The Story Teller: the appearance from disappearance

Ola! ;D

Dear me! How long has it been since this partial deterrence from the normal operating connection? I really could not tell, even though it's obvious I have been so much frustrated by it that it becomes a wonder now if I can easily access any websites at all. Oh well, just be thankful for it.

It's been what, more than a month! Now that I have mentioned it, I shall just have the pleasure of reminiscing my second trip to the northern skies but this time, it was me driving and in the company of my beloved momma and bro. ;)

Holidays for myself and my bro and hence that made it inevitable break for momma too. Because, well you see, we just have to go together. So taking leave from work was NECESSARY. ;D

This time, we stayed in a hotel that momma's colleague, who was based in the branch in Penang got for us. At first glance, this building looked nothing like the perfect hotel that you, as a tourist, would want to take shelter in. No, far from any hotels with grand ballrooms, exclusive service, acceptable if not good-looking jockeys, butlers, chandeliers that you can only find other than in palaces and of course, restrooms that have you go "WOAH!" So, I had to admit there was a slight drop in my heart when my eyes caught sight of "So Hotel". A little, before my conscience and reminder for gratification set in. ;P

So I was searching through my photos from trip and realized... there's none of the hotel. LOL

Anyway, this trip was kinda meaningful to me because I wanted to challenged myself for driving all the way up to Penang and back to KL again. Oh well, that's the love for driving. ;)

And I did! It took me 3 hours plus to reach Penang. I even surprised myself, but that felt really great. It felt like setting a Guinness record for myself. I guess now I know how Olympic athletes feel after achieving terrific records. The maximum speed I hit was 140km/h ONLY. The only time where I could do so, but when momma and Sis Yem and Sis Kelly knew about it, the drive back home was constantly and incessantly under scrutiny by momma.

Momma, I can see you spying from the rear view mirror you know? ;P

Upon reaching the iconic Penang bridge was the greatest feeling ever of the entire trip. I believe it was, since we didn't visit any beaches anyway. ;D

Waiting at a petrol kiosk for momma's colleague to guide us to THE hotel.

This hotel, well, it's actually pretty accessible as it was quite near to town. No, it IS in town centre itself. It may not be easy to find if you're a tourist (apart from seasoned tourist, of course!) because it's practically sandwiched between two buildings. But the up point is that it's quite tall among this row of shophouses. If I have given an earlier negative impression to you about this hotel, then fret not. The interior of it is not that bad after all. In fact, the receptionist (a guy) was the most friendly and helpful one I've ever met. (not that I've stayed in many hotels before anyway) We had the highest floor, which was the fourth floor and had the perfect view of the whole town (almost) and Penang hill.

Oops, just spotted one of the entrance of the hotel. So Hotel. ;)

I've asked the receptionist. This uncle, whom I call him, told me that the word "So" is taken from a Japanese word. Um, I think that was what he meant because he told me in Japanese, it means comfortable. So a comfortable hotel it is! ;D

Optical illusion or the fault of camera angle. The basin blocked the view of another queen-sized bed, which bro was sitting on. So basically, the room, from an aerial view, was in the form of a reversed L shape. One down point about this was the air-conditioner being on the other side and that resulted in the single bed on this side pretty stuffy. But overall it was acceptable. ;)

There, the queen-sized bed with the super large window on its side. Sleeping on the inside with the curtains drawn seems pretty scary because, well, imagine leaning against a piece of glass on a fourth-storey building.

The view. Told ya it oversees almost the entire town!

And this is how it looks from the other side of the building. Not to forget, there was a balcony provided on that floor too. Pretty nice view from here too. ;)

When people go for vacations, I assume that the first thing they do after checking in and being showed to their individual rooms would be to unpack and do stuff like that. But for us, nay, no unpacking. Drop everything we were holding onto the floorboards, switch on the TV and air-cond to full blast, surfing through the channels hoping for some decent movies to watch, pounce onto the comfy bed and just lie there, forever. No, not forever. I just HAD to find something to munch on minutes afterwards. ;D

That late afternoon, I brought momma and bro (yes, me! ;D) to this cafe that I came months ago. Just beside this cafe boasts the all-time famous Penang cendol. Joo Hui's cafe has other stalls selling different kinds of typical Penang food as well. Among those we tried are...

The Cendol, of course, was the main item that drew us there.

Momma wanted Penang Rojak, so I ordered this one for her, which contained an additional amount of jellyfishes. ;) It was quite crunchy biting into the jellyfish and that gives the dish a special twist. Gee, talking about jellyfishes now gives me goosebumps, after last night's National Geographic on how Box Jellyfish can kill a person within minutes. Absolute respect for these guys! Oh but it's definitely NOT Box Jellyfish that were included in this fruit mix. ;)

Penang Lobak! You definitely cannot miss this dish when you're on this island. The sauce has something to do, which I cannot pinpoint. It's just this uniqueness that blends so well with the hot fillings. Slight cool and warm insides. That kind of taste is what you'll get.

The last time I came here for this dish, I was sure it tasted real good. Bro tried it this time. Well, from its look, it didn't look so promising. Not to mention this uncle was pretty scornful and unfriendly towards his customers. What happened was, we simply intended to remind him that we had an order with him, just in case he had forgotten, like how we often encounter in KL. In return, we got a stern tell-off from him. Oh well, since momma was indifferent, that left me becoming like her as well.

Our first night was spent eating at McAllister Street's hawker lane and admiring the beautiful and expansive South Quay. It was this Christmas tree that shined the brightest in that dark blanket hanging above. Being overpowered by such a Christmas tree was such a wonderful feeling. So magical it was that it made me go speechless. I guess. ;)