White Water Rafting cum food exploring trip in Penang - Day 2

We had a good sleep on way back to Penang from Kulim, dead beat! Had a nice dinner at local hawker, good food and drinks. Followed by a massage at Penang Rd. This is no joke, the massage was good, but too much for me to take. We did a step massage, the massue were men. Imagine man stepping on me....I almost suffocated and worst I was aching all over the 2nd day ; ( The rest in the team love it, they had 2 session altogether (45+45mins). 

We did a city tour in Penang the next day. Visited the rich & famous home of Cheong  Fatt Tze (Blue Mansion), at GeorgeTown. The mansion is also a boutique Heritage Hotel, can even hold a wedding event, wow....I will consider : ) if only I found the right one. : D (fat hope)

Check out the link: http://www.cheongfatttzemansion.com/

Followed by Peranakan Mansion, also at GeorgeTown. The famous Peranakan mansion was one of the shooting spot for [Little Nonya] big & beautiful Mansion. A place you should not be missed when visiting Penang. An admission fee of RM10, worth it. Expected to see big crowd/ tour group posing and taking pics everywhere. 

Check out the link: http://www.pinangperanakanmansion.com.my/ 

Beside all the sight visit, ofcoz FOOD was one of the most important to venture out in Penang. We went from places to places to try out different food, like Char Kway Teow, prawn noodles, Penang Laksa, Loh Bak, Nasi Lemak, Nasi Kandar, Indian Rojak....the taxi driver that fetch us around was shocked to see how much we would eat. : D

The conclusion:  the meal I took that day =  1 week of my usual intake : D

Here's my itinerary for the 2days/2nite* trip: 

(*we took at midnight flight to Penang)

Day 1:

Flight SIN-PEN (AirAsia) arriving 0000hr

Took a cab outside Penang Airport (RM50-60/car, 45mins from Airport to GeorgeTown)

1 night stay at Ryokan Hostel (RM40/bed/night)

Day 1 con't : 

6.30am Breakfast at nearby India stall - Roti Channai.

7.00am Pick-up by drive to Kulim 

           (RM350 for 10pax, package include: to/fro Kulim, water rafting & lunch)

http://www.whoaadventures.com/package/sedim-river-whitewater-rafting-and-more-kedah

9.00am Activities at Sedim River, Kulim. (rafting) 

1.00pm Lunch 

2.00pm Activities at Sedim River, Kulim. (Tubing) 

4.00pm Followed by Tree Top walk (30mins)

5.00pm Dept Kulim to Penang in evening.(1hr on road)

7.00pm Dinner at Red Garden, Lieth Road, George Town

8.00pm Massage at Liang Xin Spa, Penang Road (45min for RM50)

10.00pm Drinking session at Reggae Club, Penang Road (beside Liang Xin Spa)

1.00am Back to Hostel.

Day 2:

10.00am  Wake up for brunch at Chinese Stall near Hostel

11.00am  Walk to Blue Mansion, Leith Road. 

              (admission fee: RM12/person *note the opening hr & no pic allowed)

12.00pm  Took a trishaw to Pinang Peranakan Mansion 

              (RM10/trishaw - remember to bargain)

              Tour the Peranakan Mansion (admission fee: RM10/person)

              Snack at Peranakan Mansion cafe ( must try the Chendol)

2.00pm    Walk over to the old Chinese Temple, along the street 

              (heard this temple very 'ling')

              Took snack again at Kopitiam beside Temple.

3.00pm   Taxi to Gurney Plaza, did some shopping.(will be good if you have more time to try out the food at Gurney  hawker centre)

4.00pm   Cab around for other food, Char Kway Teow, Nasi Kandar and Indian Rojak

6.00pm   Final, to Airport (AirAsia)

10.00pm Home sweet Home

White Water Rafting cum food exploring trip in Penang - Day 1

The journey to Kulim was basically Kompong view. We met up with the rest of the team at Butterworth bus station and proceed further.

Arrived at the Rafting spot, I got a shocked...this place was run down. Very Kompong.. dirty and messy. We were in a forest anyway. (what do I expect? 5star setup?). We were brief for 5-10mins on what to expect & what we will encountered. I was kinda worried then, no confidence with the Operator. The guide reassured us that they have the best Skipper. Award winning river for rafting, and Skipper had won a few Awards. Ok, I tried to convince myself to believe what he said, in my mind...pray hard : p

We were told to do a water confident test. Jumping off from a 1m high rock into the river, and drifted along the river until the rescuer throw us the rope. It's was fun, and I have no doubt in jumping into the river. Just Do it! : p

Another brief and training session for 5mins before we raft off. The river was fast, we just have to keep to the Skipper command. "Move! paddle front! paddle back! stop! Boom!" Shouting and commanding from Skipper. We were in & out of the raft, fast and need lot of coordination & team spirit : D  and the least coordination from team will get hit by the paddle : D and bang on each other shoulders, hit on the nose..etc.minor injuries happens : ) but still safe.

We were stuck in between rocks a few times, due to the low water level. And this river is in fact very rocky. Thanks to the experience Skipper who do most of the job.

The most exciting part, ofcoz was me being thrown out of the raft : D The only guy in our team were being thrown out too. The raft hit the rock, and went 45deg up, poor us sitting on the left side, dropped into the river in split second. The accident happened so fast that I couldn't really recall what had happened. I knew my finger was entangle on the rope & I let it go to release the pain, then the next moment I was under the raft.

Luckily was been trained to dives, so I'm still able to stay calm under water. I have to push the raft on top of me away, and surface. The Skipper was in a panic too, he thot he has lost me : D I only surface after 30sec, that was taking too long according to him. Anyway thanks Lord I'm safe and alive : D

Next we had a tubing after the rafting, that's simple. Just sit yourself on the tube and flows down the river. The only tortured was the butt against the rocks. We heard a lot of laughter, and Ouch..ouch.. follows. : D it's not too fun when we got stuck on some rocks or hit on the rock, I don't wanna tried this again. But the rafting was definitely a craving activities. Would want to do it again, maybe next year ; )

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White Water Rafting cum food exploring trip in Penang

The last in the list for Sept has come to an end : ) White Water rafting at Kulim and a food exploring trip in Penang. Tired but exciting and extraordinary trip : p 

This is my 1st tried on Water Rafting, a bit scared and worried initially. After this trip, I fall in love with water rafting, it is an additive activity. I'm craving for more :D

Was thinking whether I shld blog for Cambodia trip or Penang trip. And I decided to go for Penang 1st since it's so fresh and exciting. 

The trip was planned in June (as I recalled), organized by an adventurous lady. She was my 'babe' frienz. She managed to get a group of 10 ppl for this trip. So here how the adventures started ......

We booked flight from SIN-PEN-SIN via Airasia. Some of them traveled via coach to Penang, but due to our pampering comfort zone..err hem we preferred to fly than bus around : p It only took us 1 1/2hrs to reach Penang instead of 10hrs on the coach... I had enough of that. 

The organizer suggested that we all stay in Hostel instead of Hotel to keep the cost low (Budget group) and ofcoz to keep the land transfer easy for everyone, it's definitely better to stay at the same place. It's not too bad after all in this hostel with the basic facilities, chic, clean and new. 

Ryokan Hostel in Penang:

http://www.myryokan.com/Home/

We stayed in a 4bedroom at RM40/bed/nite, female dorm (however we sneaked in a man, haha) Very basic, with aircon. Shared bathroom and wifi lounge. FYI,  there's no free blanket and towel. We have to pay a rental fee of RM3 for blanket and RM2 for towel.

The only disappointment, the receptions were super blurred... 1st they forgotten to pick us up from Airport, 2nd they only booked us for 1 nite instead of 2 nite. pissed... I was damn tired and sleepy to argue with them upon check in at 2am. : ( That not all, upon checked out we were told to show the payment receipt to get our deposit back. And we were not aware of any receipt beside the online confirmation, some of them thrown away the receipt. Ok ok.., some argument and reasoning went on for awhile... hew... finally we got back the deposit. So, friends make sure you double confirmed the rooms/taxi and also keep the receipt all time to avoid unhappiness.

We were too tired to argue further that night, so managed to get a bed and all jumped into individual bed and zzzzz....to dream land. We have to wake up at 6am for breakfast and ready for the transfer to Kulim at 7am.

More updates and pic soon.. stay tune.. and enjoyed the Penang pic at the meantime : D

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My Accomplishment for Sept

Had accomplished my 2 items in the list for this month, 1st the trip to Cambodia then the D&D. Looking forward to the next trip to Kulim. Guess it gonna be filled with lot a fun too ; )

The recent trip to Cambodia, has bring along some good memories and some thinking. My mind has calmed down a lot and looking at things in a different perspective. Asking myself what have I been doing and what I have achieved for the past years. Now have learned to cherish myself more and enjoyed more. A very relaxing trip I would say.

I'm lucky to have a good companion I suppose that helps too : ) It was definitely an impromptu trip. During one of our discussion something just pop out of my mind and suddenly we decided to go Cambodia together. And at that very moment we booked the flight and confirmed the trip, in less than a day.. amazing  :D

We have common topic, in work, dance, social, etc. almost everything. Something that we shared doing together with ; ) oops... don't misunderstand me, we are just simply very good girlfriends :D

I have come to understand that life is not just about who love who more, or who don't love who anymore :) There's more things in it. Being single is not the end of the world. At least I get to go to places I wanted to go, I go to the movie I enjoy and I eat the food I like, I have more time for myself and family. 

And now my latest interest is to make myself healthier, prettier and happier : D 

I laugh out loud, I dance as much as I like, I play as much as I can : ) Enjoying my life to the fullest. Life has become more meaningful now,  I love the way it is and will keep it this way.