Balik Penang lor!

Now is the time of relaxation after all the hard work during the past one month. On Thursday I returned back to Nilai to pack out things that I don't need for the trip up north. I took the time to take the car for servicing too since it's time for it as shown by the meter reading. In the evening, I drove to pick Mama up from Mid-Valley and we stayed overnight at her cousin's place in Wangsa Maju before preparing for the trip on the next day. On Friday morning, I took Mama to have a look around the Jalan Duta Court Complex and the TTDI area. I had morning breakfast at Starbucks 1 Utama to perk myself up for the long drive to the north and use the wifi to handle some final horn sounding at mousehunt and mafia wars.

I had to go to Sungai Petani first to pick up my grandmother. I think my driving was quite fast and smooth..lol. Within 2 hrs, I could reach Ipoh and I reached Sungai Petani within 5hrs or so. Ahhh..that's a tremendous improvement when exactly a year ago, it took me ages because I was driving at 80km/h max. Right now, I'm just happily zooming at 120-130 and cutting lanes like nobody's business..ahahaha, thanks to the heavy exposure to KL traffic.

Another milestone was created yesterday when I drove across the Penang bridge and onto the island. I've always been the passenger at Penang and now it's the first time I'll be driving at the island after feeling confident to face the viciousness of Penang traffic and the never-ending one-way streets! It was fun and it's nice to see that the bridge was widen by one more lane to prevent further traffic jams. While waiting to check-in into the hotel, we discovered with curiosity that there was a Penang War Museum at Batu Maung. It seems that it was established quite recently only in 2002 and this war museum is actually a 60+ year-old British seaside fortress that was left intact after WWII. The whole place was built by British Engineers and it was used to house troops that were defending Penang from the Jap Occupation. It was later used by the Japs as a POW camp. So, we popped in to visit and it's fantastic to see the tunnels and the rooms all preserved and intact. The command centere is bomb proof and it looks sturdy, There were escape routes, barracks and toilet quarters which were all very well organised and were still structurally sound after all these years. Aha..this is certainly civil engineering done right! Like all historical places, Stan enjoys perusing and contemplating the stories that exist behind every brick that was built in that place and kudos to the private company that took the initiative to preserve such precious historical heritage.

Then this morning, it was a return back to Penang First AOG Sunday service where my mother attended while she was working in Penang.Ahhhh..the good old days of Bible study on Tuesday nights in Greenlane. It was nice to meet up with Aunty Carol and Matthew again and both of them can't recognise me after 9 years of not meeting! Haha..it's always good to re-establish connections again.

There's more to do in Penang and hopefully, I'll get to revisit all of my old favourite foodie corners like I always do annually without fail. This newfound freedom of traveling using my own vehicle and not depending on others is certainly liberating coz this is where we get to make our own choices on where to go independently. Oh well, I bet when my brother comes down, he's gonna raid all the food stalls too..lol.