First Family Vacay

Well sort of.

Suami and the in-laws came to Perlis the weekend before Wesak Day holiday. The in-laws had to attend the Perlis King's birthday celebration and suami was here for his much missed time with the family.

My mom took the opportunity to go off to Jitra and visit her friend and also to give my MIL some more time to be with Keisha.

But since it was a long weekend for all of us (I took leave from Friday til Wednesday the next week since we got 2 days public holidays because Wesak Day clashed with the King's birthday), I asked suami to take us to Penang since there's not much to do anyway in Kangar.

I've never been to Penang and suami was so surprised. Sometimes my husband surprises me too...how can I've been to Penang if he has never taken me? :P

Well, our original plan was to actually just go to look for some DVD boxsets in Batu Ferringhi. But I gave it little thought and asked suami to make it into an overnight trip since we were bringing Keisha along. It would've been very stressful for Keisha (and mostly me too!) to take a day-trip to Penang even if it only takes about an hour and a half to get there from Kangar.

We stopped by the Arau train station to have breakfast because some locals told me that the nasi dagang at the train station in Arau was the best in town. It wasn't as great as the one that my mom would make, but it wasn't entirely disappointing either. The gulai ikan tongkol was nice, just that the rice was a tad bit hard. I wouldn't say it's the best I've had, but possibly the best in town for Perlis la.

We arrived in Penang around 1pm and check-in was at 3pm so we stop by 1st Avenue Shopping Mall. I have a confession. It was sooooooo nice to be in a MALL!!! LOL! I guess there is still a lot of city girl left in me. They had almost anything you need there (except for a baby store). And I must say that I personally feel the items in the boutiques and shops in Penang are much nicer than those in KL. Hehe. Didn't purchase anything there but just went walking around aimlessly til it was time to go and check into our hotel.

We checked into Naza Talyya Hotel in Tanjung Tokong and was glad that suami managed to get a room for us. He only did the booking online the night before and managed to get a room for RM115/night plus breakfast (without breakfast was RM80). The original price was RM250++ so I guess it was quite a deal.

Keisha was soooo excited inspecting all corners of the room and especially the telephone. We had to unhook the phone just incase she kept calling the reception. :P

our room in Naza Talyya Hotel. Little girl so excited exploring the room.

So after freshening up and Keisha made a poo poo, we headed out to town. Geared with our trusty Papago and suami's endless bbm with a friend who's from Penang for places to go, we headed for Bangkok Lane for fried noodles, mamak style.

Mee Goreng Mamak @ Bangkok Lane, Penang

Ice please..yum!

Old Semi-d houses on Bangkok Lane

Afterwards, we did some sight seeing and headed for Batu Ferringhi. I love how they have beautiful beach villas along the road. But I must say, Penang has a different feeling from any other Malaysian towns that I have been to. It kinda gave me a feeling like I was not in Malaysia, but a lot like I was in Singapore. Maybe because both are islands? I don't know.

PAPAGO! Must have when traveling to foreign towns!

Her makeshift bed in the car

We didn't stop by the beaches or any tourist spot coz it looked so crowded and parking was quite a challenge. The fact that we were driving the Hilux didn't help either. Plus coming from Kuantan, I'm quite a snob when it comes to beaches. Coz I think my hometown has the best in-town beaches, heh! So we did what any other city folk would do and headed to the Gurney Plaza, another shopping mall since I told suami I needed to get some baby bottles for a colleague who was expecting a baby soon. Plus we needed to get some food for Keisha too coz I forgot to bring her cereal and she hadn't had anything solid yet.

And that was where we burnt a terrible!terrible! hole in our pockets! But I was satisfied with the purchase. I bought the baby bottles for my colleague and a pair of swimsuit for Keisha. And suami bought a new camera for us since our old one broke just before we went for our Bali trip last year. But it think it was a good deal coz 

1. We needed a new camera (my BB is overloaded with badly focused pictures of CKD)

2. I'm definitely fully utilizing it now(refer previous post)

3. did I mention we needed a new camera? LOL!

Fuji Finepix S2900HD @RM700

It's no DSLR, and I'm no pro at photography either. But I don't like those point and shoot compact camera and I don't think I'm good enough to get a DSLR. So this camera was right up my alley and similar to the old Olympus we has before (don't even remember the model coz it was THAT old, 8MP old enough?) Not reviewing this camera on this post. Don't even think I'll review it coz I don't think I'm eligible to review cameras. But do expect LOADS of pictures on future posts!

Anyway..back to the vacation. We headed back to the hotel after the shopping spree. Rested for a bit, got Keisha fed and washed and then headed back to Batu Ferringhi for dinner and for some DVD boxset shopping. I know we should've had dinner at Gurney Drive as recommended by many. But again, parking was terrible in Penang, ESPECIALLY Gurney Drive, and its such a hassle coz we had Keisha with us. We try to avoid overly crowded and congested places when we're with her. Well actually, maybe not so much because of Keisha, both suami and I aren't really big fans of congested places.

So we did a VERY touristy thing and had dinner at one of those many restaurants at Batu Feringghi. Within walking distance to the roadside stalls selling all sorts of arts, trinkets and treasures. The restaurant had a cozy feeling to it. But the food was nothing great and overly priced that I'm not even bothered to review about it here. One tip tho, don't eat at Batu Ferringhi. It doesn't do justice to Penang's reputation as a food haven as raved by my friends. Promise next trip to Penang, I'll make it a food fest! Provided we have the right company with us coz if it was up to just suami and I, we're pretty bad at experimenting new foodies.

Ayah and his little island girl

I loveeeeee the paintings sold at the stalls at Batu Ferringhi. But since I'm practically house-less, and my stuffs are still in boxes both in Perlis and KL, I didn't want to get any. But maybe before I move back to KL (did I just spill that out?opst! :P) I'll make another trip with suami for more DVDs and paintings.

Keisha totally KO towards the end of suami's DVD rampage purchase (he bought about 126pcs!!) stayed out til the next morning.

Enough excitement for me today please

Stressed out with mama who wouldn't stop taking her pictures with the new camera! 

In the morning we woke up and just had breakfast at the hotel. Washed up and headed back to Kangar. Yeah..we're sucky tourists!hahahah! It's just that we didn't feel like we wanted to explore Penang so much. But we really promise we'll do better on our next trip here.

Penang bridge. Bye bye Penang! I'll be back!

So the next day was the King of Perlis's birthday, and FIL being a member of the Jemaah Dato' Dato' Perlis was invited to the glorious event. I just wanted to share the official uniform FIL had to wear for the ceremony.

FIL looking grand in the official uniform for the King's ceremony

and stinky little girl interframes!

It was a wonderful long weekend for us. Especially nice because this was the longest suami stayed since we moved here. But it was truly heartbreaking to see Keisha when suami left for KL. She looked so confused when we said good bye and was acting as if she was expecting her ayah to come open the door anytime soon the whole day. She doesn't seem to understand the sadness that she feels, but I do and I hate it.

My in-laws left the next day, so yet again, another heartbreaking moment for the little girl.

Owh baby girl..fingers crossed things will happen as planned for mama and we will be back together with ayah, mak tok and wan soon ok sayang?

And as to NOT to jinx the plan, I will only reveal it once everything is confirmed.