Soon enough, it was 3 Nov 2004. My friend and I had breakfast in one of the restaurants in the hotel. Breakfast was satisfactory. At least it had baked beans and scrambled eggs, my favourites for breakfast. I think I would have preferred breakfast at the Oscar's Cafe at Conrad Hotel, Singapore, but I shall be contented with what I have had in Penang.
After breakfast, my friend and I waited at the hotel's lobby. We had been asked to wait there because the day tour that we had registered for will set off from the hotel's lobby at 9.30 a.m. Including ourselves and the tour guide (though I would personally think that he is more like driver than a tour guide - I had expected more from a tour guide, perhaps.), there were ten persons on the tour. We set off from the hotel on a van, and off we were on our day tour around parts of Penang.
I must have been eager to test out my amateurish photography skills on my digital camera. This would have explained why I was busy trying to take photographs on the moving vehicle.
We were first taken to what the tour guide term as a village of "people of the sea" (literal translation from Mandarin). He told us that this village would be demolished soon. It must have been me, I got rather delighted being near the water. I love the sense of "openness" of the sea.
Our next stop was the Kek Lok Si Temple situated on Huock-san (Crane Hill), in the village of Air Itam. Kek Lok Si Temple is Malaysia's largest Buddhist temple. I love the colours of the skies and the views of the hills of the area. The temple is beautiful. Somehow, there was a sense of serenity and tranquility that I experienced at the Kek Lok Si Temple. I love the views from the top of the pagoda of Kek Lok Si Temple. My friend and I took several photos at the Kek Lok Si Temple. We also took an inclined lift to travel to the part of the hill where the statue of Kuan Yin Bodhimandala was located. It is a grandeur statue, I must say. We spent about an hour at Kek Lok Si Temple.
Afterwhich, the van drove us to Bukit Bendera, also known as the Penang Hill. According to one of the tourist magazines, Penang Hill rises over 800 metres above sea level, and it provides a cool retreat and good view over the island. It took about half-an-hour to ride the cable train from Air Itam to the top of the Penang Hill.
It was not the most pleasant experience to travel up. There were many people on board the cable train at the time of the day (close to noon time) that we took the cable train, so much so that my friend and I were left to stand on the cable train throughout the entire journey up the hill. Perhaps it was because I do not like share my personal space with crowds, and I found it not a pleasant experience to be on the cable train. In fact, I had wanted to wait for a less crowded cable train, but the tour guide gently urged me to take the train anyway. Later, I figured that if I had waited for the next one, it would take 15 minutes of wait. Finally, we reached the top of the hill after bearing with the crowd and not-so-ideal ventilation on the cable train. The air up the Penang Hill was refreshing and cooling. From the summit, there was indeed quite a good view of the island of Penang. We spent about 15 minutes at the summit, and then we took another 30 minutes of ride down the hill by the cable train. I suppose the arduous travelling up and down the hill must have made the view from the summit so much more "precious".
The Botanical Gardens followed after our visit at Penang Hill. When my friend and I wanted to take a photo together, the tour guide specifically told us that we should take a photo with the "cannon-ball tree", a species of tree that is supposedly no so easy to find. We also took several photos at the Botanical Gardens. I had a feeling that my friend enjoyed the sceneries of nature at the Botanical Gardens.
Next was lunch-time. The van took us back to the heart of Georgetown, and we had lunch at Lorong Swatow. I had Penang Laksa and fried Oyster while my friend had Fried Kway Teow. We later discovered after our lunch that the Iced Kachang along Lorong Swatow where we had our lunch has been deemed to be one of the better Iced Kachang in Penang. A pity that I had to miss it, but then again, I am supposed to avoid cold food.
After lunch, we stopped at a batik factory, and the person-in-charge at the batik factory gave us an account of the process of making of piece of batik cloth. I was rather intrigued when I watched one of the artiste in the batik factory drew designs free-hand on a piece of cloth. I think it must have taken good skills, experience, and a deal of creativity to draw the designs free-hand and yet so beautifully.
The Pewter Factory was next in line. I was pleasantly touched by the hospitality of the staff at the pewter factory. The staff gave each of us in the tour group a cup of tea served in pewter drink container. We were given a demonstration of the making of pewter.
Next stop was the Wat Chayamangkalaram, commonly referred to as the Sleeping Buddha. This Buddhist temple houses a 33-meters long reclining Buddha drapped in a gold-leaved saffron robe. By the time that we reached this temple, it was raining rather heavily, and I decided not to get down the van to see the statue. My friend and I waited on the van while a few of our tour-mates made their way into the temple.
Last stop was a shop selling local products. One of the shop personnel gave us a demonstration of how to make bak ku teh using the pre-made bak ku teh powder and spices. Later we went round the shop to shop for local products. I got some tambun tau sar peah. I understand that these tambun tau sar peah are local delicacies with fillings made from green bean.
At the end of the day tour, we were chauffeured back to our hotel. The day tour seemed rather eventful, I would suppose. The tour guide even asked if we wanted to go on the Night tour package that would bring us to Batu Ferringhi and Gurney Drive. So, there were some ideas on how we could spend the night.
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