The Colours of Asia

Great environment with interior designed very Japanese way. I like the way it is partitioned. Nice food! I personally like the Ramen and sashimi here. The unagi is yummy too.

Slightly expensive but the food is worthwhile to pay for. Service is extremely fast! Food served in less than 10 minutes. Open from 12.00pm for lunch and 6.00 pm for dinner.

The Chinese name of this restaurant is 玉宫，玉 meaning Jade and 宫 meaning Palace. This is one of my favourite Chinese restaurants in Penang. It often caters for Chinese wedding luncheon or dinner. They have a good variety of Chinese cuisine to choose from. One of my favourites is Peking duck. A plus is the friendly and helpful staff. Dishes are served pretty fast.

My recommendation :
(Main Dish)
1) Steam Cord Fish with soya sauce
2) Fried prawn with banana (Need to check if available)
3) Dong Po Meat (Pork) with Mantou (Chinese bread)
4) Peking Duck (Only preparable if there's enough people)
5) Sea Cucumber with Black Mushrooms

(Dessert):
1) Honey Dew Sago (Cold)

(Drinks): I prefer to have Chinese tea with my meals.

This is a place for all ages to enjoy the greens of Penang, a place to relax and get out of the hustle and bustle of the city. Do not be surprised to see groups of the elderly practising Taichi led by a leader with a radio playing the Taichi music. Dance groups also have their sessions in different parts of the garden.

There's a miniature Penang Bridge in the garden. Kids find it amusing to play at the stream because there are no longer such places in the city. If you love flora, it's a MUST visit. You get all the tropical trees and flowers here.

Wet market is the must see in Penang. My grandmother and my mother shop in this market so I am pretty familiar with this place. It is filled with energy every morning and night. In the morning stalls selling all you need to run a household can be found in this market. Goods include fresh vegetable and fruits (both local and imported), seafood, meat, sundry, etc.

At night, it is an entirely different story. The market turns into a food paradise with the place lit up and hawkers selling all kinds of Penang famous hawker food. Tau kua chen (fried bean curd) is finger-licking good!

Malaysia is truly Asia. This is no lie. In Penang, you can see a Thai temple.

Many people visit Wat Chayamangkalaram to pray and to see the reclining Buddha, believed to be the third largest in the world. It is 33 meters in length. Behind the statue, there are urns that contain ashes of devotees. Your hair might stand walking in the aisle. It's a little eerie.

The floor is laid with tiles of lotus patterns. Lotus is a symbol in Buddhism. The walls of this temple are impressive. There are a few thousand Buddha in the temple, not only the main ones, but also smaller ones, which fill the walls of the temple.

Some tips :
Shoes have to be taken off for entering the temple. Also, do not put on your cap as it shows disrespect to the Buddha and please take pictures with the flash turned off.

Admission is FREE.

Located just at the direct opposite of Wat Chayamangkalaram, Dhammikarama temple gives me a very different feeling. I like the serenity of the place. I think it comes from the design, where wood is used instead being very colourful. The kind of atmosphere I would look for in a temple.

Dhammikarama temple is 200 years old, it is the first Burmese temple built in Penang. Being the oldest Buddhist temple in Penang, it looks very new. It's been recently facelifted, costing nearly half a million Ringgit Malaysia.

In the main shrine, there's a huge standing Buddha statue. Behind the huge Buddha statue, there are other smaller buddha statues.

Take a stroll along the garden, you'll come to a colourful wall mural illustrating the Great Renunciation of Prince Siddhartha. In front of the mural, there are nine rotating coin bowls. The bowls represent 9 types of blessings. To name a few, happiness, good health, bon voyage, good luck and prosperity.

People believe if you manage to throw a coin into the bowl, you will receive that blessing.

More pictures from Way Chayamangkalaram. . .

Pantai Kerachut is located at the northwest of Penang Island, unspoiled and not known to that many people; therefore, it is a great place for a serene day out at a beach. Pantai means "beach" in Malay language, by the way. It is one of six beaches in Penang National Park.

Kissing my bed goodbye at 6am on a lovely Saturday morning, after a tiring week of work, was no kidding. What was worse was that I went to bed at nearly 3am the night before (the night?? I think it's more suitable to be called the morning!!), after a crazy night shopping at Batu Feringghi with Erny and Wanchee. My alarm on my mobile woke me up anyway. After picking up EngLee and Wanchee, we went straight to the Casuarina Hotel to pick up Erny. By that time, it was 7:30am, but everyone was still yawning, and our faces looked as if we haven't been sleeping for the entire week. We had a quick breakfast at Teluk Bahang (noodles at 7:30am -- Erny said it was crazy) and headed straight off to the starting point of the hike. Yes. To arrive at Pantai Kerachut, we had to hike. We felt much more energetic after having a hot teh tarik.

The last time I went to Pantai Kerachut was nearly three years ago, with a group of friends. It took us three to four hours to hike there. Therefore, we thought it would be a much better idea to hire a boat for the return journey. After checking with a couple of fishermen, the boatman asked for RM$60 (approximately USD$16). It is expensive to take a boat one-way for RM$60. The last trip, we only paid RM$3 per person. This time, it was RM$15 per person.

The tracks have been improved compared to three years ago. Signboards are placed; therefore, it is not difficult to follow the path to get to the few destinations. Turning right after the hanging bridge would bring us to Muka Head, where the lighthouse is; however, we were heading to Pantai Kerachut, so we took the left turn. Along the way, stone steps were laid, and some very old tree roots make natural steps. It was very quiet -- not many people were there that morning. We met an old man and a German couple. The ground was a little wet because it was raining in the night. The rain made the forest very fresh, though. The leaves were lush green. Tall, huge trees stood proudly in the rain forest. Huge ferns grow everywhere. Some stones were covered with moss. Some trees were fallen, and many herbs grow along the path; however, I was not able to recognise them. We met a strange-looking tortoise on the way. The shell of the tortoise was sharp, and it was a bright-brown-with-orange tone in colour. There was only the sound of monkeys, insects, and water flowing. The feeling was excellent.

After a 1.5 hour hike/walk, we arrived at the beach, Pantai Kerachut. I was a little surprised because, as I mentioned, my previous trip took me a three to four hour hike along a tougher path. The current path laid is much simpler and so much shorter. There was a group of people camping. They were at one end of the beach, so we went to the other end and felt like the entire beach belonged to us. Seriously. There is no food or drink sold on this beach; therefore, it is essential to bring our own drinks and lunch. We had sandwiches and snacks for lunch. Before that, we did something heroic! We saved a jellyfish stuck on the beach! Unbelievable -- who on earth would want to save a jellyfish? However, it was a life, anyway. This jellyfish was definitely not a normal one, at least not the size. Till now, I had not thought of the reason why we saved the jellyfish, but I am glad we did. It is a shame, though, that we were not able to swim in the sea because of the jellyfish.

Pantai Kerachut is also a turtle hatchery for the Green Sea Turtle. However, it was not the hatching season, so we didn't have a chance to spot the little creatures. We had a chat with guys who spend a lot of their time at this beach, probably working for the sanctuary. They told us that they had spotted many types of animals in the forest. Wild boars, monitor lizards (we saw one crawling out from the bushes to the sea, to take a bath maybe), bats, snakes, monkeys ( which can be spotted on the trees by the beach, but beware with your food), etc.

The sunset is a view that should not be missed. However, we had to miss it that day, as rain poured after lunch. We had to take a shelter at the camp site. The shower stopped, so we decided to walk back, saving RM$60 for good seafood dinner. =) It took us only a one-hour walk.