away from epicentre

Oh hello again!

Here's a picture for your mind to envision. A mint-flavoured ice-cream atop a crunchy cone, wind rustling through the falling leaves, feeling a mix of sunshine warmth and icy cold simultaneously, laughter of children everywhere, and of course, overlooking the vast city below your feet.

Welcome to Penang Hill! ;)

Oh hey! I'm more than delighted to see you here with me, Jeremy! ;D

Captured this shot while waiting for Sisters Yem and Kelly to arrive at the foot of Penang Hill. See how the iconic statue of Guan Yin of Kek Lok Si Temple contrasts this vehicle here. I think it's really amazing how the people had made such a massive and magnificent sculpture on top a hill. People can really perform such seemingly impossible stuff that it's almost hard to believe sometimes. Makes me feel like in China. LOL

Strolling down the Walk of Fame. No, really, literally. Except that it's not humans that are honoured here, but more of miniatures of, well, trains. ;) Or more like, carriages?

In the carriage and on the way uphill. I never expected it to move at such a speed. I had always thought, since it's going against gravity and at such a height, then it ought to travel at a slow and steady pace. But the instant its engine was revved, I was taken by surprise. I'm almost certain it moved quicker than KL's LRT. Reallyyyyyy. 

The view just gets beautiful with every degree of elevation. 

And gosh, this tunnel. I could say I was lucky enough to have captured this shot with my, well, average and amateur camera. But still, it looks, presentable? HAHA

The trip upwards took about an estimation of 10 minutes. Or perhaps less. It was pretty fast because before you even realize it, you've reached the station uphill already. Well, that could be accounted for since besides the horizontally-increasing view of the island, lining along the track was only greeneries and more greeneries. And a monkey here and there occasionally. ;)

It, could be an eagle. Cause I couldn't think of any other bird that would fly so high and with so little flapping of its wings. I guess? 

Oh look! TM right in the middle of what, a forest? And I'm here in the heart of KL and yet I can't get a decent connection. Seriously, urgh.

So delighted to have spotted this phone booth! Of course, it's one hundred times incomparable to the adorable and classic red phone booth of UK. But for now, it'll just do. ;D

I don't know. There's something about this picture that's, pretty photogenic.

On this hilltop, you are free to roam about, as long as you don't venture into unfamiliar places and unused trails. Otherwise, it's mostly safe and there are even resorts opened to visitors. So we visited one of them, and I forgot what it was called. This was the view from the resort's balcony. We had a Malaysian-English style tea break while we were there. A glass of mango juice and kiwi juice each for me and bro. I prefer the mango over kiwi. It's pretty thick but the kiwi tasted a little, not right. ;P

If you're planning to go up there, make sure there's plenty of time allocated for this trip because it took us the whole of morning till afternoon just to tour this partial hilltop. And for a last good deed, momma asked me to give this pregnant monkey momma a supersized apple that we had brought with us. I threw it, and it caught it. So agile, so quick. ;) 

Several kilometres away was where the Butterfly Farm was. The last time I was here, I missed out on the chance of going in for I thought the price was quite costly. But this time around, momma was here and of course, with such a big group of us, you just can't turn down something like that right? ;D Lucky me!

Despite the average performance of my camera, I really love these selected pictures. And I especially love how beautiful the colours of these caterpillars and butterflies are. They're simply gorgeous!

Almost tempted to touch them. LOL

I love how these two blend together. A blue and a yellow. ;)

I find it angelic in this one. Pure and graceful. Because it's white. HAHA

And, GELI for this! They're really huge and long and thick! Gosh, I know it should be an interesting insect to learn about for people who adore science but this is like, crawly-creepy-legged-THING. Jeezzzzzz! 

Ooh! The snapping turtle, if that's the correct term for it. I never thought I really saw it right in front of my eyes! Because all this while, I've only watched it from television and never thought they exist in Malaysia as well. Oopsie. ;P

You know that awkward moment when you stumble upon something that you were not supposed to see and what's more, when an adult saw what you saw as well?

Heeeeee, it's just, science. ;D

Mandarin duck! They have beautiful feathers! So glossy and so smooth, from its looks. ;D

There were lots more in this site than I thought. After all the oohhs and ahhs, you can rest a lil at this mini theatre whose brief animation would only appeal to young kids than to us. But still, the air-con is a plus point after being burned in the hot sun for close to an hour. Well, if you're as crazy as I was, snapping away with every butterfly I saw. ;D

Then there were shelf after shelf of 'mummified' butterfly and larvae on display. They're um, preserved, right. And those shelves look like a futuristic science lab. ;D

BOO!

Chill, it ain't real. ;)

But this one down here IS!

Ooh, and this was the cutest thing ever! Aren't they cute, aren't they? Like Jack Sparrow's disguise in Pirates 2. ;D

I think, one thing that Sis Yem is always so consistent and good at is rounding the island. Yeap, she did that once, she's doing it again this time. ;P

Uphill, over the hill, zigzag and down the hill. 

And here we are, at Ayer Itam!

One of the cafe (not that there were many cafes in that little town) offered some pretty delicious and tantalizing Asam Laksa. There were two types, one was something something, and the other was another thing. Because I can't remember the name. LOL

I think it was Lemak one and sour one. I think.

So there you go. This was not sour, so I supposed it was the lemak one, coupled with a glass of ampulak drink. That's what they call it. This soup, love it till the last drop. Seriously.

And of course, how can you not savour the local durians? They say Ayer Itam has pretty tasty durians, so we might as well have a go with it. I'm not a huge fan of durian, but I still eat them. So, I don't really know much about it and can't comment much. But all I can say is, they taste pretty good. ;)

That particular night, we had it all for ourselves. The trio! We left hotel at about 7 something I guess, after a short nap. Drove to 1st Avenue just to have a look around. Gee, Brands Outlet was there and I was so so so tempted to step my foot in! 

One thing I learnt was, Penang's shops do not provide plastic bags. In KL, it's a No Plastic Bag Saturday. In Penang, it's No Plastic Bag Everyday. ;D I personally think that's a wise move. Hopefully, KL will soon follow its steps.

My sense of direction failed me that night. I had no idea which way to turn into when we went hunting for the Nasi Beratur. I knew it was on Jalan Masjid Keling something and yet I just couldn't find my way there. My bad, because I depended solely on feet during my previous trip there. After more than half an hour of going in circles, alas, we found the place!

That uncle from our hotel told us that this Nasi Beratur is actually Nasi Kandar. But as time goes by, its food got more and more popular among the locals to the extent that people have to queue up for it. And hence, born was the name Nasi Beratur. ;)

Like momma said, they didn't have to worry about their business. In fact, they only open at night, 10pm, and not sharp. They would just take their own sweet time in setting up the place and putting the food on the counter and cleaning up the place before they actually take in orders. Gee, I guess it was 10.30pm already by the time they were done setting up. If I'm a local, perhaps I wouldn't even think of waiting. But since we're new and trying the food here was our main purpose, so why not? ;)

See? Open only at 10pm.

Chicken, chicken and beef. I like beef. ;D

Some were quite good, some were just normal, for me. But overall, I find it a good experience for this trip. At least now I know what Nasi Kandar is. And I've yet to try Banana Leaf Rice. Sooner or later, I'm gonna have a taste on that! ;D

It was about time for Cinderella to return to her roots and have a beauty sleep before the sun rises again. So it was for us. A satisfying meal makes a satisfying night. ;)