Another #ThrowbackThursday post. Thankfully unlike last week’s post which was 2 years ago, this post’s entry dates back less than a year ago, hehe. My family and I headed down to Penang for a family trip which coincided with my Dad’s birthday weekend. We were very blessed that his friend’s wife and children hosted us for the 3D2N that we were there, and we took in a lot of beautiful cultural and heritage sites and sights of Penang, as well as a lot and I mean a lot of yummy food! I love Malaysia not only for its close proximity to Singapore and yummy food but also how affordable it is compared to Singapore’s high expenses. This is an ultra image heavy post with 222 (purely coincidental number) photos and I’ll be adding captions and explanations along the way.

Always love plane rides and enjoying the view from above! <3With Daddy on the plane!

[ Penang Day 1 – George Town Cultural & Food Trail ]

You’ll see a lot of pretty peranakan-style shophouses in Penang, similar to those along Katong in Singapore. I love the relief designs and the exterior of shophouses in general, so you’ll be seeing a lot of them in my post today! Lol!Took a photo of this building exterior because it’s interesting. I’d admit it’s not pretty, but definitely unique!Dad’s friend’s wife and children (in case you’re wondering, Dad’s friend was away on a photography trip as he is a photography enthusiast) came to pick us up from the airport and drove us to Jalan Penang for brunch.

Took a photo so I can figure out later where this kopitiam is located at, but I can’t find it online, except that it’s along Jalan Penang, rofl. Penang style iced kopi and beef noodles!Beef tendon noodles. I find that Penang food has its own unique flavours, unlike anything I’ve tried in Singapore.With everyone at lunch table and mummy not looking in the camera, LOL.
Shophouse exhibit 2. Told you I have a thing for shophouse exteriors. My dream house is a Notting Hill style house, which is extremely rare in Singapore, the closest examples would be Everton Road and Blair Road houses. There are also some nice shophouse style houses at Katong and Joo Chiat area.

Shophouse exhibits 3.
Shophouse exhibits 4. More really old looking shophouses which are a dime a dozen in Penang.
A relic looking building hoarded up possible for works. Reminds me of Malacca. After visiting Penang, I came to realize that Penang has a lot of similarities to Malacca, with the strong cafe culture, a heritage centric zone, Peranakan influence, relics and a lot of awesome local food. The main few differences at the top of my mind is that Penang is much further from Singapore and also famous for Penang beach. Malacca also has a seaside, but not as famous as Penang.After lunch, we arrive at Georgetown Penang which is the cultural center and hub of Penang and also where a lot of cafe action is located at. Ok, maybe “cafe action” is an awkward phrasing. I mean there’s a lot of cafes here and where you can cafe hop conveniently! 😉

Like this rustic looking cafe with industrial style decor and an open roof concept for natural light streaming in. Love.

I love the industrial chic interior style, which is all the rage in interior design lately. Greenery providing a nice contrast with the industrial vibes.
Different seats thrown together for an eclectic style. Lots of interesting artworks pepper the streets. It would be really nice if Singapore had a street like that, don’t you think?
Cute sand art featuring animals. In front of an artsy souvenir store, ottokedal.We continued our cafe window shopping trail and came across this mural.
Another shot of the mural. Love the colours!
Another interesting feature, decorated door. It would be super pretty if its repainted! Oh the possibilities of reworking relic / antique pieces. I am not a fan of vintage, but I do love refreshed, modern takes with vintage elements. 🙂

This cafe we passed by had a pond in its courtyard.And a “福” which is missing a stroke… which makes for a photo opportunity/wall!
Told Dad to get into position. HA.
And here’s my take. 😛
After crossing the courtyard, we made way into a cafe abounding with cat drawings. They provide paper and drawing materials on the table for customers to doodle, draw and colour! What a fun idea.
Basically The Canteen at Chinatown is a traditional compound of 3 heritage buildings, linked by an open air courtyard and converted into 14 spaces comprising shops, cafes, restaurants, galleries, live music and bakery. Visit their website here for more information.

153 & 155 Beach Street
183B Victoria Street
10300 George Town, Penang
Tel: +604 – 263 7299
We also popped by this coffee shop selling coffee beans.
And walked through another coffeeshop with quirky interiors, to say the least.
Like these Snow White and Seven Dwarfs statues.

And a really pretty courtyard. Except it was really too hot to to be out.
Sis and I popped inside a space for a photo. HAHA. Spot the little birdy on the frame?

Then we came by this Mama-Miya Coconut Ice Cream stall for a ice cream break! They’re so cool (pun fully intended), they have their own IG page and geo-tag! Casually seated right by the stall. With our ice creams!Paired with nata de coco, jelly and corn. Yums!
After ice cream, we continued on the Penang heritage trail. Here’s my next fascination with Penang, mural art. Mural Art exhibit 1.

Came by this spot with a cute upside down baby.

Dad posing for a photo with the baby, LOL.

And then dancing with a live one man show on the streets, no kidding, LOL. Uncle one-live-band! I totally made that up, but that’s exactly what he is. Which reminds me that I should totally do a vlog the next time I travel, because you can’t hear the music through a blog post. We came by this building and I love the palace like details that goes into that exterior! Look at that. I wonder if its real gold plated or gold paint. Mural art exhibit 2. Twist.
Shophouse exhibit 5. Dad’s got the swag in this pose, lol! Want a beach experience right in the middle of Penang? Ta-da! HAHAHAHA. You must be thinking, “Like that also can?”.
Mural exhibit 3. And another really random wall mural / artistic feature. Gotta love the purple wall, so pretty! And then we came to visit this temple which is famous for this secret passageway. For more backstory and temple interior, you can visit this website.Love the broody mood evoked by the shadows on the wall.

And the contrast of the light and shadows. Travel trips are all about finding the beauty in the environment and taking artistic shots, hahaha. The beauty of travel is finding the otherwise mundane lives of the locals, fascinating.
Buildings that might be otherwise overlooked by locals become outstanding. Look at those dragon statues on the rooftop! I didn’t edit the colours of of my photos (trust me when I say it will take forever to edit 222 photos, maybe you will only see it in 4 years if I do, lol) but if I did, this building will look even more remarkable. 🙂
When I’ve earned enough money from making a living, I’d love to travel the world, take photos for inspiration and design collections be it fashion, beauty or interior design from each travel! That’s my dream. 🙂 I don’t always write so much and share so much of my thoughts on my blog, but I’m feeling particularly verbose for this post. So do let me know if you enjoy reading these thoughts! 🙂

For lunch, we came by this Jawa House Cafe Gallery, an award winning local cafe/restaurant.

A particularly interesting menu which included a lot of articles and text too!
And thissss. Omg. The food is so yummy, yummy is an understatement. We ordered Jawi Herbal Lemuni Rice, Jawi Briyani, Prawn Briyani and more but I cannot recall the names now, oops. You can check out their menu online here. Initially I thought that maybe 5 dishes won’t be enough for 7 pax but we were so full. Perhaps also because we had a filling brunch from earlier as well. The ambience of the cafe is also really quiet and nice. When we were there, there was also a TV crew filming at the backyard. I’d highly recommended Jawa House Cafe Gallery!

Visit Jawa House Cafe Gallery:
85, Armenian Street, George Town 10200 Penang, Malaysia
+604 – 261 3680
After lunch, we continued the walk around Georgetown from before.
Sign of no street food stalls allowed.
Mural exhibit 4, of a rickshaw uncle taking a break on the rickshaw.
Time to check in! We stayed at Red Rock Hotel, having stayed here previously, Dad recommended this hotel for its affordable rates and convenient location with food stalls easily accessible from the hotel. However after staying here, sis and I realized we should try Glow Penang if we visit again because their wifi there is much stronger, lol! And it also looks much newer and swankier.
Parent’s room in the Red Rock Hotel. Damn big, I know.
Photos of a hat I bought for Christabelle as she was looking for something similar for her D&D event. 🙂
After checking in, we headed out again for some seaside sightseeing. And then omg… I had to walk down this rickety wooden bridge. It was scary!The view however, was so pleasant. Dad and mum looking so chill by the seaside. We met an uncle who was showing us his fishing loots. Don’t really know what this is either, but it was like the size of my fist. Afternoon sun. Looking back at this post, it does feel that we had a super long day, isn’t it?
We passed by this house which seemed to be rearing bulldogs. This puppy is cuteee. Then we headed for desserts!
I had Aiyu jelly, which was yums. Gotta admit though, the street stall didn’t seem very hygienic.
We also passed by this Georgetown Wines, which seems like a really pretty and laidback evening spot.
And then we came to Kedai Kasut, where world famous shoe designer Jimmy Choo started his apprenticeship!
Can’t miss a photo with Jimmy Choo, can I? HAHA. This is presumably the exact spot/shop where Jimmy Choo has his apprenticeship.
Gotta love these cute and informative metal artworks! More really pretty dining spots.
Mural exhibit 5 of a man with a long white beard and sis posing below.
Shophouse exhibits 6.
Shophouse exhibit 7.
Shophouse exhibit 8.
A cat cafe! But sadly we didn’t go in.
So cute though!
And a camera museum, which you can visit if you’re keen! 🙂Mural exhibit 6, a little scary, this one. Of a little girl balancing on/between two windows.

A cute beer place.Love little details like this.
Shophouse exhibits 9.
Mural exhibit 7.Not a shophouse exhibit per se. look at the name of the street, “Love Lane”. LOL.

Yunno, just posing with the fam outside a cute door.
Mural exhibit 8, riding on Uncle’s sampan.
Yes, you could totally do a Penang Food Trail cause there’s so much yummy food here.
Like this restaurant where we had our dinner, Shing Keang Aun Restaurant which is famous for its authentic Hainanese food.
UNFORTUNATELY I was too hungry and forgot to take photos of our delicious dinner. T_T Visit their foursquare page here for photos and food reviews! 🙂
After dinner, we headed back to rest. And then mum, sis and I headed out for supper. HAHAHAHA. I know. I too, am surprised that we had the stomach for supper. XD We just walked down on the further left side of Red Rock Hotel where there’s a lot of hawker and coffeeshops and we opted for one that seemed cleaner and more spacious. 🙂
They have a lot of ingredients displayed, customers order and the chef cooks on the spot. We ordered cockles! Although I prefer clams. A lot of vegetables on display too. This is the shop we visited. 东京海鲜饭档. Tbh, supper was not spectacular. It was a tad too oily. I think the experience of having supper was more fun than the supper taste itself. We also ordered oyster omelette – which is one of my fave! 😀 Fruit stall by the road. We bought some fresh fruits to bring back to the hotel.

[ Penang Day 2 – Church, HK lunch, Shopping and Tree Monkey Cafe Dinner ]

We had breakfast at the hotel before heading to church.We arrived early.
A cute wall decor at the church. My dad is a retired Hokkien pastor, so he was the invited speaker that day. 🙂
With a sweetheart and her mum after church service!
For lunch, we visited this Zhong Hua restaurant nearby.Crispy noodles.
Fried noodles. Egg tarts! Vegetables dim sum.
Dim sum galore. Think we over-ordered. Parents with aunty.
After lunch, we took a cab down to shop! The cab has this cute hand drawn map on his car. We came to Gurney Paragon to shop. It’s rated number 1 among the top 10 shopping malls in Penang and was recommended by our Penang friends.
Gurney Plaza is just next doors. But Gurney Paragon is so big, we didn’t even have time to finish shopping the mall alone in 2 hours.
Came by this cute The Zakka store that sells a lot of cute accessories.
We bought a lot of snacks from Ban Heang which was just next doors to our hotel, haha. We didn’t shop a lot, bought a few clothings and masks.
Random poses right outside the hotel. The Ban Heang shop with yummy and affordable local treats.We tried this Hello Kitty chocolate mooncake, which was TOO SWEET. Sugar overload.
For dinner, our parents and us went separate ways. Our penang friends Shaw Wooi and Wan Lin brought us towards Penang beach side for drinks and dinner. We came to Hard Rock Hotel for drinks. The live band was really pretty good! I really enjoyed the songs they sang. Again, another reminder I should do vlogs for my next trip. 🙂

After the rain stopped, we headed to Tree Monkey. We opted for this Asian Tapas set.
Unfortunately we missed the sunset, the owner recommends coming in the early evening for a beautiful sunset view.
Pineapple rice. Calamari Rings.Curry.
Tom Yum Soup. My favourite would be this Asian Tapas.
Group shot!We really enjoyed the ambient and service by the humourous team as well.

Visit Tree Monkey
Tree Monkey @ Tropical Spice Garden Lone Crag Villa, Lot 595 Mukim 2. Jalan Teluk Bahang 11100 Penang. Tel: 604-881 3493/4. Post dinner, we came by Starbucks for drinks. Walked by all the street side stalls. Located near Holiday Inn Resort.
They even have Starbucks Gear, which is unheard of in Singapore.

[ Penang Day 3 – Coffeeshop Breakfasts, George Town Cultural Trail Part 2, Maple Palace Lunch ]

For Day 3 breakfast, we decided we’re gonna try more local delights instead of hotel fare. So sis and I randomly chance upon this stall opposite the hotel.
Slathered on Lip Hop’s sunblock, ready for the day’s sun.
We ordered kopi, teh and char kway teow.I really wanted to try the famous salted egg yolk char kway teow but didn’t have a chance. This was a regular one.
The fishball noodles. The dishes were average. I liked the fried fish!
After breakfast round 1 (yes, breakfast round 2 coming right up, LOL). We headed to walk about/around. We did so randomly and came by this pretty spot. Which thus called for a photo. There’s a 小娘惹 shop that sells beancurd. Mural exhibit 9, le smoking lady (made that up myself).Trying my best to strike up a conversation with her. Mural exhibit 10. Sister approves of this barrel full of likes. #ThumbsUpMural exhibit 11. Angel with graffiti wings.
And an angel wannabe. 😉
Mural exhibit 12. Food machine. Located close to this Nagore Square sign.
Shophouse exhibits 10.
So pretty. Mural exhibit 13. Red nose man. Mural exhibit 14. Another red nose man.
Shophouse exhibits 11. Don’t have a series to go with this, but I found this row of pillars very intriguing.
I imagine the relics on the pillars were chipped away by people moving goods along this corridor. Not a shophouse exhibit per se, but just found this window above the pillars fascinating. Old buildings and exteriors just seem to have so much untold stories, don’t they? Another and final series for this Penang trip, tiles exhibit 1. Shophouse exhibits 12. Love the colours! Not a shophouse exhibit per se, again. Just love the cute doodles on the door!
Shophouse exhibit 13.Unfortunately that street pole blocks it. It’s so pretty with a cute balcony. Even the side of the shophouse is pretty too.
Shophouse exhibit 14. Cute red canopy.
Mural exhibit 15. Blue couple. Mural exhibit 16. Short hair girl.
CHIME Heritage architecture explained.
Tile exhibit 2. We passed by this very promising looking hawker spot.
Shophouse exhibits 15.This row of shophouses houses a lot of quirky shops, like this Caffeine Chemistry. Obviously 3D2N was not enough to explore Penang with. T_T; Tile exhibit 3. This Lim Brother mansion also caught my eye,
So did this LX Leather Spa. And this Taiwei Village Restaurant, because my BIL’s name is Tai Wei, hahaha. We headed back to the hotel to pack up, and here’s a look at the Lip Hop products I brought along for the Penang trip!

We had breakfast round 2 at Yummy Cottage.Carrot cake.And finally got to try duck egg char kway teow. It does tastes more flavourful than the regular egg. How come we don’t have this in Singapore?! Penang Char Kway Teow stall. For a list of must try stalls, visit here.
Then we visited Leong Chee Kee for damn good pastries. Very famous with a lot of press clippings. Their mooncakes were totally yums.Close up of the clippings. Super cute old school stickers and labels. Old school interior as well.The shop owner, his son and family helping him with the business. He was also very friendly chatting about Malaysia, Singapore the similarities and differences, with us. Located amidst local housing. Again, these buildings seem to have so much stories within them. 🙂 For lunch we came to Maple Palace, an award winning restaurant in Penang. The food, ambience and service here is undoubtedly great! Fresh juices. Picked mango appetisers.
With aunt and familyBeef and ginger.Crispy Peking Duck.
Fish Steamboat with amazing stock. Very yums!