Holiday in Penang – Part 1

Saturday, December 19
We left home at about 11.45am after picking Yiu Yiu from her art class. We stopped by McDonald's along the NKVE to tapau some chicken nuggets and fries for Yiu Yiu, in case she gets hungry along the way, before starting the long drive to Penang. Hubby and I got hungry somewhere after Taiping and we contemplated having a really late lunch at Bukit Tambun but since it was already close to 3pm then, we decided to just grab a quick bite at the Gunung Semanggol rest area. We reached Penang at about 4.30pm, and went to the hotel to try our luck to see if they've any room available for the night. Unfortunately the hotel was full, and so was the one next to it, so we reverted to our original plan to spend the night at my colleague's apartment. Coincidentally, the apartment's residents' association organized a Christmas party that night so Yiu Yiu joined in some of the games. However, since the games were meant for older children, she got bumped out early and was pretty upset about it.

Sunday, December 20
I had planned on visiting the Botanical Gardens but my colleague suggested that we go to the Youth Park instead, as there would be more things to keep Yiu Yiu entertained. True enough, she happily ran around and kept herself busy with the slides, swings, see saws and various other equipments.

We then visited the Pinang Peranakan Mansion, the opulent home of a rich Chinese Kapitan, Kapitan Chung Keng Kwee. The mansion has been restored to its former glory and well worth a visit, and the current owner also exhibiting his collection of antiques. This was also the main site for the filming of the acclaimed Singaporean series "Little Nyonya", with purportedly 70% of the entire series being filmed in the mansion. Surprisingly Yiu Yiu enjoyed visiting the mansion too, and kept asking to take photos of her sitting on the stools in the garden/rooms ala Yue Niang (月娘), the protagonist in the series.

The main room that is used for business discussions

While the men made money, the women of the house spent the money playing mahjong in the adjacent room

The main dining hall for the family (left), and the guest dining hall for serving Chinese food (top right) and Western food (bottom right)

The ancestral altar, which is still being used by descendants of the Kapitan to pay their respects (left) and the wall carvings on either side of the altar depicting scenes from Heaven (top right) and Hell (bottom right)

Yue Niang wannabe

Main entrance

We went to the hotel at about 5.30pm and check-in was a pain. There were two long queues at the reception and it took us almost 30 minutes before getting the key to our room. The room was very spacious and clean but sparsely decorated. We wasted no time in getting Yiu Yiu changed into her swim suit so she could enjoy some water play before it got too dark.