Wandering around Penang Town

While wandering around to look for the murals and food, I managed to snap some pics of different parts in Penang too. I would say there are a lot of history and preserved inheritance around in Penang.





Haven't seen this kind of house design for a long time. :)

Knock knock

Opps...closed on Sunday. haha..



wow...how many gates do you need?

the dog and the door

kites!I wonder if they come with the glass string. haha..

I think this is the must visit place, the 14 Living Story shop. A lot of wonderful souvenirs inside. :D

The uncle playing special instrument (I have no idea what it is) outside the 14 Living Story shop.

 



 

I remember my grandma used to knit one of those for me when I was young and I have no idea where it is now. lol..

where is it leading to? For once I thought I was somewhere in China.

The door gods..

Special indoor design, reminded me of the old house I used to stay in when I was a little boy.

Chinese New Year is around the corner, isn't it?

Wish that person is always safe and sound. :) and happy. 

Penang Murals

It was again a spontaneous trip to Penang (I then realized most of my trips are spontaneous and without much planning. LOL). My friends just suggested "Let's go for two days trip to Penang! We shall drive!" and there we went. The first thing we did when we arrived in Penang was of course to eat. haha...but after that, we focused on finding the wall murals that many people talked about. 

"Reaching up"

"Big bully trying to scare away kids" 

  "Little Boy with Pet Dinosaur"

"Boy on a bike" 

I think this is from a different artist, but I find the drawing quite interesting and meaningful. It says "Our art is dying"

me and "Children on a boat" (I can't do anything with it as it was by the water. LOL)

It was a fun trip as we explored around to find all the drawings which where located at different parts of the town. There were still some murals that we didn't manage to find as we were too tired and hungry so decided to call it a day. haha...But yeah, it was great fun!

Working Life

As a field engineer working at the side is a good way to gain hands-on experience especially when there are various operations going on. Sometimes, when things go wrong, that would be the best time to learn the most despite all the yelling and scolding. Nonetheless, no one ever says learning is a pleasant process right?

However, when there’s nothing going on and you are done with all the paper work, boredom will set in very quickly without you realizing how to react to it. At this time, most of the guys will bring out their movies to watch, some take out their books and there are also some of them starting up their computer games to play. But recently, I met one of the colleagues that uses the time to check on his own investments through online Forex or virtual stock exchange machine. He did not have very aggressive investments but mostly quite passive investments, which is a good thing as working in this field simply means you don’t have fixed time for yourself. So the way he does it is very beneficial as he does not need a lot of time to monitor his investments and I always think it is good for someone to have certain investments besides hardcore savings on daily basis.

Probably I should start to learn from him, and manage most of my investments online!

Food in Phuket

We were wandering nearby the resort we were staying and we discovered this restaurant that served some local thai food. The interesting thing about it was the walls were full with posters written in Mandarin, and most of them  were by Malaysians. Haha...According to the owner, his mother was of Hong Kong Cantonese descent, and his wife was pure Thai. 

Anyway, the pork leg rice and the mango sticky rice were spectacular! The pineapple fried rice was not bad too, the presentation was interesting. haha..

Pork Leg Rice

 Mango Sticky rice

Pineapple fried rice

 the posters with Mandarin hand writings

and there was another Malaysian couple eating when we were there. haha...note the posters on the wall behind them. :D

The total cost was around RM 30, kinda expensive I guess but the food was really great, especially the mango sticky rice! :D

After the trip to the view points, we went to the seafood restaurants at the Rawai beach at the southeast of Phuket. There was a whole street of seafood restaurants and you could actually choose the seafood for them to cook. By the time we reached there was around 7pm, so it was kinda late but most of the restaurants were open. We were told by a friend that he went at 2pm and he was able to catch the fishermen returning from their fishing trip. So he was able to get the freshest seafood from the fishermen and asked one of the restaurants to cook for him. Maybe I should try that next time. :P

steamed fish, very fresh and huge. I can't remember the name though, lol... 

Tom yam soup 

Squid with green curry

Total cost around RM45 for the seafood. Quite cheap i guess considering the fish was huge. LOL..

Prom Thep View Point, Phuket Thailand

After Karon View Point, another 20 minutes drive down the road you will reach Prom Thep View point, the place where it was declared to have the best sunset view in Phuket.

Along that 20 minutes drive, we passed by some elephants farms where you can ride the elephants. I had ridden an elephant before when I was in Bangkok, so I wasn't very interested in riding another one again. :D

As we reached Prom Thep View Point, it was still early for sunset. So we decided to take a detour to another road leading to a wind power generation plant. Interesting enough, we were welcomed with spectacular view.

View from the little point next to Prom Thep, nearby power generation plant. Wonderful isn't it? Seems like there's a private beach down there. 

Another side

Was tempted to run down to the shore, but I couldn't figure out the way to come up. lol..

Who's the handsome guy?

The wind turbine...it wasn't turning at that time, so we wondered if the wind was strong enough?

But looking at the tree in front of the wind turbine, I guess the wind will be strong enough?

After snapping enough photos and enjoying the tranquil scenery, we proceeded to Prom Thep and waited for the sunset. But as we wandered around, we discovered there was a lighthouse at the viewpoint. And it was free of charge to enter, so being cheapskate and curious, we went in to pay a visit.

View from the lighthouse, not too bad, covered by trees but at least I saw one private yacht. :D 

the lighthouse, not very tall though

there was a big area in front of the lighthouse, for functions I guess? 

Plenty of people waiting for the sunset even at 5 pm

Unfortunately, it was a bit cloudy that day so this was the best shot I could get of the sun before it was kidnapped by the clouds. :)

Karon View Point, Phuket Thailand

After beaches and islands, we decided to go south of the Island to the famous viewpoints to enjoy the scenery. The first place we went to was the Karon View Point, which is around 30-45 minutes drive from Patong Beach area depending on the traffic and whether or not you use the right way. :D It was relatively easy to get to as the roads were very direct and we reached even before we realized that. Oh ya, we rented a car for around RM130 per day, and the fuel costed us around RM70 for the whole day (yes the fuel is relatively more expensive compared to Malaysia).

Karon view point allowed you to see the 3 beaches (Kata Noi, Kata and Karon). Rumours said you could see Patong beach from here but I wasn't able to identity the Patong beach when I was there. :) The scenery was very good, and when we were there, it was very serene. 

the three beaches

closer view

aha! that's me, again. LOL..

Karon View Point. You won't miss the sign if you drive on the right road. :P

Next up, Prom Thep View Point, for the beautiful sunset.

Racha (Raya) Island, Phuket Thailand

I think my favourite place during this Phuket trip was the Racha (Raya) Island. First of all it was not polluted and it was not too commercialized. Even though there was a luxurious resort - The Racha, but the rest of the island was still pretty much original. :) Secondly, the place was breathtakingly beautiful. :P

upon arrival...

Life guard: "I am watching sir! Don't worry about safety, just have fun!"

Prepare to dive! i mean jump in the sea...

look like a private beach..surrounded, undisturbed. This is the seaside outside of The Racha. I didn't stay there of course, just went there to enjoy the beach. LOL...

snap snap..

guess where I took the picture? Yes, middle of the sea. :P

another shot. That's The Racha

me! look at the water! soooo clear, like the pool water. 

another side of the island

speedboat awaits...

the handsome guy.

the floating bridge

did you see the crab?

blue sky, blue water. I could stay here for a long time.

Can't get enough of the pictures. The water is just so clear!

Leaving soon, sad. :(

The jetty, where everyone parks. :) End of the day trip. Time to go back to the land. 

Next up, view points on Phuket Island.