Old Penang

Penang, Penang… Old or new, it is still the best place to live on earth.

I went online and met an old friend from high school, now studying and working in Japan. He’s been there for almost 7 years. Although he’s got a job in a reputable company over there, he told me that he will leave Japan and come back to Penang in 2 years time.

I guess no matter how good the lifestyle or salary other countries can offer, Penangites tend to come back to their hometown after living/working outside for sometime. I personally don’t think there will be a shortage of talents here, as there is always an opportunity for growth and development. Not to mention the food, heritage, beautiful beaches and hills, all under one roof (island).

Hmmm… I wonder why I’m still stuck in KL traffic jam right now…

澳洲空軍(RAAF)駐紮在北海的空軍基地. Australian Air Force Base in Butterworth 60 s – 70 s

北海的空軍基地. Butterworth Australian Air Force Base 60s– 70s

在澳洲軍人住宅處找生活的小販澳洲戰機在檳城上空. Australian aircraft on Penang air

澳洲空軍家眷 Australian Military Family in Penang 60 s –70 s

首都戲院前的補鞋匠 cobbler in front of capital cinema

Penang Road 大巴剎 Penang Road Big Market

Penang Road 的女店員 Penang Road Sales Girls

早期Penang Road 的Cold Storage 洋行是澳洲大兵的最愛 , Cold Storage in early Penang at Penang Road.

70年代繁忙的土庫街Beach St. 70^th busy Beach Street.

70年代的Penang Rd. 70^th Penang Road

遠眺喬治市 GeorgeTown

70年代的Penang Rd 夜景 70^th Penang Road night scene

Pulau Tikus 1970s

升旗山山腳1970s Penang Hill

北海RAAF空軍基地看檳島 View of Penang Island from ButterWorth RAAF Air Force base

1960年代三輪車 1960s Trishaw

檳城喬治市1970年代的街景 70s GeorgeTown Penang

Kuantan Trip

This is my first trip to Kuantan. We started our engines early in the morning and reached there in less than 3 hours. The highway that connects Karak to Kuantan is the best I’ve ever drive. The highway is so straight that you almost feel nothing in the car even with fast cruising speed. The weather was kind to us as well =)

First stop at Restoran Zaman for it’s famous Nasi Lemak, as suggested by Eva, and my GPS as well >o<… Second stop, Cheese Crab for dinner… Yummy!

Third stop, Kuantan night beach!

三剑客到此一游 (Journey of the 3 Swordsman/ Umbrella man)

They call this 文头冰(揾到冰), meaning ‘found ice’… -_-|||

Spiderman begging for duit susu…
Fourth stop, back to Eva’s sister house, for durians!
Am I holding a piece of gold?
Too much food in one day, so the next day, we went to Taman Gelora for some exercise!

The church is organizing a fitness event called 赞美操, a good way to reach out to the community.

Before we go back, we had satay in a nearby shop. This marks the end of our ‘food trip’ in Kuantan. Thank God for the safe trip as well =)

GPS

I went to Pavilion KL to meet my mum and company for dinner after work. I brought my GPS with me so that I won’t get lost even though I’ve driven to KL for more then 20 times.

I was leaving from Taipan USJ and had my GPS system set to the shortest time. Halfway on the road I realized the program was guiding me towards Kesas Highway through the Summit traffic light. Alright, I knew there will be a huge traffic jam there, so I turned away and headed towards SS15 so that I could link directly to the NPE just after Sunway. I don’t mind paying for NPE toll if I could avoid the jam. After the NPE, I left my GPS to do the work as I am not familiar with the road after that.

I’m not sure whether something is wrong with the program or our government really screwed up the road. Along the highway there will always be splits with hundreds of road signs waiting for you to digest before you made a decision which way to go (a sign of ‘Malaysia Boleh’). Sometimes it’s just confusing to a point that the GPS system couldn’t pin point or explain the direction it wants you to go. The word keep right doesn’t mean going to the right side of the direction. Well, this is Malaysia highway la! You need some common sense and sense of direction instead of just following blindly to the signs or the GPS itself.

I followed blindly that day… and took 1 hour instead of 20minutes as calculated by my buddy GPS. It lead me through the wrong way several times and suggested the road which was congested…

That’s not all… After the dinner, I did some study on the route that my GPS suggested, glance through the map (I have no idea what route it’s bringing me to anyways), and started my engine. The system leads me to Smart Tunnel and the Kesas Highway, which I wasn’t happy paying it as I was thinking that there may be better routes instead. I thought I could finally reach to Puchong on my exit left out of the highway, there is a sudden split halfway to the exit and I couldn’t make a fast decision as to go left or right. Well, neither does my GPS, ‘it’ was silent… so it leads me to Cheras and thank God after 2km there was a U-turn… which finally lead me home.

So who’s fault was that? Could be just me and a machine not working together well enough… Anyway next time if I want to go KL I will prefer to go by LRT, with my GPS, hehe…