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Hannah Celebrated her birthday... just before Chinese New Year! after a horrible 6 hour journey back to penang...

WHOA!... she's 6 going to 7... gosh... time has certainly passed by at a supersonic speed... soon she will be in school... then "dread" brrr....

the year too certainly flashed past very fast... within moments the first month of the year is over... and this is my very first post of the year... talk about total change of free time...

after all the busy shifting back to KL from kuantan, starting work again in Church... and settling back into faster paced city life... whoa... time is moving fast.

Hannah of course is still oblivious... totally enjoying her time back in Tadika Suria... and thankfully has regained her appetite and eats like before... and has gained back her lost weight...

Chinese New Year this round too was a quiet affair... since my parents weren't around... heh... sendiri went galavanting in Europe during the holidays... so CNY was spent totally in Penang this year...

Well one of the main reasons to go up Penang Hill was also to try out this cool restaurant, David Brown's Restaurant. We saw this ad in a Visit Penang Map picked up at the airport...

It had scones!... woo... and other english foods...

we later came to know... it's the same group of fellas who also manage the Ye Olde Cottage in Cameron Highlands too... we had a lovely experience drinking english tea and scones there too the last time we were there, so we were totally physched up to go and have a meal up there in Penang Hill

Well u can read about Penang Hill on the other post... but my oh my... they really did up the place... a little bangalow on a hill on a hill... yeah... its situated on strawberry hill on Penang hill... wierd...they had a nicely done garden with a small pond with reeds and frogs! lots of flowers and a super nice view...

but as all the reviews of this place has said... yeah... service is kinda bad... more like inexperienced fellas without any proper training... maybe they don't stress it... but a shortcoming in my opinion.

the food... big portioned and not bad... not great... but well done... the scones are a definate must... lovely with fresh cream, butter and strawberry jam (RM6.00 each though)... if u take their tea set... 2 scones with a pot of tea and a slice of cake... is around RM20+

I had mix grill... a whole lot of meat topped with a bullseye egg..


Julie's dad, who paid for the meal had a super big grilled lamb, hannah had some and said she chewed till her mough was tired... but it was honestly done nicely.


Julie had stuffed roast chicken... interesting stuffing...


We had our meal in the garden... from dusk till night! a nice cooling time too... since it's quite high on the hill... overall... it was an enjoyable time... a bit on the ex side... of course if u visit Penang Hill, come up for the tea & scones lah at the least...

We had initially planned to go to Penang National Park... but we reconsidered seeing that phoebe and hannah wouldnt enjoy it yet and prolly couldnt hike all the way through... we opted for the next nearest thing to the entrance of the national park... Penang Butterfly Farm...

believe it or not... its the worlds first tropical butterfly farm! established since 1986, right there in one corner of the island... and yes... it's my first time there too...

Malaysians do get a hefty discount if u show your mykad, to buy your entrance tickets.

The place is quite well maintained for its age... u can see they do keep up and add more attractions to spruce up the place and also add value added services... so as a malaysian thing... not bad...

Housing over an average of 4000 butterflies of 120 species is no mean feat... and yeah... u get to see lots and lots of butterflies all around... a lot of similar species though imho. Unlike the one in KL where u got to look for them... u get them flying all over u the minute u step in to the enclosure... plus they have many feeding stations for the hordes of butterflies to rest and gorge themselves.



of course they got lots of other stuff... like turtles, scorpions, beetles, ducks, fish... and a "skink" pictured below... a kind of lizard roaming freely in the farm.


Phoebe and Hannah of course enjoyed it... thankfully, since the butterflies dont like extreme heat... the place is constantly under a mist of water particles... and the roof covered to give shade. It still did get hot... so we ducked into their super cooled aircond video room to cool down.

They also had a massive retail shop at the exit to cater to souvenior buyers aka. foreigners... plus a small makan shop outside... for drinks and snacks...

Go visit this place when u drop by Penang! A fun & informative time awaits!

Woo hoo... my very first trip up Penang Hill! Over Thirty years staying in Malaysia... and almost every-other year in Penang during Chinese New Year and i have not ventured up this hill... sad huh...

Having already been up Hong Kong's Victoria Peak via tram, i didn't have any high hopes at Penang Hill's version... BUT i was pleasantly surprised when i reached the foot of the hill. Whoa! it's quite steep and tall hoh! wow... can see the tracks going up in a straight line... and what i see is only halfway... wow... this is going to be good.

Thankfully, we were going in the evening, on a weekday... and no crowd was around. According to Julie's dad... it can get very crowded during weekends and more so during school holidays...

The trip up in the tram... was nice... very nice, due to a totally uncramped seating... we were the only ones in our booths! With nice big windows to see out... plus some modified fans inside... the ride was a pleasant one abeit a steep one. We had to switch trams at the half-way point... donno how come... must have been a construction hurdle from long ago. Hannah had a fun time looking back at the tracks and out into the forest on both sides of the tram.



lots of stops dot the way up... most prolly for the people who are actually staying on the hill and if u do request before the tram moves... they will stop for u too... most of the stops are also part of the 2nd way u can get up to penang hill... via hiking!

Once we reached up... the view and climate change was certainly welcoming... since we went in the evening... u could feel some cool breeze blowing... the view was nice... but alas for the horibble smog around... u get a blured view of penang. As Julie's dad pointed out... most of the east facing side of penang was already developed... with no empty parcels of land. There is also a small garden for u to see the flora and fauna... some shops also serve ice kacang and snacks, a worthy rest stop for those brave enough to hike all the way up.


We did go eat at David Browns Restaurant up Strawberry Hill (that's for another post)... after dinner we quicky headed down as Phoebe was showing signs of getting sick...

But overall... Penang Hill is a must visit place when u do visit Penang! Oh.. Ya! they call it Bukit Bendera... not Penang Hill... donno why...

Julie's sister was back from the US for her term holidays... so we decided to go back to Penang for few days.

We had planned to fly months ago... so we bought our Fireflyz tickets way in advance... at RM0.... after taxes for 4, it came to RM500. With the recent petrol hike... it would have cost us the same if we had drove!


Well since we were going to be in Penang for a couple of days, we had initially planned to try going to the Penang National Park... but alas... the kiddos are still kinda too young to enjoy it.

But we did... PIG out! ATE like tons of Penang food! Of course Hannah ate lots of her favourite "Char Kweh Teau", also daddys favourite. We also managed to find "Hor Chean" (Oyster in Eggs) YUM!... we also had lots of restaurant food... with interesting dishes too...





Other then just food... we did get to go to the Butterfly Farm, the first time for me! and we also managed to go up Penang Hill, also the first time for me... so overall it was certainly an exploratory trip for me and kiddos...plus Hannah & Phoebe also had a blast of time playing with their cousins... but ultimately... of course... we certainly consumed lots of food...

we did take a family photo... since it's rare to get everyone together... heh! SMILE!