10th August 2011

10 Aug - It's time to say goodbye to Penang. I was already missing Penang when I woke up in the morning. Actually I was missing the hotel. I enjoyed my stay at this hotel so much besides the fact that the staff was kinda annoying.

We had breakfast at the hotel. It's part of the package to have breakfast on the last day of our stay. The best part for me of staying in a hotel is to have a wide spread of selection of breakfast mainly because they have my favourite cereals, toast, eggs, waffles, muffins, cheeses, hams... But I noticed nowadays I do get disappointed a lot with the breakfast served in the hotel. The Hard Rock hotel breakfast were kinda ordinary and I was kinda ok with it.

After that, we packed our stuff and left. Just before we left, we took a few more pictures.




I notice it's hard to convince him to take pictures with me. He somehow doesn't like to camwhore with me. That do make me wonder whether he doesn't enjoy camwhore generally or just with me. ;p



We then left the hotel at about 10.30am and started our road trip down south from Penang to Melaka. The first half of the trip was fine. I think I only started feeling sleepy after driving for about an hour or 2. It must be the heavy breakfast I had whereby all the blood had gone to my tummy and therefore my brain is shutting down. lol... When we were reaching KL, it rained heavily. it was so heavy that it became so difficult to drive. I had to drive at 60km/h and I dare not follow to closely to the car in front. That long stretch of journey from KL-Melaka was tiring. It took me about 4 hours to reach Melaka when usually it only takes about 2-3 hours to arrive there.

Anyway, we got to Melaka at about 5pm. And we managed to find our hotel easily though we did had a little problem initially. It was a pretty decent hotel and we kinda like it. The staff were really helpful and friendly. We checked in, rest a little while before we headed out to have dinner. We went to this famous place which serves the Best Tandoori and Naan probably in Malaysia. Yeap, the best in Malaysia. I remembered having this last time about few years ago and fell in love with it. I never got the chance to be back here again.

We walked to that place which probably took us about 20 mins. I was getting hungry and grumpy and wanted to eat. Finally we reached there and we ordered a tandoori and Garlic Double Cheese Naan. Yummy... He definitely enjoyed it so much. And this Tandoor and Naan is way much better than the one we had at Kayu.







We also ordered Roti Canai. Their Roti ain't that great. They also have really nice curry dishes but we didn't try it. They serve really good Northern Indian type of dishes.



After a heavy meal, we walked around Jonker Street for a while to digest our heavy meal. I was no longer grumpy then. lol... Not many shops were opened though. Jonker Street is a happening place only on weekends and they have loads of shops selling all kinds of things. And after that, it's time to get back to rest.

Maybe...

Wondering how much he cares, how much he loves me and how much he understands me. Somehow I don't feel that he does very much anymore and neither does he try to understand me. The longer we are apart, the lesser love I feel from him. Maybe there is someone else, or maybe the most common excuse men always give which is that they are busy, or maybe he just no longer appreciates having me anymore or maybe I'm just asking for too much. The whole distant relationship makes me wonder whether if I really am by his side, will he be there for me if I needed him and will he prioritise me first. I never felt that I was the main priority in his life even from the beginning of this whole relationship. I always felt secondary to him comparing to everything else.

I know that I love him so much that I am willing to make lots of sacrifices. I love him too much to let him go but I'm just afraid that I'm going to be with a man who will take me for granted, who will not put me first in his life, who will never be there for me.

It hurts so much right now. Maybe he will never be there for me and maybe I'm not worth it for him. Maybe...

No Way Out

I thought it's time to have a little break about my holiday. I just wanted to describe the feeling I'm having right now. It's 10pm and I should be sleeping by now. I have to be awake by 4am tomorrow for a race. I somehow don't feel like doing it. Well, I guess mainly nobody will be going for the race with me and the only time I ever went to do a race on my own was during the Dublin Marathon. Other than that, I always had someone to accompany me. Oh well, I guess there is always first time for everything.

I think emotionally I'm affected due to some personal matters. I do wonder how long it will take for me to recover. I haven't been feeling that good and had been forcing myself to put an alright look and as usual hiding myself so that i can be myself. I'm just so stressed up not being able to settle this emotional issue all these years. And I'm sort of sick again because of that. And I do wonder whether this will follow me forever. I struggled and fought hard to overcome all this and I did it. But now it all just came back so easily. I felt like I'm in a maze. I'm going round and round and round and just when I thought that I had found the way out, I'm back in the same path again. I can never get out from this maze. I wish someone will guide me, walk with me, lift me up, remove the fear in me and make me feel that everything is going to be ok. But there isn't that someone. I have to do it on my own if i want to get out. Just hope that I can keep being strong.

Good night world. Hopefully when I wake up from my sleep, I will feel the positive energy in life again.

9th August 2011

9th August - It's the 3rd day in Penang and I'm just loving it so much. Just hanging around in the beautiful hotel, sitting by the pool, enjoying the beautiful beach and just lazing around doing nothing with my other half is just what I call a holiday.

We had breakfast in bed again and went to the pool to swim. We did walked by the beach. I just love holidays with nice beaches. It's just so relaxing and I can't wait to go to beaches in the Europe country. Or maybe in future if there is a chance I want to go to Mauritius or Maldives. *hint hint* :)

And we got back to the room and watched a movie, Hatchiko, A Dog's Story, and that made me cry. Oh, just don't enjoy crying in front of him but he said that I cry easily. But it was truly a touching story and it's just amazing how loyal a dog could be. I think I picked a rubbish movie after that. It was something to do with the Penguins from Madasgascar. Well, I like Mort and it is just hilarious seeing how silly he is and how annoying and cute he can be at the same time. At least this wasn't as bad as the movie he picked which I couldn't even remember the name. I remembered him finishing up the movie while I fell asleep during the first 10 mins of the movie. 'lol' Yes, that was how boring it was. It was the kid who went into the jungle and met some weird big hairy bear looking friends. :)

Then it was dinner time. We went for dinner at the Starville Restaurant. Since it's Ramadhan month, they have the Ramadhan Buka Puasa buffet dinner. I didn't take any pictures as we were just excited about eating only. The food weren't that great but it was a great opportunity for him to taste a lot of the local cuisine food. I was kinda disappointed as I was expecting a lot more for the Malay local dessert especially the kuih talam. But they didn't have it unfortunately. :(

We were definitely stuffed after that. Somehow buffet is never a good idea and we tend to overeat easily. I was having difficulty walking as well. We did walked a bit around the hotel and took some pictures.

And finally we went back up to the room and spent our last night in this hotel together. The only thing I didn't like about this hotel was the staff which I find weren't too friendly. But other than that, everything was great. I'm already missing being in Penang with him very much.

8th August 2011

8th August - I'm getting slower in updating my blog. I should have updated it earlier so that the holiday is still fresh in my memory. Anyway, I can still remember most of it but just the little details I may have forgotten. hehe...

We had breakfast in the room - coffee and some buns which I bought. We just hung around in the room for a bit and then later we went to the pool to have a swim. It was amazing. It had been a while since I last swam but it was fun to be swimming with him. He didn't swim much and sat by the pool instead.

After that, it was lunch time. We decided to go to Hard Rock Cafe to feed our starving tummy. The place is nicely decorated with its walls covered with rock and roll memorabilia. It's quite a nice place to dine in but we didn't quite like the staff who were serving us there. It seems like they were not really friendly and they seem to be impatient when serving us. We felt pretty uncomfortable and definitely wasn't the kind of services we were expecting from such place.

I can't remember the exact name of the dish we had and I think it's called Pulled Lamb Burger. It tasted really good and unlike the typical American Cheese Burger which we can always get from any American Restaurant. The lamb was so tender and juicy and it tasted amazingly good when u have a bite of it. I love the fries and beans as well. The BBQ beans were tasty.

Someone is getting impatient to have his first bite of his burger.

We shared that burger and it was just nice for the 2 of us. It's always nice to share food so that we don't overeat. We had been sharing food since our first meal we had together. I remembered asking him whether he mind sharing food as I would like to try different types of food. He of course said he didn't mind since he already liked me then. :)

After lunch, we went back to our rooms feeling sleepy. We took a nap. And by the time we woke up it was already in the evening. We had one of the most amazing view from our balcony during the sunset. It was just amazing standing there watching it with my other half. :)

Then it's dinner time. Yeah, it's foodie time.. We went back to the same food court place. I ordered something else instead this time. We had some noodles which I can't remember what it was and Roti Canai. Both of it wasn't good. :( I was just so disappointed.

And we went back to our rooms to snack on crisps and biscuits instead and watch movie together. That definitely compensated the lousy dinner. :)

7th August 2011

7th August - The day to start our road trip had finally arrived. I was very excited about it.I had never driven around far. The furthest I had ever drove to was back to my dad's hometown which was only about 3 hours drive. This was the first time I'm driving to Penang which takes about 4-5 hours from KL. And not only that, I will also be driving from Penang to Melaka which took me about 7 hours. Can't believe how I managed to do it. Guess because I had him to accompany me.

We left the house around 8.30am. We got to the Penang island about 12 and I met up with Brenda for lunch. She brought me to have Char Kuey Teow which is really famous in Penang. We went to the area whereby each plate of this dish cost RM7 which is very expensive. It tasted good but not great and it's definitely not worth the price.

We also tried Air Batu Campur (ABC) which is actually dessert contains red beans, sweet corn, grass jelly and topped with shaved ice. Then evoporated milk and red rose syrup will be drizzled over the ice. Sometimes we top a scoop of ice cream on top of it. Yummy. Great to have this on a hot, sunny day.

And also not forgetting cendol. It's shaved ice with coconut milk, worm-like jelly made from rice flour with green colouring and palm sugar. Other ingredients like kidney beans or red beans or even sweet corn might be included. This was absolutely refreshing.

He is looking so cute smiling and looking forward to eat his dessert. :)

After that, we drove to Batu Ferringhi which is probably about 40 mins drive from Penang town. We finally reached Hard Rock Hotel at about 3.00pm. I was so tired that I couldn't wait to get into the room to take a rest. I totally love this Hotel. It was a cool hotel but the staff weren't that great. They do their job but I don't felt any warmness from them. Anyway, here are some pictures of the room and I totally love it. It was definitely worth staying here.

Look at the TV... We got to borrow some DVDs from the hotel to watch some movies.

The beautiful view from our room. Love it.

Here is the beautiful beach at the hotel.

After going around taking pictures, it was nearly dinner time. We walked out and stop at the food court to have some local food. However, the food weren't great and there weren't many choices as there were not many nice food places at Batu Ferringhi. There were a lot of restaurants that are meant to serve expensive food to the tourist but I felt that the food weren't be great and it will cost a bomb.

Anyway, we had capati and Tai Luk Mee which is also known as stir fried yellow noodles. It's black in colour because this dish uses thick dark soya sauce. It tasted not too bad.

He is definitely enjoying using his chopsticks.

After that, we walked around the streets. There were a lot of 100% real fake goods being sold. Yes, one of the sellers told us that their goods are 100% real fake. Hmm, I wonder whether there are unreal fake.

After shopping for a little while, we went back to the hotel to rest. I totally love my holiday and I'm actually missing it now.

6th August 2011 (Part 2)

6th August - My friend finally was so happy that I finally being so generous to buy him dinner. He is a wonderful friend who was there for me especially when Alan wasn't around. Anyway, he is happy to be sitting in my car (finally I'm driving him) and bringing him for dinner together with Alan. We went to Cheow Sang Bak Kut Teh Restaurant. This is something I want Alan to try as it's one of the best dishes served in Malaysia.

The name literally translates as "meat bone tea". The pork ribs are simmered in a broth of herbs and spices for hours and usually additional ingredients like mushroom, vegetables or tofu are included. This is great to be served together with rice. The pork ribs are so tender as it's cooked for hours.



We also have it with Yau Char Kwai which is actually Chinese Bread Sticks. It is a long, golden-brown, deep-fried strip of dough. Usually it's eaten on its own for breakfast or together with porridge. But I just love having them together with the Bak Kut Teh.

We also had steam egg. Unfortunately it wasn't that great. I had better ones. It's actually like custard but instead of putting sugar in it, we add salt and serve it together with rice. I remembered how when I was a kid, I could just eat my bowl of rice with this dish. Just mix it into my rice and I will be a happy kid.

And we had a steam fish. I wanted to order a ginger steam fish but she gave me a wrong one and we had garlic steam fish instead. The taste was ok and for the night, this is the most expensive dish compared to the rest.

After feeding our tummies, and all the teasing during the meal, we went for desserts which is of course the best part of the meal. I just love having my desserts. Sometimes I want to have my dessert first before my main course just in case I don't have anymore room after my meal.

We went to SS2 which is a popular area to have tong sui aka Chinese dessert. And here is what we have. Alan decided to give durian another try and ordered the durian ice cream with black glutinous rice served with coconut milk. He confirmed that he doesn't like durian after trying it for the 2nd time.

And we had the Mango Pancake. It's mango puree stuffed in the pancake topped with dessicated coconut. Taste was good.

And finally we had the Bubur Cha Cha. It's a dessert cooked with sweet potatoes, yam, tapioca cooked in sweet coconut milk. I haven't had this for a long time and it is quite tasty and what I love about this is eating the sweet potatoes and yam. Yummy.

And I'm ending this blog with a picture of us. It was a great day. We did so much and had loads of good food. I definitely miss that day very much and wish Alan is now right beside me. Oh well, it won't be long.

6th August 2011 (Part 1)

6th August - It's Saturday and I brought him to go to KL using the LRT. I never like to drive to KL as I'm not familiar with the roads. Besides that, it's always jam and the parking rate in KL are very expensive.. So it's more worth it to take the LRT then to drive.

We left the house pretty early and we went to Petronas Twin Towers, the main landmark in KL. They were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004. At the feet of the tower is the Suria KLCC, a shopping mall whereby it features mainly the foreign luxury goods and high-street labels.

The towers also feature a skybridge between the two towers on the 41st and 42nd floor and he did wanted to go up to the skybridge. But I didn't find anything special about it and told him that I wasn't interested. I kinda regretted it now but then again he will definitely visit Malaysia again and we will definitely visit the skybridge next time. :)

After that, we went to the KLCC park. It has changed a lot and it has been a while since I last went to the park. I think the last time I actually walk in the park was about 10 years ago. I remembered playing truant then and I changed into normal clothes and took the LRT to go to the park with my friend. ;p It's really a nice park with jogging and walking paths, fountains, wading pools, children's playground and loads of unique trees as well.

Look at how he loves to pose.

Us with the dolphin behind. :)

After walking around the park and taken some pictures (after continuously pushing him to take pictures with me - lol), we went into the mall and had a cup of coffee and sat there to relax for a bit. I realised both of us don't like shopping much. We barely hung around the mall and decided to leave. We went to the Central Market after that. This is the place whereby you can get loads of 100% real fake goods. That means you can get loads of pirated dvds, fake branded handbags, clothings, shoes, belts etc, you name it, they probably will have it. Of course not forgetting loads of food as well.

Whenever I go to Central Market, I'm more interested in the food than the items. I mainly took a lot of food pictures (again). Well, I used to be a food blogger and I love food so much, so I can't help it if I constantly enjoy talking about food. The only conversation which probably catches my attention most is whenever you talk about food, or how to cook certain dishes and also about what is good and bad food. :)

I introduced him to drink one of these popular drink which had been around at this particular spot even before I was born. They have probably been around for more than 30 or 40 years. It's called 'Air Mata Kuching' which direct translation means Cat's Eyes Water. 'lol' But actually in Mata Kuching in Malay means a type of Longan which is a type of fruit. If I'm not mistaken the ingredients used to make this drink are winter melon, rock sugar, dried longan and Buddha's Fruit (luo han guo in Chinese). It's really refreshing and it cools your body after walking around the stalls under the hot weather.

Someone is enjoying his drink. :)

Then we bought Tau Foo Far, Bean Curd Pudding. It's a Chinese dessert which can be eaten hot or cold. It's is made from coagulated Soya Bean Milk served with a white sugar syrup or brown sugar syrup. I personally prefer the brown one. It tasted like custard according to him. But it wasn't something he is crazy about but this is definitely one of my favourites.

Then it was lunch time and we went to have Wan Tan Mee. It's Egg Noodles served with BBQ pork and wantons (pork dumplings). You can either have the dish dry or in a soup based. We ordered the dry one and this is one of my favourite noodle dish which I love since I was a little girl.

Then I was telling him about the Bak Kwa which is a favourite to a lot of Chinese people. It's not cheap and a lot of Chinese loves to buy this as gifts during Chinese New Year. It's a salty-sweet dried meat, made in the form of flat thin sheets. Usually it's pork but there are chicken meat being used as well.

Since he has so much food to try, we decided to have it with a bun that has a tiny slice of bak kwa, pork floss, cucumber and some chili sauce. It actually tasted good and this is how I remembered as a kid that I love making such sandwiches in the morning. I will take 2 slices of bread, buttered them and sandwich the bak kwa in between. And now I prefer having pork floss instead.

After having the bun and shopped for 100% real fake goods, we decided to go home for a rest as we were pretty tired with all the walking and shopping. We also had more food coming up for dinner. Well, I shall leave that for the next post. :)