chance earlier and it felt like a very comfy place to just hang out, like a lot of old people were doing. There were so many twinkly lights, tables and chairs and even live music!
We didn't get to try the stalls when we first came here so we decided to have supper here while basking in the atmosphere.
Sean bought some Char Kway Teow (stir-fried noodles) and Char Hor Fun from this stall which I think was pretty good! The sauce was nice and savoury although I would've liked a different kind of chili.
The Hor Fun was a little small and had plenty of vegetables. But it had a nice charcoal taste to it. The chili was not my favourite though since it was the sour kind of chili.
We also tried Satay from this stall that had a very nice aroma wafting from the grill.
Sean bought 10 sticks of chicken and it was pretty good too. Not as tender as I would've liked but the chicken was at least fairly big per stick.
The last thing we tried was this Claypot Bak Kut Teh stall and Sean ordered the Mushroom Bak Kut Teh.
Bak Kut Teh is a pork rib dish popular in Singapore and Malaysia and consists of pork ribs simmered in a broth of herbs and spices for hours. Its name means "meat bone tea" in Hokkien dialect.
It was a little too warm for me to eat something soupy but I did try a little and it was nice and light, although a little sweet for me.
We also bought one of our favourite drinks - bandung, which is a rose syrup drink with condensed milk. While it may not be the most refreshing just being cold is good enough and it's a nice sweet drink to round out the meal.
We relaxed at The Jetty for a while after eating before heading back to our hotel. It was a really cool place to just sit and enjoy some music and we were so glad we found it! It seems like an old-school place and the vibe there was pretty hype but not like a club. I don't know how to describe it but you can feel it from this video (volume warning because the music is pretty loud):
Before retiring for the night we took a look around the hotel and found they had a wellness area with massage.
There was also a bar on one of the upper floors where it looked like there was a corporate event happening.
We took a brief look around before heading back down to our room, and we saw this frog at the entrance of the bar.
Whew what a day! Sorry for the long post but I wanted to cover the rest of the day since it was mostly mall-crawling. We walked so much the whole day that we were so exhausted! But it was a good and productive day at least! Tune in next week for more of our adventures in Penang!
Thanks so much for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Check out my previous post in this series!
TacoCat’s Travels #203 (Penang): Ringing in Luck and Cooling Off at the Coolest Bookstore!
