hi guys!! it's been a really really long time since i blogged. hard to believe that i'm really back, or would i just stop halfway and leave it unpublished. we'll see how it goes :p
anyways, 29/9/2016 - 3/10/2016 was our AWHYO trip, 2nd all ladies trip for us. first time was our Vietnam trip in June 2016. Those were super fun times too, but i'm just too lazy to post it up. hahaha or maybe i will. (don't count on it)
okay enough words, i'll let the pics do the talking!
day 1 - 29/9/2016 Thursday
we took the earliest flight using MAS, @ 620am wtf cray.
felt like crying at the thought of me missing my flight OR having to rush and hop on board without brows. the horror. but thankfully i manage to get up on time and put on makeup. hahah!! AMEN.
on board KLIA Express to KLIA 2. Our KL-Penang flight awaits!
it was a really good day. weather was awesome, none of our flights were delayed. :D
Susan picked us up from the airport and we headed to the first stop off our list - Spade's Burger.
anyways, i was spying their fb page before the trip and fell in love with their Burger of Steel. damn son that burger is out of this world. so of course i ordered it.
the fried stuff inside the burger is none other than their famous - FRIED BACON.
F.R.I.E.D. B.A.C.O.N.!!!!!!! i lost my shit. hahahha it was perfect. the only thing standing in the way of my happy ending is my stupid tummy that decided that it was full. the nerve????? i think it was because i was jogging & gymming hard to look good for the trip, that my appetite sort of shrunk in the process. yikesss. don't ever make the same mistake i did.
after a few pieces of fried bacon, i was already struggling. and i have not even started on my burger. so yah all know how it end - bloatedness overload. :(
Susan: "do I really need this??"
Karen: "yes you do. get it"
attracted by the smell and could not resist. RM5.80 for this BUT IT WAS GOOD.
next, we headed to Batu Lanchang market to try their Pasembur. apparently it's a different version of Rojak? from Google, we listed some of the must try foods and ordered them as well.
loved them all tbh. drinks here is so much cheaper than Miri. food as well. and everything tasted so yummy!!!
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after this, we headed over to Mugshot Cafe. (our stomachs are crazy I know. but I was feeling vomit-ty already at this time and i blame it on the coffee)
a really nice & cosy cafe. the concept is somewhat similar to China House. where every room you enter is a different design, at the very end they sold sunglasses as well some of the decorations in their shop. cool. but do people really buy them though? :\
we ordered Salmon bagel and cempedak yoghurt something. no pics 'cause i was feeling uneasy plus my phone died i think. ahahhaa but food was good!
after this we headed back to the hotel to check in, while resting before going for Steamboat at night!
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remember i mentioned i was feeling unwell at this time? so i decided to go for steamboat BARE FACED. i was picturing those hot humid places so thinking we would sweat anyways, plus i don't know her friends, why not go there totally makeup-less? HAHAHA boy was i WRONG.
the steamboat place is on a really fancy street, and it was with air cond. hahhahaha FML. btw guys, the steamboat was really good. awesome, actually. it's called Tu Go Liang 猪锅亮, because most of the base soups contains pork.
we ordered this set, plus a few side dishes. total amounted to RM26/person. There was 5 of us, and I was really full. So i think it was really worth the money.
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day 2 - 30/9/2016 Friday
Susan and I woke up super early to pick Carrie from the bus station. 5am. +_+
dozed off a few times on the way there, thankfully Susan was the one driving. ahaha.
had an early start. we had dimsum (sorry no pics) but before that, we got into a slight accident. we parked, and the car in front decided to reverse into ours. -___- and out came this fussy looking uncle, who had the nerve to offer us RM20. =.= do we look like we're fresh out of kindergarten???
long story short, he went off without paying. the most he was willing to pay is RM50, rude rude man. so we filed a police report after breakfast. really hope the local police did their part and sent him that saman which he so rightly deserves!
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moving forward. we had 姐妹 char koay teow along Jln Selamat after. apparently it's called "Sisters char koay teow" because two sisters are the one cooking. lol!
the verdict?
- it was not bad, but not sure if it's worth RM10. kinda oily, didn't mind the spiciness, so it was alright for me. didn't had any other char kueh tiaw to compare so i can't say anything. but it's nicer than the ones from where i'm from.
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next on our Desserts list is one i was really excited to try out, mainly because I heard great things about it from a friend who studied in Penang for a few years. Google showed me lots of drool worthy pics too.
Moody Cow Cafe!!
this place is so hidden (you can tell by the overgrown plants/trees covering the shop zz) we literally walked past it without realizing. -________- you know you made it big when your shop doesn't have to be visible but tourists will still go all out searching for it. LOL!
the inside was pretty 'moody' as well. ha ha pun intended. dim lights, and the same concept as China House, where you go into sections and each has a different themed design. lucky us, we were led to the deeper end, where the interior design is Renaissance themed!!
SO.FREAKIN.COOL!!!
I still can't get over the super huge frames. hahaha you'll see what i mean in the pics to come.
which is by far the most expensive cake i've ever had. you can almost (almost) get a full size cake in Miri for that price. haha okay maybe just half.
but they are super huge in slice so a visit once in a while is justifiable? :P
just look at this baby. it's so dreamy. i love salted egg, so i went crazy. urghhhhhh!!! but halfway someone brought up the fact that there might be 123456 salted eggs in this cake and how high the cholesterol is. that was enough to make me stop eating. LOL!
this one's pretty good. but i prefer the salted egg, maybe cause i'm not a huge fan of cempedak. but still good, nevertheless.
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after that, we went over to the famous Penang Road TeoChew Chendol. it was walking distance, so we walked over and at the same time took the opportunity to squeeze in some exercise.
so pretty. RM4 if not mistaken. this is from the stall behind, just see which line is the longest and you're probably on the right track. but no worries, cause their service is really fast, you'll get your chendol in no time.
this was kinda sweet, 4 of us shared and barely could finish. but we did had tonnes of food in our stomachs already. however, i would prefer the Batu Lanchang one over this as the BL one has really huge and soft red beans! yummm
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after all that food, we head on to Gurney Plaza for some shopping/digesting! fast forward..... it's dessert time again. LOL
all these awesome desserts are making me cry tbh.
shopped around, believe it or not i did not get any makeup (gasp), then had dinner @ Sushi Zanmai? i think, can't really remember.
fast forwarddddd to China House!! it was our last dessert stop in Penang. this is just as cool as the one I visited in Kuching. we came in through the back door, and a band was there so it was crowded. after the 1st 'room', was sort of a back garden-ish space with tables around, there was even a pond there. after that, we entered into a normal eating room, with long wooden tables, and the front room was a slightly brightly lit old school diner style cafe.
there was a long row of cakes for you to choose from. we were spoilt for choice! we had their famous Tiramisu, and a Banana Raisin one. quick tip, if the waiter asks you if you want ice cream with your cake, say NO. unless you're okay with paying RM8 for a scoop of vanilla ice cream. (it was really good though. T_T)
sorry for the lack of pics at this point, my phone batt died. haha. from where we were sitting, we can see a door that led into the 'wine room'. it sorta looks like the Red Room in Fifty Shades of Grey LOL. not joking, i'm serious. not that i've ever seen a red room but you know what i mean. There was a really cute DJ playing inside, which we can see from our spot. i think he saw me taking a pic. HAHA but idk where the pic went so... no cutie for you all!
if i'm not mistaken, drinks was RM16-18 for coffee? poor me opt for tea instead. HAHAHA it was RM12 or RM16 for a pot.
after this, we headed home for some well deserved rest. an early morning awaits us the next day.
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day 3 - 1/10/2016 Saturday
woke early and headed to Ipoh! :D
excited for Ipoh 'cause i've heard nothing but good things about their food.
just want to say that the weather was lovely!! a bit hot, but hey, at least it wasn't burning OR raining. :)
our first stop was Nam Heong coffee shop & Sin Yoon Long. a colleague who's from Ipoh highly recommends the coffee in SYL. and we read blog posts promoting these two cafes as well so we decided to go here. :D
the two cafes are opposite each other, and you can order food from the opposite and they'll deliver it to you! we sat at SYL cause i really wanted to try their coffee.
(it reminded me too much of the one I had in Vietnam that made me sick & nauseous and end up having food poisoning on the last day of the Viet trip. and ever since then, my coffee game went down. i can't go more than a cup a day, and if i do, i'd feel the sickening feeling in my stomach again and nope, don't ever want to go there again. )
however, if you're into really thick coffee, then yes, go for this. it tasted similar to Vietnam's.
ordered this from the cafe next door. don't. it was o-kay but nothing memorable. :\
this one is quite good, not too sweet.
my friends were not amused with the coffee as well, so before leaving they dabao-ed iced coffee & egg tarts from Nam Heong (opposite SYL). it was o-kay but my tummy was feeling sick from the first coffee so i couldn't really appreciate it. egg tarts were good though. (but still not magical :P)
overall verdict:
i'm not sure why everyone raves about these two coffee shops cause i feel like there's nothing special? but maybe it's just me. i mean, it can be a go-to breakfast place for locals, sure, but would i drive 2 hours to have toast & coffee here? prolly not.
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next, we went for curry mee @ 新泉芳. the wait was super long, but we weren't complaining 'cause that meant more time for us to digest the first round of breakfast.
i have to say the hor fun is really good! it was so smooth and just glides down your throat like magic. :D (see i have nice things to say too) curry was okay but just feels a little too oily to drink it like soup.
after this, to digest, we went to Ipoh Parade for a bit more shopping. LOL. shop & eat, that's all we do. when we were ready for more food, we left the mall and went on to get To Fu Fah & salted chicken. (again, i didn't remember the name)
the chicken was good, so was the tofufah. the hor fun was out of this world. so smooth like the one at the curry place. gahh
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after this, i really felt like having abc but my friend said that it's not a norm for Ipoh locals to have abc and that there was no such shop open. so we ended up shopping, again. LOL this time @ Station 18.
fast forward to dinner time. excited for this 'cause we were having Nga Choy Gai and also 月光河, which was highly recommended by Susan. She has a really fussy tongue, so if she says it's perfect, we HAVE to try it! hahahaha
i just want to say, out of all the meals throughout the trip thus far, this is my favorite. looking back, IT STILL IS. the soy sauce in both the chicken and the taugeh was so so good. feel like crying then and now. T___T
everything was good. couldn't stop eating. hahahaha surprisingly, when i told my colleagues about this place, they say that it's not that good. :O imagine, it was already perfection to me, i wonder how good are the famous one. omg.
looking at this pic made me wish i had it all to myself, and not sharing it between 4. HAHAHA
there was a lot of people here. the wait was long!! around 30 minutes maybe. while waiting, this lady lost her shit and started scolding and throwing plates to the floor and cursing in Cantonese. i couldn't hear her clearly, so i thought she was scolding her kid for throwing the plate to the floor. WHO KNEW, my friend heard what she said and that she was actually complaining that the food was damn slow. she walked away from her table to fight with the waiter. unfortunately, the wall blocked our view so no drama for us. anyways, after the quarrel, she just stormed off. and all her kids who were still sitting at the table, followed suit. :\ cray.
WORTH EVERY MINUTE OF THE WAIT. T_______________________________T
tbh, idk how they do it cause it's just kueh tiaw & egg????? there's minimal vege and meat in this dish but it just tasted so perfect??? ? ? ? i could not stop eating. :C
so there we were busy youtubing how to open beer bottles without the actual bottle opener. LOL! that pretty much explains the presence of the keys behind. it was one of many ways we tried to get the bottle to open. (in the end we used the bathroom counter edge to open the beer HAHAHA kept laughing sneakily like a bunch of teenagers who just did something they shouldn't) :P
before heading to the train station, Susan's brother brought us for dim sum! i heard it's famous in Ipoh. yum yum
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fast forward to us reaching KL Sentral. we had Korean for lunch. (i started this post sometime in October but am only continuing editing now *cough* so forgive me if i don't remember the details as much. i suck, i know)
after checking into our hotel - we stayed @ Apple Hotel, a few minutes walk to Lot 10, H&M, Pavi etc. the bathroom was a nightmare, everything else was okay for that price point. - it was shopping time!!! and food hunting of course.
and yes, this was all mine and i finished it on my own.
last but not least, dinner @ Naughty Nuri's. bless Uber for realz, we had no trouble travelling anywhere cause it was dirt cheap. HEHE plus you really get to see the buildings in KL which is nice. normally when i'm in KL we'd take the LRT, and you can't really see much. so this trip was sort of an eye-opener. :)
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so I guess that's it for our trip. honestly i'm glad i went. all the food i had in Penang & Ipoh, it's just not the same experience without someone who knows the way and has a car. :D thanks for the push, Karen. i'm not an explorer like you, but thanks for making me go on this trip. haha
