On an Impromptu trip to Penang

Bored and looking for a quick trip, I jumped at the chance of going to Penang, Pearl Food Belly of the Orient.

Since I'm not going to be hanging in my room much accept to sleep and freshen up, I opted for a cheap but clean option - Tune Hotels, by the ever famous AirAsia which has constantly rained us with every possible as cheap and as practical as you can get  product.

I did not know what to expect but thought it should be akin to Fragrance Hotel in Singapore, a budget hotel which I previously stayed in.

This is pretty much the entire room. Just like taking an AirAsia flight, you pay for what you use. 

Need a towel? Pay.

Need hairdryer? Pay.

Need the Air-Cond? Pay. Oh I forgot, would it be for 12 hours or 24 hours?

Brought funky gadgets and you need wifi? Pay

Otherwise, you will have a nice clean room with comfy bed ready and a really good power shower head :) 

The bare necessities, done really well.

I wonder if they used recycled paper to print this?

Bathroom is pretty big for a budget hotel. It's half the size of your room and much bigger than the one I had in Fragrance Hotel Singapore. Won-dah-ful! I like a good shower without bumping into the walls.

But there's one thing which annoys me...

See that ad in the bathroom?

 And another ad here, just in case money matters makes you lose sleep

But maybe it's not $$ problems you're losing sleep over, you're just hungry, you poor baby...

And to remind you you're in the right hotel - Tune Hotels!!

Oh by the way, KDK fans keep you cool, so we needed to put their ad here too...

Garrrhhh,I thought I paid for a peaceful night's rest.. stop bombarding me with ADVERTISING!

******

While taking a walk on Gurney Road, I passed by this old mansion. So beautiful, reminiscence of the olden romantic colonial era. They should put up a board to explain its history. Or else I might have to give in to my curiosity, break in and wonder the grounds.. nyehehe

Pretty and mysterious...Wonderfully kept garden (which I just noticed while typing) so someone must still be looking out for this mansion

***

On the way to gobble Penang's delights, I chanced upon a petshop. And they had that garrafura (is that what it's called??) fish which supposedly eat dirt and dead skin. And it costs RM 25 per 40 mins (yeh, Penang is a heaven for everything cheap..) compared to KL which charge nothing less than RM 35

I hovered my fat legs above the pool first because I just realised, damn the fish were kinda BiG to be doing a small nibble job, ain't it?

My cousin shows me the way it's done.

Don't think too much, plonk your feet inside, banish thoughts of fish eating up flesh and bone, keep still, brace the tickles (or nibbles?) and your legs should be polished clean in no time.

After attempt no #101,100 and many squeals, I finally managed to totally immerse my feet in the water, for the fish to eat, chew, um nibble.

It was the Chap Goh Meh festival that night in Penang and the locals apparently celebrate it big here. After a round of shopping at Batu Feringghi, couz and I headed down to Esplanade to see what the fuss was about. 

Too bad, everyone was packing up their celebrations already. We had a little too much fun at Feringghi and couldn't keep up with time haha. So we decided to....

CAMWHORE!!! First with the brightly lit municipal council building

Next, with the birghtly litted trees along the road :D

***

You know they always say have char koay teow at Lorong Selamat?

I found the famous stall, they charge a hefty RM 6.50 for char koay teow compared to the usual 

RM 3.00-RM 3.50

First thing I noticed in the shop was the humongous exhaust fan. 

All the better to blow the smoke away, my dear!

And this was my char koay teow- soft pieces of noodle, egg, big prawns and lap cheong in full glory.

But.. was it worth paying double the price?

Nope, I'm sorry aunty char koay teow-whatever-your-name-is.