NICK CHAN DOT NET

Category: Penang

Sushi Making and Donations

I’m writing something very random. Two weekends ago, I went to kids sushi making class at Sushi King early in the morning. Not saying I learned nothing, I learned that vinegar must mix with sugar and salt before mixing into the Japanese rice. Haha. You can check out full writeup at my food blog.

Then I found a very cool 20 dollars in Wallace wallet. I don’t know why a 20 dollars bill look so amazingly beautiful to me. It’s not the value, if you compare it with Euro or a British Pounds, I still like an american dollar bill. It rocks!

HAHAHA, saw Caster and I was faking it. Flag day was really powerful, they even come rang my bell when I was at home.

July 9, 2010
Batu Ferringhi Night Market and Hard Rock Hotel with Chien Chern

After going to the Region 1 Leo Club farewell thingy by the beach, I found out it’s still early and I have a feeling of going to Batu Ferringhi. I have no idea why I like Batu Ferringhi so much lately. Then I realised Chien Chern lived in Batu Ferringhi so I called him out for a walk.

Never knew that it’s so jam on a Saturday night, traffic was super duper slow, I guess it’s because of the Sixty9ine Mansion. So if you want to go there on a Saturday night, go at 9pm and slowly jam until 10pm when you will reach there.

I have not go to the night market at Batu Ferringhi for quite a long time although it’s like 15 minutes drive from my house only. Now all who go there are like tourists from the Middle East, even the worker who operate the stalls are not locals. Stuff selling there are always the expected fake LV, Gucci, Burberry and more which I didn’t even bother to take a look. Specs and DVDs are good buy at there IMO. Hehe.

Was thinking of going into Sixty9ine to take a look but it was so freaking full and crowded and have to wait. So we decided to go another place and that’s one of my favourite too, Hard Rock Hotel! Rocks.

There’s many of don’t know where from, Indonesian Malay I assumed and a Malay live band on the hotel lobby. Pretty cool.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnoYNt-f2UE&w=640&h=505]

One of the song they sang was Hijau, which reminded me about NS life. I guess those who have been to NS will know about this song.

LOL. Lame and vain.

July 7, 2010
Batu Ferringhi With Chien Chern and Cheong Kin

I don’t know why recently my ass is so naughty and couldn’t stick still to the chair. For some night, I felt like going out for some fresh air and not staying at home. And my recent favourite place is Batu Ferringhi, a beach like 15 minutes from my home.

Last time I usually will go to town or go to pasar malam at Jelutong but suddenly feel like going to Batu Ferringhi, thinking of getting out of the busy city to a tourist area, more peace, more fun. Haha.

It was a Wednesday night and I asked Cheong Kin who stays in Tanjung Bungah and Chien Chern who stays in Batu Ferringhi out for a little boys chit-chat night and meet-up before I leave Penang. We actually didn’t know where to go. No night market walking because I went there a week before with Chien Chern already. I wanted a place with cheap drinks, with peoples and a cool environmnet, but hardly find any at Batu Ferringhi, especially one with cheap drinks.

People have been talking about the Sixty9ine Mansion, a pub/bistro with swimming pool and lots of sofa, and also DJ for music. It’s a nightlife place, not really a club but it’s a cool hang out place for youngster. I’ve never been there before, curious and we decided to went in to check it out.

It’s pretty but there’s not many people maybe it’s still early. Walked around but didn’t want to look for a seat because we knew it’s expensive, mostly liquor in the menu. No chicks, we only boys, where fun? Haha.

Took some photos and now at least I can tell people I went in before, for photos. LOL. Anyway, if there’s chance, I wanna go there again, for drinks of course.

Right after we left, people like starting to flow in. I thought it’s ladies night and there would be many people but not. Maybe because it’s weekdays and people lazy to go until Batu Ferringhi which is pretty far. If you go there on a Saturday, it’s freaking full and the whole Batu Ferringhi is so jam because of this Sixty9ine.

In the end, we went to Sunset Bistro for drinks, and man’s talk. There’s people curious of what’s man’s talk. Simple, man’s topic – girls, what else? Gaming? Haha. This visit can say it’s my second time going there, the first time was very long time ago already. But have to say, this place is cool! Like it.

Chien Chern.

Charging my gadget.

Cheong Kin.

Although it’s still not the cheapest place we’ve found, but it’s OK already because there’s no more cheap place in Batu Ferringhi. It’s a tourist area and we can expect nothing. Any idea or recommendation of chit-chat place with cheap drinks? Haha.

July 6, 2010
斗母宫 Raja Uda Tow Boo Kong / Nine Emperor Gods Temple

Last Tuesday was fun because I went to Butterworth for a little road trip and visits to holy places, the St. Anne’s Sanctuary and now the Raja Uda famous Tow Boo Kong or simply known as the Nine Emperor Gods Temple. If you are curious about my religion, I am not really sure what am I, I guess I am Taoist which believe in Buddhism too.

Paddy field. =D

From Bukit Mertajam to Raja Uda in Butterworth is not near! I always thought they are close to each other but not already after this trip. Google Maps was our guide and it sucks because it brought us into Kampung and using those little road instead of the high way.

Very kampung.

Which eventually made us a little bit scared because for 20-30 minutes along the road, we saw paddy field, old houses, Malay village and it’s very rural. Scared there we were lost and in the end decided to look for sign and turn into highway and forget about the maps. We agak-agak know it’s somewhere on Raja Uda Rd, so we didn’t bother the maps in the end and went there on our own.

After driving for like 45 minutes, turning in and out from the rural and unfamiliar roads, forgetting about the GPS, we have reach the Tow Boo Kong safely. So happy to see the gate and the temple. I am not a very superstitious person but I know a little bit of Nine Emporor God. I know there’s Nine Emperor God Festival which happens during September of Chinese calendar every year and it’s very happenings in Penang or place with Nine Emperor Gods Temple. It’s also season when devotees become vegetarian during the festival.

Penang is famous for this event at Carnavon Street and here at Raja Uda. It’s a little bit like Indian’s Thaipusam with poking on human flesh. Woo.

The temple was long and has a super pretty gate on the outside. The whole compound is huge but the temple is not super huge as I thought. It’s not like the St Anne or Kek Lok Si in Penang so big. But the place is nice.

They have good design, good engraving, modernish mixed with Chinese temple feel.

Although I am not a superstitious person, but since visited to the temple, might as well do some prayers for myself and family. =)

Guess what, it was late afternoon, sunset time and it was only us praying in the temple. =D It’s super quiet! One interesting about the temple is that when doing prayers, putting the joss stick, there’s actually numbering sequence for which pot and which god and goddess to pray first, so there’s like 1, 2, 3 so you wouldn’t be confuse which to start first and which to end. Damn cool for people like me who don’t really know the “protocol” of a temple. Hehe.

Tow Boo Kong rocks.

July 4, 2010
Hard Rock Hotel And Beach With NS Friends

This is part of my Penang trip with Hornet (the squadron I was in during National Service) NS friends. Many of them were not from Penang island so I was so glad to bring them around and this Hard Rock Hotel visit was during the last day of our 3 days Penang trip.

Very surprise that Chuan, Khang and Weng who was from the mainland Penang didn’t know about Hard Rock, the name. They were pretty excited of visiting the hotel for the first time. This was not my first time, 2nd or 3rd already, but this should be my first proper visit with friends of that many people, and during the day time.

No idea what event or gathering was there. There were so many BMW cars with Singapore’s plate at the hotel.

It’s just like a museum or galleria full or artwork, artist’s costume, guitars and many many more. I like going there although I have already been there before, inside is really pretty and cool.

For the first time, I went to the swimming pool area because normally it’s close during night time and there’s a saying that this is the longest swimming pool in Penang. And swimming in the pool need to have a tag on the wrist just like going to a theme park.

So nice seeing the kids playing water, there’s slide too, which reminds me back when I was small and I so wish I could get into the pool at there. Before getting into the pool, I need to get a room there! You see, there’s room right in front of the swimming pool, damn cool man. It’s like can get into the pool anytime you want.

It was almost sunset, but it’s very hot and I was sweating like crazy.

Out of the pool is the beach. The beach is for everyone and it’s so happenings and so many people playing by the beach. Water sports, sand castle, swimming, horse riding, para sailing and so much more to play!

I wanna try para sailing so badly, it seems like so fun to be in the air!

We thought, why not our Penang trip’s accommodation be at Hard Rock Hotel? The simple reason, $! It’s expensive, and hopefully someone would sponsor me to stay at there, for a night or two. One night should be cool already. Hehe.

Took many photos and Hard Rock Hotel rocks. I am still looking for Hard Rock’s t-shirt with Batu Ferringhi or Penang printed on it. Have anyone seen it at the night market already? I am so not going into the Hard Rock gift shop. Hehe.

July 4, 2010
St Anne’s Church At Bukit Mertajam Is Cool

It’s a 20 minutes drive from Penang Bridge to reach St Anne’s Sanctuary or simply known as the St Anne’s Church. I have been hearing from people saying that this church is nice, this church is cool, this church is huge, this church is old and I only saw it from photos and finally I got a chance to visit it.

Actually I have nothing to do in Penang, no school, no work, and so went visiting church. Haha. But I have a thing for holy places one because they are beautiful!

The afternoon was quiet. Probably there’s no service on that day and church is always open for prayers. Apologize first if I write something wrong because I don’t really know about Christian and church. =)

At first glance, the place is huge! The little church standing above is not the main one, there’s even a bigger one at the other side and there’s like a place where we can up, like a little park on foot hill. I have no idea how to describe it. Haha.

When I saw the place, I was like “Wow, there’s actually something like this.” Pretty cool, I never see churches that big before, it’s not like those western one with very awesome design, it’s pretty but not very complicated, but the whole place is huge, with trees and super mini hiking trail which I called.

It gave me a feeling of peacefulness and nature. Rocks.

There’s the St. Anne’s Water. I want to ask what’s that? Is it holy water?

The church is huge! Next stop, we went to the Nine Emperor God Temple at Raja Uda, we almost lost while going there, so do come back and check it out soon. =) One more thing, they say it’s very happenings during St. Anne’s Annual Novena & Feast Day Celebration, from 23 July 2010 to 01 August 2010, it’s a day before I leave Penang, so maybe I could go check it out? =)

June 30, 2010
We Went to Bukit Mertajam

We went to Province Wellesley on Tuesday’s afternoon. Where’s Province Wellesley? It’s Seberang Perai, the mainland of Penang. =D It’s the English name, but to most Penang island people, I guess they would just call it Butterworth. My days in Penang still left not many days only and I am very free everyday, have nothing to do, it’s either spending time sleeping at home or going out to explore things that haven’t been explored.

Was on the phone with Sean last night and she talked about St. Anne’s Church which then gave me an idea where to go. =D I have wanted to go check it out a long time already as people told me it’s a very nice place and feel curious. I also have a thing for holy place, like temples, churches, they have nice architecture. =)

Chien Chern.

Tee Jin.

Yiphing. All was like so busy.

It was on a road trip, there’s me, Chien Chern who was the driver, Yiphing and Tee Jin. Four of us only, many friends were in school or already leaved Penang. So sad.

We didn’t really know the place and how to go. I only checked it and mark it on Google Maps and the Google Maps brought us there. Sometimes must say hate Google Maps a bit because it will bring us to a rural place just to get away from toll and shortcut. But this trip to St Anne’s Church was safe. I’ll talk about it in another post as we eventually went into same kampung and paddy field while going to Nine Emperor God temple.

Alright, Bukit Mertajam is where St Anne’s Church is and I always thought BM is near to Butterworth or Seberang Jaya or anywhere in Province Wellesley but actually they are not, they are far!

This building is like so creepy and fugly!

First time coming here, there’s no high rise building, it’s all shop houses, bungalows, or the highest is like 3-4 floors. It’s a suburb and not a big town like us in Penang, and the road are small too.

Reached St Anne’s Church safely. Stay tune for next post! =)

June 30, 2010
Crazy In The Lift 2

Last year.

Last year, December, there’s Crazy In The Lift. We were just making fun and a fool around, kidding kidding and yesterday, it’s Crazy In The Lift, Part 2. The same person, same place.

This year, yesterday.

Just playing people. Chien Chern is my good friend and he is a good person. ^.^

June 27, 2010
KTV, Cards and Talk at Martini Cafe

Last Friday, there’s actually a gathering at Kayu Nasi Kandar at Bukit Jambul but it was late and raining, and Kayu Nasi Kandar is like 30 minutes away from home so I decided not to go there. And at almost late night, Yiphing asked me out to Martini Cafe near Gurney Drive, somewhere like 5 minutes away from my house only, so I went. =)

Never been there before, I thought the place is just like a normal cafe for drinks, alcohol and some football TV but there’s more. There’s KTV there, LCD screens, mic and we can sing like at RED KTV, except with food and more choice of drink, unlike RED has only alcohol.

Yiphing and Shan Shan, wt?

Jick!

And another thing is, there’s less TV and more table, singing took a long time only reach our table and the sound system was not pro enough, though I still like karaok-ing. Singing is my hobby although my singing sucks. Who can teach me how to sing properly? T.T

Shan Shan.

Well, people there were Shan Shan, Yee Ling, Eunice, Jick, Yiphing and me. They are TAR College gang except me and Yiphing. I has no gang because I am still not in college yet. Simply mix around now. Haha.

Chai Wei.

Yee Ling and Shan Shan.

The night was just talking, playing big2 cards and wait for our turn to sing. Whole night, I got to sing 3 songs, waited quite long but like it.

There’s singing pro in the house too, the baby face Yee Ling, don’t think that she’s a kid base on her look, when she sings, she’s professional. Really pro.

Mirror shoot! XD

Spent there till like 1.30am and I went home.

=========WORLD CUP FEVER AND PROMO=========

Which team are you supporting? I am supporting England and next match will be England vs Germany. Damn nervous and excited you know? One thing I want to ask you guys, where do you guys normally watch football? At home or coffee shop or football screen or at South Africa? LOL.

I just found two places in town that has big screen for football. One is KOMTAR Walk and another one is at New World Park.

There’s one even bigger screen at Gurney Plaza!

[adv] Here’s some promotion for you guys in conjunction with the world cup fever. Everyone is high about world cup and so must give some special promotion and tips to you guys.

With Xpax, you can now call 15 numbers to ALL NETWORKS at only 12sen/min! Yeah, no wrong, it’s ALL NETWORK which is the best part, to 010, 012, 013, 014, 016, 017, 018, 019, ALL! It’s so special right now because it’s world cup, giving you more chance to talk to your loves one, your friends and family, about football or just now crap and anything. No lie, you can check out the detail at here.

Happy World Cup!

June 25, 2010
Wesak Day Parade 2010 With Foyi In Penang

It had been 2 years that I last joined the Wesak Day parade in Penang. Every year, during Wesak Day there will be floats parade and procession. Devotees walked around the city, with floats of flower and also many people came by to see. I went there once when I was Form 3, it was 3 years ago, last two years was really busy with study and now I am out of school, I get to join them again.

Have to be grateful that I was out from National Service (PLKN). I was expecting to meet my NS friends at the parade because they actually would be out to join the walk too but Deputy Komanden last minute didn’t allow them to go. Sigh. No idea why, I just know it sucks.

I like the hair and camera.

I drove Kenny there. He came to my place to car pool with me because he was lazy to find parking. The place was Burma Road, somewhere near to Chinese Recreation Club. The whole road was closed on that day because of Wesak Day parade. When I was there, the parade was almost ready to start. I quickly went to the meeting place at CRC field to meet up with the Foyi friends.

Geared up my stuff and I am ready to walk and shoot. ^.^ I was really excited for that because it’s really fun walking a long way and walking together.

There were ang mo in the group too. Joining us to walk together. The group were separated into different Buddhist association, eg. Malaysia Buddhist Association, Tzu Chi, Foyi (that’s what I was in) and so on. There’s lots of group.

Kok Sheng.

Jocelyn.

Kenny.

Photographer!

Frank Ooi.

There’s us walking together with the float and a lot of people standing by the road side to see what’s going on. There’s also kind people giving out free water to those on the road.

At some point, I walked very fast to catch up with the front group to meet Frank, he was there too but with different group and was ahead of us. After saying hi, we stopped and waited for Foyi to pass by and joined in again. Tired but fun.

Camera phone!

They walked pretty slow because of traffic lights and turning and I could walk faster. I even stopped down to let other group passed by and then only catch up with my group. The line was really really long.

Flag girls.

Chin Lai.

Min Xiang.

Sammy.

Alice who was at National Service too, but took a leave out for the Wesak Day.

Going to finish soon. Enjoy photos because there’s nothing much to write as basically, we just walk walk, talk talk and shoot shoot for me. That’s all.

So many people, got police somemore.

Traffic light ahead.

Passed by Burma Rd’s Kuan Yin Temple.

Got orchestra somemore!

Finally the journey ended. It was, 3 hours walk, from 6 till 9pm, no idea how many kilometre walked. Feet were of course tired but enjoyed the journey all, I’ll take it as an exercise and sweat a lot too.

June 24, 2010

WP2Social Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com