Things only the Tangs will do.

"So what do you wanna do today? You look...err..not fine.."- Dad
"I don't know..so much is in my mind today..and..i just don't know what to do about it..."- Me
"Is it what of your girly problems again?.." - Dad
"Uh...not really...Just don't know where to start.." - Me
"Hmmm....You want to do some driving?" - Dad
"Hmm..to where?" - Me
"...Let's go Penang?" - Dad
"I drive?.." - Me

Yes, don't be jealous or anything lah!..
Today's roadtrip is to Penang.
Whatever for?

I have so much things in mind, that I needed to clear it, before anything goes haywire inside me. It's actually normal for us to drive all the way down to Penang for lunch at times, or all the up to CameronHighlands just for dinner. Oh Yes..The Tang Family is weird in a very nice way.
I took Dad's car keys, yeap, the Pajero, and went to pick my grandparents up along the way. They were certainly glad that we were going on a roadtrip up north. Plus, their granddaughter is going back to campus tomorrow, so definitely have to enjoy to the maximum before being thrown to hell right?

We were absolutely clueless about where to go,what to do. All I did was picked them up, drove past the toll, and headed all the way to Penang. The day was clear and sunny, so it was perfectly fine for a road trip.
Drove about an hour plus, we finally reached Jawi. Ok, the usual plan,everytime we come down to Penang would be, Jawi --> Bukit Mertajam ---> Air Itam ---> Penang Road ---> Jawi ---> Home (Ipoh)

So, today's plans were also similar. (Coz that's the only route I know, and Dad's not into driving)

Jawi was the first stop. Being teochew nang, grandma and grandpa loves "chai kueh". A type of Kuih, wrapped with "kuchai" or "turnips", and then being steamed for some time before serving.

Sorry, I don't photoshop my pictures, so this is what you get.
This "chai kueh" is wrapped with "kuchai", which according to my grandpa, tastes better than the "chai kueh" wrapped with turnips.





After all the food we had, we then went to Bukit Mertajam to visit our ancestors in this hall, where all the ashes of the "TAN" family were put. There's this something like "hall of fame" gua..and we went to see 'them', and grandpa managed to catch up with one of the relatives there. So, a sudden visit can bring a lot of smiles eh?

Hung around for about half and hour, then we continued our little excursion.
Went out from Jawi to the highway, crossed the Penang Bridge, and into the city..
Next destination: Air Itam.

There's this place, where grandma and grandpa always visit everytime we go to Penang. They pray there, you know, they do their little stuffs there, praying, giving money for the oil, bless the whole family, burn some josssticks, and off we go again.

We went to Penang road, opposite Komtar, for some local delicacies.
Pictures taken after we finished the food. I only realised that I didn't take any pictures, so only managed to take after that. We had 3 bowls of laksa, 2 bowls of "kueh tiao theng", "lobak", 2 rolls of popiah, one plate of "char kuey teow" and 2 bowls of aiskacang.
And that's when we just wanted to fill our stomaches with something. Not even eating to be full.

Mum saw this shop selling 'bakwa' - dried meat, "Bee Cheng Hiang" or something like that, so we went.
She bought RM200 worth of meat, but absolutely delicious. The person who tended to us, said that the meat came all the way from Singapore, but I told her, the pigs all came from Malaysia. She kept insisting it's from Singapore, and I told her that Singapore don't have enough land to rare pigs, so the meat is from Malaysia actually. Yet, I know she's still unsatisfied with what I said, but who cares? I am the paying customer, I can say whatever I want. The meat is unreasonably priced.
600grams for RM62.90.
So maha expensive ok? Only people like mum would actually buy them. But honestly, compared to the ones in Ipoh, the meat taste absolutely nicer.=)

Drove around Gurney street, see whether there are any changes to it. Evergreen Laurel Hotel is still there, the last time I checked in was last year, and yes, they served nice buffet breakfast.=)
I always spend 2 hours there for breakfast, it's worth the pay.
Room's big, spacious and with nice sea-view.
You know, old people, they have to do some stretching after being crammed in the car for so long, so they took a slow stroll along the seaside.
The wind was blowing rather strongly, and the black clouds were already gathering. I foresee a long, rain coming up, so I gathered all the old people into the car, and drove off.










[Sempat cam-whore eh?]




The time was already 4.00pm then,we decided to head to the next destination. There were already drizzlings then. But I drove slowly, back to Jawi.
Yes, you guessed it right, for Food.

Reached Jawi about 45 minutes later. On the way, saw a CRV honda did a turtle on the highway, which kinda freaked my grandma out, and she kept asking me to drive slowly. It's either that, or Dad takes over the wheel. However, Dad doesn't want to do any driving, so Grandma had to settle down for me, and she made sure that I don't drove above 90 km/hr. So if you happened to use the Penang highway and you see a slow Pajero passing up, that was probably me, driving.

We were then at Cheong Kee's.
Aah, the must-stop destination everytime I come to Penang. Why?

Besides the fact, that the shop is dirty, and the people who served us speak languages that I do not understand, and they are rowdy, we always tend to go back.

+ =


"Bat Jao Yu" -Baby Octopus. Yeesan would absolutely love this man!!..They serve the best baby octopus, and it's nice to chew. Unlike the ones they have in Ipoh..so worth the drive man!!!..
And if you think that's what they serve, you are totally wrong..!!










I only know their names of dishes in Chinese. So, use your own imagination whatever the names of the dishes are.=)

Before we went home, we stopped by this back alley of a shop and bought some kuihs home. The journey back to Ipoh was abit dangerous due to the heavy rain, yet satisfying, with the food that I have consumed.

* Yes, I managed to text Vern telling her that I was in Penang and she replied by saying, "What are you doing in Penang, when the sem is about to start? I am on my way back to campus already."

Hahha, Vern is just pure jealous lah!