Penang is one of my favorite states to visit in Malaysia. It’s rich with cultural, nice foods and nature spots.
I tried out one of the nice Banana Leaf restaurant “Passion of Kerala” located at New World Park during my last visit with my family: my sisters – Jolene and Esther, my nephew – Vick and Jet, my mum and grandpa.
The waiter uses Banana Leaf as plate and put tomato rice together with some side dishes on it. The rice is free-flow, so it’s really enough for big eater like me.
We can also order some side dishes like chicken, fish, prawn and vegetables. One of their signature side dish is fried bitter guard. It’s so crispy, and because it fried with some Indian spices so it didn’t taste bitter at all.
It's now advertisement time!! If you happen to be in New World Park, please also drop by Boutique – “Beaugro” just opposite Passion of Kerala. It’s owned by my aunt and you can get some souvenirs, clothes and fashion accessories from here!!
Okay, advertisement over. After lunch,we visited Dhammikarama Burmese Temple and Wat Chaiya Mangkalaram (Thai Buddhist Temple), which located opposite each other at Burma Lane. This offer tourists a good comparison between Thai and Burmese approach to Buddhism display where temple architecture and decoration is concerned.
Dhammikarama Burmese Temple was the first Buddhist temple to be built in Penang in 1803.
Wat Chaiya Mangkalaram is most notable for its Reclining Buddha Statue. The statue is the 3rd largest of its kind, being 33 meters in length.
We pay only short visit of these temples because mum and grandpa is tired, so we sent them back to aunt’s house.
The next day George, I and my sisters woke up early to visit Penang National Park. We never know that Penang got a National Park, and we have no idea what to do there. So I and my sisters wear really “casually”—shorts and slippers there….
As usual, George was driver and tour guide to Penang National Park, but in fact this is just his second times to Penang. The park is located in the north western corner of Penang Island, on what resembles an outline of a face. The main entrance to the park is located near to the fishing village in Teluk Bahang at the end of Batu Feringghi, about an hour drive from Georgetown. Alternatively, you can take Rapid Penang bus no.U101 from Komtar Bus Terminal to the Penang National Park.
Visitors need to register before and after enter the park at the reception area. It is free of charge. All you need to do is to keep the entrance ticket for validation purposes when you are inside the park.
Next to the main entrance, there’s a nice view of sea and jetties. This is the place where the fishing boats dock. It is also the place for visitors to take boat to Teluk Duyung, Teluk Ketapang, Pantai Kerachut and Teluk Kampi.
We decided to explore on National Park first. There’s a nice built path just next to the sea. Esther, Jolene and me can’t wait to take a nice photo on the beach.
After taken photo, we continued and reach Jambatan Pasir Pandak.
Walk through the bridge; we reached a junction with map and direction boards. There are five major trails with unique attractions: Pantai Kerachut (2.3KM/2 Hours), Sungai Tukun (500m/20 minutes), USM/CEMAC (1.25KM/50 minutes), Monkey Beach (2.62KM/2 Hours 20 minutes) and Light House (3.8KM/3 Hours 20 minutes).
By considering on our strength limit, we would first try to get to the nearest Sungai Tukun. It’s a hiking path, and due to our “casual” wear that really not suitable for hiking, we walked halfway and decided to turn back.
Let’s take a photo with the “Taman Negara Pulau Penang” board as memory. It’s really pity that we can’t continue hiking because of our unplanned “casual” wear.
After I google on the park information: “
There are ample avenues to observe and photograph birds, turtles and other wildlife in their natural habitat. The park is ideal for jungle trekking, made all the more interesting by uneven terrain, challenging slopes, and rocky outcrops.
The visitor will have a chance to experience different habitats ranging from sandy and rocky beaches to mudflats, mangroves, a meromictic lake, and tropical rainforest.”
It seems a nice and interesting place to visit. We will definitely come back again!! On the way back we took some photo of flora and fauna near the park.
Before we went off to our next destination, we also took some photo near jetty… I think the view should be better when sunset..
http://www.tourismmalaysia.gov.my/en/destinations/item.asp?item=Penang
To be continued....
