Tag: photos

Penang: funny signs

Some funny signs in Penang:

Penang: bug-eyed monkey and obligatory money shot

These bug-eyed monkeys look like Muppets, but they are real. Up on Penang Hill, in the trees behind the Hindu temple. Freaky.

And the Malaysian money shot. Both old and new 5 and 50 sen coins.
The new RM20 bill comes out in a few months.
The newer bills are plastic.

SG: MRT notes

Some MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) notes:

  • Not to be confused with MTR in Hong Kong :-)
  • Mostly everything a modern subway should be: goes everywhere, clean, air conditioned, wide concourses
  • Definitely buy an “ez link” transit smart card (there’s a S$5/US$4 non-refundable deposit), but after Macau, trust me, you really don’t want to futz with change and figuring out fares
  • Goes to Changi Airport (but not if you have a late arrival or a super early departure)
  • I like the way stations are named and numbered (and colour-coded) by the line designation, e.g. NE7 Little India is the 6th station on the purple NE (northeast) line.
  • mobile phones work in stations and trains
  • Does have washrooms in unpaid area of stations (unlike Hong Kong which is shameful), but they are very dirty
  • Full glass walls on the edge of the tracks; it occurred to me that besides the obvious safety benefits (can’t jump or be pushed by crowds onto the track), it makes air conditioning of the station platform area more efficient.
  • There is a local area map in the station, both in the main concourse and, what I find noteworthy, in the middle of the platform as well (this lets you head in the right direction off the platform, which would have have been more useful in Hong Kong since the platforms are twice as long and the exits more spread out)
  • Trains less frequent than Hong Kong – about every 5 minutes
  • The floor markings by the train doors have a really wide “let them off” marking, i.e. you Q on the side (Q = queue), unlike Hong Kong where the exit lane is about 1/3 the width of the doors (too narrow!)
  • Some lines indicate on which side the doors will open, some don’t

General related notes:

  • Cars drive on left side of the road (former British colony), just like in Hong Kong and Macau
  • Escalators in the MRT stations usually follow the same pattern, i.e. keep to the left, and you stand on the left on the escalator (in Hong Kong this was totally random)

Penang: disappointing start

Malaysia is still nowhere near a Top 10 favourite country.

And not just because it’s pouring rain right now. Maybe it’s the gray skies yesterday, my phone not working, the stress of falling behind on this blog, needing some downtime…
Yeah, the lack of sunshine definitely isn’t helping my photos or my disposition.

Walking around yesterday evening looking for dinner, I could barely be bothered to pull out the camera for anything.
And sidewalks are a disaster, when they exist, uneven with exposed deep runoff (sewer?) concrete ditches.
Hawker stall was tiny compared to Singapore.

Admittedly, my char kuay teow (flat wide rice noodles with fried egg and seafood) was much tastier here than in Singapore.
And the rojak penang was good too: cut up fruit & veg in a sweet and spicy peanut sauce (a “salad” of sorts).
Penang is supposed to have the best food in Malaysia (people fly here primarily to eat).

And there are some fine colonial buildings and a mish-mash of religions and their places of worship…

Update on my phone: after googling, this Android-hanging-on-startup problem isn’t uncommon, though the usual fix (clearing the cache) doesn’t work since that seems to hang as well.
I can probably fix it at home (via usb connection to my computer which has the right drivers and software) but I’m stuck for now. Though I may forego buying a new phone…

Penang: arrived

Immigration was quick and easy (no forms again) at Penang (although they used a fingerprint scanner on my two index fingers), used an ATM (though the network symbols like Plus were hidden on the side of the machine), and waited for the bus into Georgetown (the airport is in the southeast corner of the island). Snother bus driver said it would take another 30 minutes, so I organized two more tourists and we split a taxi into town for RM45/US$15 total (I was willing to pay it all myself, but I figured I’d see if they were interested. Good conversation in the 35 minute taxi ride (bus is 40-60 minutes).

We were all going to the same backpacker street, which was convenient.
My hostel here is nicer than in Singapore, about 2/3 the price, but better on several fronts (only 3 people in the room, power points at each bed, wifi that works in the room, lockable room)

Off to dinner…

Jetstar seatback pocket above the tray

SG: I’m here, my bag is not

Arrived last night and didn’t see my checked bag.
Though there was a very similar one belonging to someone from Toronto (my flight originated in Newark) so I suspect they grabbed the wrong one by mistake while I was in the washroom.

Funny, I’ve always had a nagging little fear of that happening if I’m not at the luggage carousel when bags arrive.

So it took another half hour to wait for all bags and then talk to Lost and Found, and I didn’t get to bed until 2:00.

Hopefully it will show up today.

I’m disappointed though that they couldn’t see where my baggage tag was last scanned, i.e. did it in fact make it to SIN or was it still in HKG?

Just finishing my coffee, will go buy a SIM card next at a convenience store and am planning on spending the day relaxing and catching up on blog (plus reading/planning on Singapore and my likely little 2 day jaunt to Malaysia). Quite gray out and a chance of thunderstorms today.

Update: my bag arrived 48 hours later, though UA was never entirely sure where the bag was (and they didn’t know it was on a plane when I called).

Statue in SIN airport, just before immigration

HK: misc & some photos added to older posts

added photos to the following posts:

  • money shot – added photos of front and back of the HK$20 bills issued by all three banks.
  • hotel room – added a photo of my tiny hotel room

other misc:

  •  fast Internet: in my hotel room, I had 33/30 Mbps and 45/26 Mbps down/up on my two tests today, though I wouldn’t know it with this slow netbook :-)
  • there was a Bavarian restaurant in Stanley today

HK: Day 5/Wed Summary

Here is what I managed on day 5 (Wednesday):

Dropped off laundry around the corner. Even though they spoke English, I’m not sure what the price is – it sounded expensive as I wasn’t sure if she was quoting me a per-pound price or not (it turned out to be reasonable, HK$42/US$5.40 for a few pounds of laundry, possibly up to 7 pounds).

Ate tasty dim sum at a resto called Dimdimsum Dim Sum Specialty that I found on openrice (a user resto review site, like Yelp) in Mong Kok (Kowloon). By oneself is not the optimal way to enjoy dim sum, as it’s meant to be shared, but I won’t let that stop me.

Walked around Tsum Sha Tsui a bit and stumbled on the (in)famous Chungking Mansion, a group of highrise apartment buildings that contain a lot of cheap guesthouses and hostels. I’m glad I chose Causeway Bay, even if my room more expensive. Area feels a little dodgy, but most annoying are the Indian touts (“SIM card!?”) who get a little too in your face compared to the rest of the city. The ground floor of the mansion is like walking through Little India (inc. Indian food) where you can apparently buy just about anything you want… That and there is only one little elevator for about 8 floors), which makes it very slow, especially when people have luggage. Interestingly, a monitor on the ground floor next to the elevators showed the elevator-cam images.

HK Space Museum – interesting exhibits, though I only perused the ground floor. It was free museum entrance day (Wednesday), so it was probably busier than usual and I didn’t wait in lines for the little interactive things. I’d go back and spend more time there on a future trip.

Avenue of Stars – like Hollywood Boulevard (i.e. stars and hand/foot prints of local movie stars embedded in the sidewalk) but much more scenic, as it is on the waterfront promenade looking directly south over the harbour at “Hong Kong” (vs Kowloon). There is also a statue of Bruce Lee (the only statue of an artist).

HK Museum of Art – skimmed this since it was free (you’d have to be an art junkie to appreciate it more, I think, or have specific art interests that match their collection)

I did a 1hr45min buffet dinner cruise harbour tour (which I had bought on groupon.co’s HK site a week before my trip). I chose the 17:45 sailing since I wanted to see both day and night views of Hong Kong and Kowloon. It was sprinkling a bit, but the view was still good and I got to see more than just on the ferry crossing, as it went deeper into
the harbour. The buffet was better than I expected from reviews, with lots of seafood. The boat was only 1/4 full – I’d hate to see the buffet lines if it was completely full. Oh and a live “band consisting of a guy on keyboards, a tambourinist (is that a word?) and a singer, playing recognizable Western songs, albeit a little lounge lizardy.
I sat at a round 10 person table with 2 nice Filipino women (and the
daughter of one of them) who have been living in HK for 20 years, both married to locals. They were supposed to be a bigger group of coworkers, but a few people couldn’t make it. They even bought me 2 drinks, which was a pleasant surprise.