It's been a while since my last post but loads has happened. Mainly I've been busy at work and been putting far too many hours in at the school I work at. It's all good though and I'm really enjoying what I'm doing.
Instead of a normal week long half term, our school opted to break up the last 13 weeks of term with a 4 day weekend. Feeling shattered from the long but amazing year, we decided to make the most of it and booked a trip to Penang - somewhere which had been recommended to us from practically the first day.
Pushing children out the way as we rushed to make our 5pm flight on Friday, I couldn't wait to get there as it was meant to be an amazing place for food and street art!
We got there quite late on the Friday. We were staying at Campbell House which was an amazing place. The room was lush and the hotel staff were really friendly - it's alway a good sign when they are happy to recommend the street food even though they had a restaurant attached!
For the first night we went out near our hotel and tried some street food. We were a little nervous at first as people seemed to be coming and going and there was a very angry looking Australian guy in his 60s seating people. We got some Satay and some noodles with stuff in (I don't know what). It was lush. On the way home we got a pancake which was pretty sweet and thick. Very lush!
The next day, we went for a wander around George Town. It was very nice, although I was out in the sun too long and got a bit burned. There was loads of cool 3d street art like half a bike sticking out of a wall with children drawn on the wall so it looks like they are riding it. We went out on the pier bit then up to the old colonial clock tower.
We found a trick art place and went in to see what it was like. The people who worked there were lovely and told us the best positions to go in. When we were on the ET bike, we did silly poses, then they said "No, Sweet, sweet" until we hugged. I pretended to be a panda and my favourite one is when I was making out with a snail as Han cried on a toadstool.
The highlight though was when a girl asked Han to be in a photo with her. This was bizarre as it was just in a corridor. It was all a bit awkward - I can't imagine just walking up to a stranger and asking them to be in my photo.
After the trick art, we went back to the hotel then our for a lovely dinner in a place called China House. The food was delicious and they gave you crayons to draw on the table cloth. Most of the adults there were keeping it cool, but Han and I went to town!
We got some strange looks as they brought over the food but oh well.
The next day we went to Penang Hill. We got a ticket up this MASSIVE climb and I couldn't believe how steep it was. Once at the top, Han had some Henna done and we wandered around taking photos. We got a cream tea, which was nice and went along the top. We saw some monkeys and one chased me when trying to take a photo.
It looked a bit overcast but we decided to walk down the "Jeep Track" to the bottom. I didn't realise it was a 5k mission. After about 10 mins it began to rain, but I didn't realise how far we had left to go, so we ploughed on. After 2 hours of sporadic hiding in trees from the rain, blisters and tired legs we made it to the bottom. Han wasn't best pleased. I was slightly annoyed as quite near the top, I'd seen an old woman walking up the hill pretty quickly. I would have been crawling by that point if I'd have been walking up, not down the hill, so I made a mental note to get more exercise.
That night we went to the Eastern and Oriental Restaurant and we saw Ron Weasley's mum!
I took this photo whilst pretending to take a picture of Hannah's sushi - we must have seemed a very cool couple. As lame as it is to admit, I spent the whole meal feeling as if I was in some kind of an audition for a part in whatever TV or movie thing she was making so in my head I was critiquing all of my expressions. It was so hard to act natural and I'm not even a particularly big fan of hers. I made a point to look everywhere except straight at her and must have been a right idiot.
Anyway the meal was nice - they did a buffet including duck. I got so much duck. To top the night off we saw some jazz in a bar. It was open mic and it was always cringey when someone came up to join the band - we both sat there judging how good we thought they'd be.
After that, on Monday we went around town again. We made it our mission to see the list of art places on a tourist map we were given. We went all over town and managed to find most of them. We also found a cat cafe. You go in and eat cake and a coffee, then you go and chill out in a room full of cats. A cool idea, but the trick is that the cats are upstairs. We didn't know until we'd gone up that it was nap time and they had rules about waking the cats up. We ended up spending time with one we weren't that fussed about simply because it was the only one awake. I wish we'd have been able to cuddle the big ginger one.
The last thing we did was go to somewhere called the Blue mansion. For a small fee, you got a tour around the place. Seemed like a good deal. We went in and some lady, who was a tourist like us asked if she could take a photo of us. Very weird. Quite rightly Han said no, then I spent the rest of the time trying to avoid the lady. The "tour" consisted of a lady talking in a very difficult to understand accent about the person who built the house. We stood in the waiting area listening for around 20 minutes as we waited for the tour to begin. Then we went through to a second room. The place looked cool. Then she talked for a further half hour - we both switched off - and that was about it. We were allowed upstairs but not to see any other rooms, but to see an exhibition of clothes they used to wear. I wanted it to be like Longleat and Arundel castle where you properly got in to see all the different rooms. I think it's a hotel though so they make you pay extra for that.
Overall I would say it's my favourite place I've been so far. The food was lush, it is close and such a relaxed place. Will definitely be going back there! Just a short crawl to the end of the year now and then we go to Bali and home for the first time in a Year. Exciting stuff!!!
We got some strange looks as they brought over the food but oh well.
The next day we went to Penang Hill. We got a ticket up this MASSIVE climb and I couldn't believe how steep it was. Once at the top, Han had some Henna done and we wandered around taking photos. We got a cream tea, which was nice and went along the top. We saw some monkeys and one chased me when trying to take a photo.
It looked a bit overcast but we decided to walk down the "Jeep Track" to the bottom. I didn't realise it was a 5k mission. After about 10 mins it began to rain, but I didn't realise how far we had left to go, so we ploughed on. After 2 hours of sporadic hiding in trees from the rain, blisters and tired legs we made it to the bottom. Han wasn't best pleased. I was slightly annoyed as quite near the top, I'd seen an old woman walking up the hill pretty quickly. I would have been crawling by that point if I'd have been walking up, not down the hill, so I made a mental note to get more exercise.
That night we went to the Eastern and Oriental Restaurant and we saw Ron Weasley's mum!
I took this photo whilst pretending to take a picture of Hannah's sushi - we must have seemed a very cool couple. As lame as it is to admit, I spent the whole meal feeling as if I was in some kind of an audition for a part in whatever TV or movie thing she was making so in my head I was critiquing all of my expressions. It was so hard to act natural and I'm not even a particularly big fan of hers. I made a point to look everywhere except straight at her and must have been a right idiot.
Anyway the meal was nice - they did a buffet including duck. I got so much duck. To top the night off we saw some jazz in a bar. It was open mic and it was always cringey when someone came up to join the band - we both sat there judging how good we thought they'd be.
After that, on Monday we went around town again. We made it our mission to see the list of art places on a tourist map we were given. We went all over town and managed to find most of them. We also found a cat cafe. You go in and eat cake and a coffee, then you go and chill out in a room full of cats. A cool idea, but the trick is that the cats are upstairs. We didn't know until we'd gone up that it was nap time and they had rules about waking the cats up. We ended up spending time with one we weren't that fussed about simply because it was the only one awake. I wish we'd have been able to cuddle the big ginger one.
The last thing we did was go to somewhere called the Blue mansion. For a small fee, you got a tour around the place. Seemed like a good deal. We went in and some lady, who was a tourist like us asked if she could take a photo of us. Very weird. Quite rightly Han said no, then I spent the rest of the time trying to avoid the lady. The "tour" consisted of a lady talking in a very difficult to understand accent about the person who built the house. We stood in the waiting area listening for around 20 minutes as we waited for the tour to begin. Then we went through to a second room. The place looked cool. Then she talked for a further half hour - we both switched off - and that was about it. We were allowed upstairs but not to see any other rooms, but to see an exhibition of clothes they used to wear. I wanted it to be like Longleat and Arundel castle where you properly got in to see all the different rooms. I think it's a hotel though so they make you pay extra for that.
Overall I would say it's my favourite place I've been so far. The food was lush, it is close and such a relaxed place. Will definitely be going back there! Just a short crawl to the end of the year now and then we go to Bali and home for the first time in a Year. Exciting stuff!!!
