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Earlier this month on the 1st of September 2015, Malaysian Airlines officially welcomed the start of its new company Malaysia Airlines Berhad. As with many of you, my first ever flying experience was with our national carrier, with what has happened in the past 18 months or so, I personally felt that this is a significant step to the right direction for the company to once again proudly graze the Malaysian skyline.

Flying with Malaysia Airlines Berhad on the first day of business

Together with a few other writers, I was invited to take a short day trip with the new MAB to Penang.

To be honest, last I flew back to Penang was almost two decades ago when I took a flight (and was upgraded to business class, my first business class experience!) back to my hometown, down with dengue.

To commemorate the occasion, the customers on this particular flight was given a cute little pilot bear.

Malaysian Airlines Berhad CEO Christoph Mueller on Sept 1st, 2015

The CEO of Malaysian Airlines Berhad, Christoph Mueller, was on location to make sure everything runs smoothly, and to salute the aircraft before we take off, it was a proper sent off, albeit only to a location 45 mins away.

breakfast at 1997 kopitiam, Paya Terubong, Penang

Upon touch down in the Pearl of the Orient, we first took care of the most important business – breakfast!

We headed to Paya Terubong and jumped right into 1997 kopitiam. The restaurant is named after the year in which it was established. To be fair, I’ve never been here (as I left Penang in 1996 for college).

The loh mee I ordered turned out to be more than satisfying, I particularly love the super spicy sambal. and of course the availability of those soft & smooth pork skin didn’t hurt at all. The char kuih teow we shared was pretty decent, and kuih teow soup received positive remarks too. It was a pretty good start of the day.

heading up to Penang Hill

After breakfast, we went up to the highest peak of the island – Penang Hill.

There are two ways to head up to the hill – by the new & improved cable car from Ayer Itam, or use the Number 11 bus (your 2 legs) and walk your way up from the road next to Botanical Garden. Of course, we chose the easy way up.

Not to be outdone by Paris’ love locks, Penang Hill has our very own section of the same thing too, I found it pretty cute. If you didn’t bring your own locks, they’ve got a stall manned with traders who are quite eager to sell you a few models of locks, rather enterprising.

the old cannon’s still there, but the cable car is now much faster

I walked up to the highest peak and made sure to take a photo next to the cannon, reminiscing a similar picture taken at the same spot when I went up there with classmates at the age of 10 or so, time flies man.

Oh, make sure you take the lowest car on the way down, the faster speed makes for quite a pretty thrilling ride, I love it.

the famous Ayer Itam asam laksa

After Penang Hill, it was time for lunch, and since we were already at Ayer Itam, the famous laksa right next to the morning market made for an obvious choice.

I’ve had this laksa from when it was sold for RM 1 per bowl, and glad to say that it still tastes the same as it was from decades ago. Check out this old blog post of the place from almost 10 years back.

Fort Cornwallis, where Sir Francis Light first stepped foot on Penang

Fort Cornwallis was our next destination. This was the place where Sir Francis Light, the founder of modern Penang first set up camp on the island. The historical site isn’t overly interesting to be perfectly honest, but if you’re hungry (unfortunately we weren’t), the mee sotong at the adjacent food court is excellent.

Peranakan Mansion, I’ve never been to this place even though I’m from Penang

We then moved to Peranakan Mansion, a typical mansion for affluent Baba & Nyonya from a century ago. This mansion was super impressive and definitely worth every sen of the entrance fee. There are over 1000 pieces of antique & collectibles on display. I am quite embarrassed to be a Penangite who only stepped foot in this building for the first time.

If you go to Penang, be sure to pay a visit to this place.

Masjid India, the oldest mosque in Penang, and the nasi kandar next to it

Continuing the tour of Georgetown, our Muslim tour-mates took the opportunity to pray at the oldest mosque on the island – Masjid India.

As for the rest of us, it was an excuse for nasi kandar. I had nasi tomato from the Nasi Kandar Masjid stall (next to the famous Nasi Kandar Beratur which opens only at night). As with most nasi kandar in Penang, the curry was thick and flavorful, but it didn’t have as much umph as I had wanted, I guess I expected just a bit more.

Penang road cendol and rojak

For tea break, we headed to Penang road to have some cendol. There are two stalls operating across the road from each other, and to be honest, they both tasted as good as each other. Some may argue that one is “definitely better”, but I can’t tell.

Oh, the rojak is pretty good as well.

a visit to Chew Jetty before we head back to KL

Chew Jetty was our last destination before heading back to the airport. The famous residential jetty now has about half the houses converted to make-shirt shops of sort. In a way it was perhaps slightly less charming? I don’t really know what to make up of it.

My grandparents stay very close to one of these jetties at Weld Quay, so as a kid I used to roam around the different jetties with no shoes, carelessly side stepping open nails and barely secured planks. There was definitely a sense of nostalgia.

Oh, by the way, I also tapao 10 packs of laksa back to KL, and happy to report that airport security did not think it was a bad idea. 😀

Best of luck, Malaysian Airlines!

Last weekend I played tour guide to Mellissa on her first tour of Penang in over 10 years, one of the first tourist friendly spots we went was the good old Fort Cornwallis, a place I haven’t been since high school and had virtually no recollection.

there are more cannons in Fort Cornwallis than A Farmosa!

So we parked the car by esplanade, had a plate of mee goreng by the food court (which was not the famous mee sotong I was expecting, but oh well there’s always next time) and then took a leisure walk to the fort built by the founder of Penang, Captain Sir Francis Light. That was way back in 1786, but the fort wasn’t completed until 1810 with a total cost of $80,000. Nowadays you can’t even get a decent linked house with that kind of money.

cowboy hat and rifle the “Sepoy Hut”

So we paid RM 3 per person to get into the fort, which was pretty well maintained for a state run facility. There is a little “Sepoy Hut” right after the entrance that just begs for photo opportunity (by the way you can rent a captain’s outfit too). Oh yes, the rifle was heavy, and it’s barrel sealed.

ohs no, prison girl!

Did you know that the biggest cannon in the fort was cast in 1603, more than 400 years ago. Incidentally it was also the same year Queen Elizabeth I of England dies, and yey to you cos you just acquired another piece of useless trivia.

There are 5 little air conditioned galleries within the fort exhibiting the history and archeological findings in the fort which I didn’t really read. I find wikipedia a little easier and more accessible.

gunpowder bunker and the chapel

Other buildings within the fort includes a gunpowder bunker complete with a lot of fake cannon balls and a few barrels of gunpowder magazines. Oh, by the way the cannons were said to have never been fired, apparently nobody really wanted to attack Penang.

There is also a little chapel that is seemingly designed for Audrey, very small and very cute, check Mell’s penang part 2 post and you will know what I mean.

Mell by the wall

I wished I’d remember to bring my big camera with for the trip, but oh well, at least you get this very cutesy photo of Mell to end this post. kthxbai!