Penang Half Term Part Dua

Monday 16th - Thursday 19th February 2015

Leaving behind George Town, we were looking forward to days at the beach.   

The Hard Rock Hotel, Penang has most things going for it but atmosphere.  The meaning of atmosphere is: 'a surrounding or pervading mood, environment, or influence' .  The name 'Hard Rock' would suggest lively, rocking, exciting, or even impressive.   It wasn't any of these things. The layout of the main lounge / bar was also the reception area. It has a small amount of seating considering the 250 guest rooms.  They obviously knew that people wouldn't want to sit there for too long.

Their website quotes, "Hard Rock is synonymous with music, good fun and great food."  

On arrival our room wasn't ready so we popped to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch.  The staff - we experienced the same hospitality throughout the hotel - were friendly and happy in their work.   Our very generous portions of the typical fare was tasty.   During our stay we tried out all three cafes and were not disappointed.  Hard Rock does have great Western food.  Breakfast had something for everyone.

 

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But music....  the jury didn't bother coming back in! Music was murdered during our stay.

Monday evening they had a four piece band playing for about an hour.  It was half decent background music.

Tuesday was the bottom of the pit of hell.  Two members of the 'HR Band' played with a DJ turntable for over an hour!  Its was uncalled for.  They played current numbers, all of which wouldn't be out of place in a nightclub.  No Rock!  No Taste!  To add insult to this music injury, their deck output lead was faulty.  At least it offered some respite from the din for about 5 seconds at a time every minute or so.   How the management didn't pull the plug on this embarrassment before their time slot was up, is a mystery, Miss Marple would have trouble with!

Wednesday was a welcome break with a male singer. He could hold a note and he had read the script - ROCK!   At least our HR music journey ended on a high.


We had adjoining basic hill view rooms (one double one twin) on the four floor - not very Chinese friendly, as they believe 4 to be very unlucky (as it sounds like the word for 'death'), with most lifts and hotels having a 3, 3a, 5th floor and no 4s in the room numbering.  Maybe our disappointing visit was down to us being in room 440 & 441!  Gawd help those who were in room 444.



On a brighter note, the pool and beach are great.  

We hung around all day reading books, dipping in the pool, walking on the hot white sands and sipping 20RM (5 quid) soft drinks!   The beach had no features, just white sands with the occasional gully of vague coloured run off water from the local hotels into the sea.    They have a lot to learn about pollution and litter in Malaysia.

Further round the coastline on Jalan BF

Poolside, the only thing to watch out for is the HR Band all getting lively at 2pm daily.  For 15 mins they do the Butlin's thing and all stand by the pool side and do a unflash mob singing and dancing routine.  My favourite was Gangham Style, as the under ten years old child guests got out of their seats or rubber rings to join in, albeit in a half embarrassed way. 

Tuesday Evening we ate out.   Enca Cafe (opposite HRH on Jalan Batu Ferringhi) came highly recommended.    It was a lovely tasty meal.  They even included a trip next door to the non-halal to allow cold beer.  It wasn't in the same league as Kaptain in GT, but it was still a really friendly cafe.   With four main meals, rice and naans, four beers and soft drinks and we spent 130RM (26 quid).

Wednesday we ate in the Ferrenghi Garden.  It was CNY's Eve and the place was lively. The staff were attentive and caring.  The meals were more KL than Penang.  More up market and pricey (for four adult meals, wine and soft drinks, 500RM - 100 quid) but also tasty.  Cheaper than the HR (their house wine was a pound a glass cheap and of much better quality) and with the atmosphere they lack, this is a must visit place.

The drive home was longer.  The first day of the CNY long weekend and it took us just over 6 hours - with a couple of comfort breaks - door to door.   

We were lucky on the south bound E1, those heading north were static mile after mile.  They were like a carpark for most of our 400km journey.



With so much to see in SE Asia, whether Penang has enough to drag us back, is uncertain. But maybe the call of Kapitan or to try out That Little Wine Bar  might just do it for me. However, next time it will need to have an Airasia flight (from 40RM or 8 quid each way) included.

I now have two more days left of my half-term break, so think I will start researching where to visit in five weeks time - three weeks off for Easter isn't that bad, is it?

  

Penang half term trip

February 2015 

Penang half term trip

Again, with the blink of an eye, the last six weeks have vanished.  With a new student intake in January, it was full on, even more social interactions in the bid to quickly learn names and assess the current levels and starting points.  So half term is most wanted.

We left early Saturday 14th February to tackle the madness and crowds of vehicles also heading north to Penang for CNY.  Although, we didn't see any unusual traffic until we crossed onto the island.  We used the shorter, older bridge for no reason other than our stat nav app took us that Waze.  The journey from Sepang to Penang took just over five hours driving (about 70RM of fuel and 40RM on toll roads) and cost approx 20 pound.

We have two nights booked at The Museum Hotel in George Town, then a drive up the coast to The Hard Rock Hotel at Batu Ferringhi for a further three nights.

Saturday 14th February.

Our quaint hotel, the Museum Hotel, is tucked into a little cul-de-sac off the busy Jalan Transfer. We booked a family room with a large double and two full size single beds.  The bathroom has two showers, toilets, and sinks.   They have a gym and reading room, and if you fancy sitting in the blazing sun, a roof terrace.

Breakfast, with this water feature view, was simple but tasty; the staff are very accommodating and friendly.

Dippy egg breakfast

Ornate reception area

Functioning room telephone

Eggs Benedict - half eaten before I could take a picture!

We popped out for a brief walk around town and soon discovered that the heat, and maze of streets made it tiring to negotiate.  So we found a nearby watering hole, The Ship, and stopped for a plate of fries (the kids) and a cold beer.

Being Valentine's day - something I hadn't considered when booking a get-away - we were unable to eat in our two first choices of restaurant.  The Maple Palace was fully booked by romantic couples and That Little Wine Bar had foie gras on the set menu - one of those food items I will never eat. The latter will need to be visited at another time, as it comes highly recommended.

We ended up, at Foong Wei Heong Restaurant, Jalan Sri Bahari, with a delicious Chinese meal of pork ribs in honey, crispy pork strips (not dissimilar to crispy streaky bacon rashers), Peking duck with a dark, sweet, chilli orange sauce, and ostrich with ginger and spring onions.  WOW! We were so glad we ended up here!

After escorting the kids back to our family room, we then popped out for a couple of drinks.  The nearest bar, on Jalan Argyll, is Purebar.  Although for an hour we were the only patrons, when the live music started at 10pm the place started to come alive.  They had a good enough selection of wines, whiskeys and beers to keep us happy.

Happy Hour bought us three decent pints, before 9pm, for 50RM.  We followed this up with a complimentary glass of Aussie red each - pimped by the house - in exchange for our photograph on Facebook.  







Sunday 15th February

Our friendly hotel staff arranged a trishaw tour of the town architecture and Street Art.

The background behind these (and many more) Street Arts can be researched here: 

   

                   

The Heritage Quarter has so much to offer.  Buildings are either falling down into the dirt, being renovated or preserved, or simply they built them around nature.

 

A visit to Penang wouldn't be complete without a visit to a temple.  Tokong Kuan Im, the oldest Chinese Temple, is in the middle of George Town. 

We also visited the Clan Jetties - it was the Chew Jetty to be precise.  A century or more ago, each Chinese immigrant clan (family) had their own settlement or small township built on a pier structure over the sea.  Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, its history is interesting, it is beautifully maintained and so these are well worth a visit.

  

 

 

Our trishaw driver recommended a local 24/7 Indian cafe, Kapitans, in Little India. The meal was amazing.  We ordered soft drinks, rice all round, a couple of naans, aloo curry and a selection from the boneless meat ala carte menu.

We waited 40+ minutes but it was worth the wait.  The meal was the best meal we have had in over six months.  Amazing.  We enjoyed four boneless chicken breast curries - butter chicken, chilli chicken, tikka masala and a jalfrazi.  This beats meals we have had in KL's famous Little India Brickfields, some swanky restaurants round KL and a few more in the UK.  It was plate licked clean for 80RM (£16).

After a walk around Little India and a purchase of a sari for first born, we headed to a guesthouse / cafe for a cup of tea.  Ren I Tang or Tang Bistro is the oldest (124 years) Chinese Medical Hall in Penang.  With good food and a wide selection of drinks available, it invites you to sit and browse the book shelves or magazines while you take shelter from the sun, or visit the museum and look at the displays of tools of the medical trade.

We walked back through the, getting busier and darker, Jalans of Penang when we were approached by a retired couple asking if we are Brits?   It seems they had taken the 101 bus from Batu Ferringhi to the Gurney Drive area and they had missed their stop.  The driver - obviously not one with customer service in his vocabulary - had dropped them off in the middle of a dark street in George Town having driven past the Mall and throbbing shops they had wanted some 15 mins earlier.  We took them back to the Museum Hotel where the friendly reception staff offered them a cool drink and ordered them a taxi.  Once again, well done Museum!

With the kids tucked up in our room, watching TV, we popped for a nightcap.   Along, the now buzzing, Jalan Penang we found Soho Free House. Lots of variety of beer on offer at this ex-pat style sports bar.  It becomes a nightlife hotspot at the weekends later than we were out.  We were impressed as it served the best pint of Guinness the old man has had since leaving home in August 2014. 

With a good deed, good meal and good pint of the black stuff, the day, all in all, was a good one!

Next day, we move onto the beach resort of Batu Ferringhi (or Foreigner's Rock).  Let's hope it lives up to the reputation it has.