tentang Vacation Part 1 - Penang and Kedah

our trip began with a 7 hour flight from Adelaide to KLIA and then another about an hour to Penang. we arrived midnight and stayed at UITM Hotel.



the hotel was the usual not-properly-maintained but a pretty good hotel. UITM Hotel only have (if im not mistaken) less than 20 rooms but the room was comfy and impressive with a massive double bed. costs about RM110 per night for our room and if u know someone who works for UITM u can get a discount (as if the rate isnt already cheap). sure the furnitures are not fancy Sheraton standard and the toilets doesnt have gold pipes or anything. but hot water and working plumbing system that doesnt smell is enough. like i said.. comfy.

the breakfast buffet was not bad.. but not exactly the standard buffet at normal hotels either. there was only one main dish when we stayed at the hotel, which was nasi lemak with several side dishes; and the more western breakfast like toast and bagels and croissants and cereals (usual stuff). but they were complimentary breakfast and we did eat a lot

in Penang we didnt do much. did some shopping at AEON Seberang Prai City Shopping Centre. went there the fist day and already our aussie friends have started their shopping spree. had to come back again the next day for more shopping lol. and as for me i didnt buy anything at Jusco.. didnt find anything that i fancied till we went to Feringgi that night. i bought myself a new 'Ray-Ban' (right.. RM10) and some CDs ^^



on the second day of our trip, our family gathered and drove to Kulim, Kedah for my brother-in-law's enggagement. it was a short drive through small towns and highways with beautiful view of paddy fields and traditional houses. i was driving so i couldnt get any snaps. sigh. but our aussie guests seem to be enjoying themselves. the things that we find boring and old-fashioned are exotic to them.

our aussie friends, our guests on this trip, are two ladies who works at the uni. we had planned a trip to indonesia for our friend's wedding and to spend a few days in malaysia on our way there. then when our family heard of our plan my brother-in-law thought it might be a good idea to have the enggagement kenduri while we were around.

we drove back to penang later that afternoon and stayed in penang aanother day for sight seeing and shopping. well.. mostly shopping. we didnt go to Queensbay Mall and we didnt go to Bukit Bendera or anywhere touristy. penang seems to always have a very bad traffic jam and we dont really have the luxury of time then. another thing that i kinda wanted to do was go see that statue of Sir Francis Light in penang. he is the father of Colonel William Light, the founder of Adelaide.

the next day our trip continued with a long drive to KL.. for Eid ul-Adha (hari raya haji). i had to drive so again i missed the opportunity to snap pictures. the view on PLUS highway on that sunny day was pretty awesome and the slightly hazy air kinda made the hills in Perak look like the paintings of the mountains in Guilin, china lol.