BC - i realised my post sounded a bit like "oh cr*p we were stuck in Penang" but my point (and i really did have one LOL) was that even though we had an enforced stay we STILL loved Penang and meant we could explore some more (oh and the Jewellery store is lovely, we met the designer and i ended up buying a couple of one off pieces)

Oh, I think we are all getting punchy on this thread, LOL! Smeagol, my point was "I'd have loved to have been in that predicament", as to me it'd have been like dying and going to heaven!

And ekscrunchy, I think I follow your point.

LOL, what a lovely mess!

BC

BC - of course i knew that, i'm just teasing.Now don't you have some football players to gawp at?

Oh, those sculpted thighs!! CW will take me to task if I make any further observations along those lines, LOL!

BC

Calm down! Bob is distracted enough without sidetracking him with discussions of lasagna and thighs. He's got a few days there, so the Hawkers will definitely get a workout. They've probably had the early warnings for weeks. "Needhamite Invasion", "General Managers to the fore". Does a hawker stall even have a General Manager? He'll probably annoy the manager of the entire facility.

Geez, Gpanda! First off, I think it was your job to get a hold of the hawkers somehow and they'd either have their spouses, SOs, or BFFs show up with a "GM" name tag on to serve the purpose in case Bob needs to speak to one of them.

And gosh, you're a bit sensitive about discussions of jewelry, thighs and lasagna on a thread when you yourself have brought issues like cigars and suspenders into Bob's threads in the past.

BC

we just finished a fantastic day with mr lee.... i shall write about it tonight.... We had hawker food for lunch today... very good...

eks---K says the pool is 10-12 strokes...

nicky--- tomorrow is our shopping day.... hope to visit your places and more...

Bob & Karen - thanks for checking out Alam Shanti house for me.
Your reports (& comments back) are never boring!

Your whole trip sounds absolutely fab!

up a bit early to be ready for our driver at 9:30... delicious breakfast again, this time on the front porch.

Mr PG Lee arrived about 9:15.... [email protected]
Tel: 6012 4277663
He is 63, a chinese malay, with very good english and a pleasing personality.... I found him in someone's trip report last year.

his sedan is very comfortable, new and good for 3 plus him. (he has access to a van too)... good a/c... 25 R per hour is his fee with 4 hour min... this seems to be a standard rate. he has been a driver/guide for 7 years having previously worked for many years at the 5* shangri-la hotel.

we only had a couple of requests for our tour and allowed him to fill in the rest...

First, we headed to the 3rd largest reclining buddah in asia...interesting but nothing so fabulous as BKK. there is another temple across the street with a huge sitting buddah from burma.

From there we headed out of town to the north... we passed up the spice growing complex, passed through Batu Ferringhi area with all the big beach hotels.... don't stay there as the water is not clean enough to swim in... very polutted!!!


we also skipped the bird farm, but did spend perhaps one hour at the butterfly garden.. 20 R each... we loved it...

We continued along to a fishing village in the NW corner of the island... really a pier, not a village... interesting to see the boats...

We turned around and headed back to Georgetown as mr lee said there was not much else to see if we continued around the island---just lots of green... in town we made a stop at a coffee/chocolate/tea shop (coffee tree). they offer free tastings which was quite interesting... K bought some white coffee..

our next stop was the Kek Lok Si temple, the largest buddist temple in Malaysia... it's built into the side of a hill and is huge and has been expanded continually since the 1890's... part of the visit is a funicular ride ( 4 R/r.t.).. you get a great view of georgetown from the top...
Penang Hill is adajacent to this location.... btw, the tram at PH is out of order for a major refurb for the next few months...

Next we headed into central georgetown to the New World Hawker center for a lunch experience.... Lots to choose from and very cheap--$9 for 3 of us: sushi, chicken satay, huge bowls of noodle soup loaded with rice noodles, spinach, fish balls, chicken, seafood... delicious...

We drove by Ft Cornwallis and many of the lovely grand colonial buildings...

K wanted to visit one of the clan piers... these are stilt houses built for individual chinese families... originally they were located there to avoid a gov't ruling for the immigrant chinese... it was very interesting to walk the entire length of the Chew family.

Mr lee had worn us out so we headed back to the hotel after a 6 hour tour..

we made arrangements for him to drive us to the airport at 7:30 on wednesday morning---40 R, about 1/2 of the hotel charge...

WE LOVED OUR EXPERIENCES TODAY. MR LEE WAS PERFECT FOR US...

We changed quickly in order to jump into the pool.... One of the houseboys made a taxi res for us to return to the Gem Indian restaurant at 7.

Another delicious meal... 3 chicken dishes, dahl, our favorite spinach/cheese dish, butter nan, a picture of very cold tiger beer (34 R-beer). There was a birthday party for 100 going on upstairs... K loved watching the saris arrive...
The clove hall manageress arrived for dinner and spoke with us briefly...

taxi back to hotel--12R

Tomorrow will be a shopping day and a visit to the famous blue mansion...

Mr. Lee will never be the same. Six hours with Bob will no doubt permanently scar him. He will rpbably return to the Shangri-la where the guests are more predictable. Plus, I'm sure Bob ruined his vehicle.

Sounds great. We absolutely loved the hawker food.

The Blue Mansion is fascinating. Enjoy!

Mr Lee is Staggering, maybe.

ha, ha, ha rizzuto . . . took a sec - but only folks of a certain age are gonna get that one. . .

Bob :
I don't see any refernce to cashew chicken - whats up with that? Also were you able to experience the "real " Penang?

Hmmm.... will the new rules mean no more sparring back and forth between Bob and Andy? We don't want either one of them to get banned!!! Watch it, you two!

What worries me is that the new rules state no one should monopolize a thread! What are Andy and I supposed to do??????

BC

The principle of Benign Neglect has generally served the management here well, and I would not expect much different in the future if we play relatively nicely.

And Madama Bookchick, what you and Andy choose to do in the privacy of your own laptops is none of our business.

Well, first of all it's "Signora Bookchick" to you.
Secondly, Craig had said if it hadn't been for posts on this thread from Mr. Levine, Esq. and myself, the thread would probably be about a third of its current size and would "load" more quickly when one tried to open it. Just sayin'.

BC

wasn't rhkkmk just bob before that name was banned,lol???