Temples (Penang Part 3)

Day 2 in Penang was spent mostly lazing around... and sleeping ;o) In the late afternoon, we went to the Kek Lok Si temple. Wow, it's been years since I've stepped into a temple but the smell of incense brought back a sense of familiarity (we used to have an altar at home). They were doing some major renovations at the temple... additions of new buildings and refurbishing as well.

After the temple, we went back to the hotel to get in a swim before dinner. I was halfway soaked in the pool but couldn't make it fully in coz the water was sooooooo blurdy cold!!! Since my nose hadn't fully recovered, I decided not to risk it and got out. My teeth were already chattering by then... blurgh...

Showered and drove out for dinner. We were looking for a seafood place so we drove around a bit. CL remembered there was a seafood place somewhere in Batu Ferringhi so we drove towards that direction. Passed by loads of hotels/resorts... this is where the nicer, posher hotels are coz the nicer beaches are at Batu Ferringhi. We also passed Lone Pine Hotel, which is a boutique hotel we'd initially wanted to stay at but unfortunately, we couldn't get a room there :o( it was fully booked. Around this area, it was like a mini Bali or Petaling St, with stalls selling trinkets and souvenirs and such. I bet they charge exorbitant amounts since the place was teeming with tourists (i.e. mat sallehs). We drove on (the road seemed to go on forever!) till we came to a tiny roundabout and there it was... the "End of the World" restaurant... lol! Which seemed quite apt as it felt like we were driving and driving and not coming to the end of the road, hehe...

The food at the restaurant was nothing spectacular. We ordered a fish, fried squid (lousy! they didn't clean the squid properly...yucks!), mixed veg, and prawns... and were expecting the bill to be RM100+ but it came up to only RM67!!! Ok la... food wasn't anything special but didn't complain as it was cheap and the portions were big for 2 ppl! :o)

Drove back to the hotel. Since it was still early and we had nothing to do, we took a walk on the beach. Wow, the beach was quite happening! A few groups of ppl were hanging out at the beach, with couples dotted here and there. Saw lots of crabs scrambling up and down, a kitten scrounging for food. Sat down for a while to check out the stars but as we were getting to be mossie bait, decided to head back to our room for good ol' slumbertime! :o)

Next morning, woke up, had breakfast, checked out and headed to Gurney Drive coz I wanted to stop by the shop that sold halal tambun biscuits. Bought a few boxes for mom, sis and a few ppl back home. Stopped by at another temple on the way out. It was quite a nice temple... large grounds and very peaceful and serene. I could've stayed there for a couple of hrs, just walking and reflecting, hehe. There was a fish pond there and we spent some 20 mins or so just checking out the fishies. There were carps and a HUMONGOUS catfish (at least 1 big fella)! And the fishies were all sooooo fat!! ;o) Next to the pond, there was this oscillating bowl feature, on which each individual bowl was printed things like "Prosperity", "Good Luck", "Happy Marriage", etc. and ppl were supposed to throw coins and see if they managed to get the coins into any of the bowls (I think there were abt 8 bowls in total). I did pretty ok, managed to get my coins into "Good Luck", "Success", and..umm... I forgot wat was the last one. Anyway, 3 outta 8 ain't that bad, haha!

After the temple, we headed off to wat I thought was the Penang Bridge. We seemed like we were heading to the bridge but then when CL drove up a ramp, I was like "ooooooo, we're taking the scenic route!!" i.e. the ferry! Haha... well, almost the scenic route la.

Got to the mainland and began our journey home.....

*THE END*