Weekend in Penang

Ah, the wonderful Island of Penang. Such a great place to be at, well, to be I guess for a couple of days because being bred in PJ and near the KL area, I would be pretty bored over there rather quickly. To be honest, if it wasn't for my manager's wedding, I wouldn't even be headed towards Penang as I am rather comfortable here in KL, but I was wrong.

The day began extremely early for me, wake up at 5.30am, get ready and head over to Chuan's house to pick him up. After driving out my house at about 6.00am, I was totally blur and the drive to Subang was rather peaceful thanks to the clear roads. After getting Chuan on my car and politely asking him to get me a couple of Nescafe tins from the 7-Eleven near his place, I headed down to Cyberjaya to pick my colleague Passara up.

By the time everyone had entered my car and all geared up for a fun road trip, it was nearly 7am and I thought, how could I ever make it to Ipoh by 8.30am and meet up with my other colleagues. Well I was right, I didn't make it by 8.30am because by that time, traffic was already building up and there was a constantly flow of cars. So I reached Ipoh by 9am and went into town for a lovely Dim Sum breakfast.

Trying to navigate through Ipoh town that early in the morning was not easy because everyone seems to wake up at the break of dawn there and ate breakfast at one dim sum shop, Ming Court. The crowd was crazy and finding a seat meant standing next to a table whom you think is finishing quick and give them a "If you don't move after you are done, you are dead!" stare. Well that is how the custom was over there.

After a huge breakfast and a cup of coffee from the mamak across the dim sum shop, it was time to head to Penang. Driving out of Ipoh and heading north, I made the mistake of not reloading my Touch'N'Go card which caused me problems when I arrived at the Penang Bridge. Well for one thing, that bridge is super jammed up on a Saturday morning and secondly, I had to wait in line to pay RM7 for the toll whilst the rest of the convoy sped through the Smart Tag lane.

By the time we arrived at the hotel where the wedding was held, it was already almost 1pm and trying to get changed (8 of us in a room) before the bride and groom walked into the hall was a big challenge. Thank goodness we made it just in time, well we did bump into the bride and groom at the door before they entered.

Lunch was great and still being full from a heavy breakfast, it was rather difficult to eat an 8-course meal for a table with only 4 people. Talk about overeating, to be honest, I felt that I totally overate. By the time the last dish came, I was so bloated up.

Ok enough about talking, we shall wait for part to arrive. Hopefully with pictures :)