Penang trip

We've finally been on a family beach holiday!



Trip was in January 14 to 17th. I initially could not decide whether to stay at the cheaper Shangri-La ( Golden Sands ) or the more expensive one. Thank goodness Chris decided and we stayed at the Rasa Sayang for the 3 nights.



The flight there was terrible, needless to say. Budget air ( Jetstar ) with terrible service and cramped seats. Madison was still recovering from a bad cold that week so she was up early ( at 5!) which worked out fine as we were catching the 725am flight. But she was figeting and fussing when the plane was about to take off and I had to take the iphone away from her. Thank goodness it lasted all of an hour so we were soon put out of our misery.

At the Penang airport we hired a car and got a child seat too ( again, thank goodness for that ). We had the GPS so we were off after that. No trouble at all.



Penang is world famous for its cuisine. First stop: Food. Ayer Itam was halfway to the resort and where my uncle ( dad's side ) lives so that's where we started. My concern was always food safety for Madison so I chose dim sum from a fairly reasonable looking coffee shop. Rather than actual street food. Food was average but we got fed. Packed some pastries to take to the relatives.



It's been several years since we've seen the relatives so it took a bit of warming up. Dear Madison had little trouble though, and soon she was traisping through the house like her own! Language was a problem since my aunt spoke dialect and only I could barely speak it.



We visited the Kek Lok Si temple with its HUGE Kuan Yin statue. The weather was unbelievably HOT at the temple site. There is a lift to the statue at the top of the hill and tourists were routinely asked whether they wanted to purchase tickets one or 2 ways. It was actually quite ridiculous. There was no obvious pedestrian path down and I think EVERYONE just paid the $2 Ringgit to come down in airconditioned comfort!!



The hotel was a blessing. An ocean of serenity and orderliness. It was so cool and breezy at the resort. The room was quite large by most standards and Madison had a cot all prepared. She loved the room. If only she'd stay asleep at night!



The rest of the Penang trip was spent largely at the hotel and beach. We made the disastrous mistake of visiting the Penang hill, thinking Madison would enjoy the funicular train (whatever that meant!). It was a 30 minute torture up and another 30 minute torture down. For that reason I think the train is permanently closed now for upgrading. Penang has great street food too, but we were a little worried about Madison falling sick so she ate mostly hotel and restaurant food. We had char kuay teow, satay, bbq wings driving around when she was down for her nap in the afternoon.

The hotel was definetly the best part of the trip. Great service, cool surrounds and a nice room. Breakfast every morning was the continental spread at the cafe, which we all enjoyed.

The grand finale to the trip was back home in Singapore.. Madison was so badly constipated since she refused to drink much water and boy... did she suffer the consequences back home....