After much contemplation, my friend and I decided to travel to Gurney Drive on our own on a taxi. My friend had wanted to look for a shopping complex that sells things that are up-to-date with the latest trends, and we were told that we should check out the Gurney Plaza which is along Pesiaran Gurney.
Our very helpful personnel from the hotel kindly got us a taxi. In Penang, most of the taxis do not use the taxi meter, hence it was recommended that we either insist on the meter being turned on or agree on the price before we move off. We were told that it takes about 10 to 12 ringgits to travel from the hotel to Gurney Plaza. If it were 15 ringgits or more, than we would have been overcharged. Our taxi driver charged us 12 ringgits claiming that the traffic was rather heavy on that day. It was.
Gurney Plaza is supposedly one of the premiere shopping complexes in Penang. We later heard from the person who did manicure for my friend that the Gurney Plaza is owned by a Singaporean. We find that Gurney Plaza had much interesting kind of selection than the Prangin Mall which we had went the day before. Nevertheless, I figured that my friend might be more spoilt for choice if she were to have shop in Singapore. Then again, we were in Penang, and Gurney Plaza did seem adequate if we were to be objective and contented.
My friend had wanted a pair of shoes to match her mini-skirts, and I shared her disappointments that she could not find a suitable pair at the Gurney Plaza that day.
When it was about 7 p.m., I figured I would need dinner before I forget all about having one. We walked to the foodstalls along Gurney Drive for a hawker-fare dinner. It was drizzling slightly, but it was light enough that it did not dampen my mood to eat at the outdoor hawker area.
Penang is renowned for its food and this hawker centre beside the the waterfront at Pesiaran Gurney is pretty well-known for its variety of specialities served by the many hawkers who operate there. My friend had a bowl of Penang laksa and she was singing praises of it. I had Fried Kway Teow, and it was pretty good.
After a rather satisfying dinner, we went back to Gurney Plaza to shop. I must say that I am not quite a shopper, but I could happy go along with the flow as there was no crowd at the Gurney Plaza during that time. I think I might have freaked out if there was a crowd. I would not enjoy crowds if I were to have a choice.
My friend wanted to do a French manicure at one of the beauty shops, and so I decided to wait for her at the MPH Bookshop in the Gurney Plaza. This gave me time to browse some of the titles available in the bookshop. The prices of the books were comparable to those in Singapore. I did not get any books there, I reckon I might be better off getting the books in Singapore rather than lugging them back to Singapore from Penang. However, I got myself some bookmarks from the bookshop. Somehow, I like the designs on the bookmarks. Each bookmark has an image of a scene of Penang printed on it. The designs were probably designed by artistes using watercolours.
When my friend was done with her manicure, we went around to do some window-shopping in the Gurney Plaza once again. My friend said that it was much cheaper to do a manicure in Penang than in Singapore. Good for her, I thought. It must have been quite a bargain for her to have her manicure done in Penang.
Then when we felt it was time to call the shopping an end for the day, we departed for the hotel on a taxi. Just before that, my friend got herself a bowl of dessert from the hawker stall along Gurney Drive.
Reflecting, I think we were having a kind of shopping cum food tour under the moonlight that evening. Nice food and a value-for-money manicure for my friend. And for me, I had the pleasure of enjoying the ambience of having dinner under the evening's moonlight. It was just a pity that I did not manage to take any photographs of the beaches along the Gurney Drive, else it would have been almost perfect.
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