Cycling In Penang Heritage City, Georgetown

A day to remember as an AUPian when we cycled all around the city of heritage covering most of the mural arts drawn by Ernest, some heritage sites with a mini food tour. The adventure had started right after our meet ups and briefings and ended our awesome adventure in the afternoon after having O-Kio located beside the main road along Weld Quay. We were all very lucky to be able to cycle under the perfect weather, who will enjoy cycling and visiting those mural arts under a heavy downpour? We, a group of 30 over cyclists, had conquer the streets in Georgetown and had left our bicycles' tracks together with the continuous bell ringings which would had brought up the happening atmosphere and spread our love to our hometown, Penang, to the tourists!

The "Reaching Up" mural in Cannon Street.

  "Boy On A Bike" mural in Ah Quee Street.

  Godess of Mercy Temple (Kuan Yin Temple) in Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling.

  St. George's Anglican Church in Lebuh Farquhar.

  "The Awaiting Trishaw Paddler" mural in Penang Road.

  Chew Jetty (Clan Jetty) in Weld Quay.

  The shop from where we rented our bikes.

Let this Saturday be our most adventurous yet unforgettable day in our college life! The moments when all of us bonding with each other, the spirit of unity was not only be seen with our eyes rather it was felt deep inside in everyone's heart. Besides, getting a sunburn and a sore butt are worth it for such a unforgettable memories we all had as an AUPians, don't you agree so? Anyway, the photos can be downloaded with a click on each of them in high resolution.

You might be interested : Cycling In Penang Georgetown, City of Heritage

Cycling In Penang Georgetown, City of Heritage

There is one activity which you should not missed when you visit Penang, Malaysia. This activity is adventurously eco-friendly where you cycle around the city of heritage, Penang's Georgetown in the meanwhile it is also cycling for your health too! We started our cycling adventure late in the afternoon after meeting up each other in an antique reseller's shop who also offered bicycle rentals at the price of only RM10/day. All of us enjoyed our cycling adventure despite the sunny weather.

A group of 5. Nicholas, Charles, Shi Jie, and Chien Chern including me with our gears ready!

We first had our cycling around Armenian Street under the hot and searing sun until we arrived at one destination where there is a stall that serves the awesome yet famous dessert beside the road of Pangkalan Weld known as O-Kio ( 爱玉冰 ). Oh well! It felt so great having something cold in the meantime quenched our thirst before we continued on.

O-Kio, also known as ai yu bing in Mandarin.

As we continued, we headed north towards Penang Esplanade where Fort Cornwallis is located at. I recalled of the delicious Mee Sotong being introduced by my friend where its stall is situated in the food court next to Fort Cornwallis so we gave it a hit since we were already there. The Mee Sotong tastes a little bit spicy but as a whole, it does tastes great because of the sauce.

The plate of Mee Sotong in Penang Esplanade.

What was next after hitting our try on the Mee Sotong? We went into a private carpark where we took our glance of the entire Port of Swettenham. We had a crazy idea of cycling towards the Four Pillars in Sungai Pinang area which the pillars were built just next to the sea. But before that, we cycled into Chew Jetty, another tourism hotspot of Penang. Yes, we cycled in into the village with our bicycles. Inside the village was peacefully beautiful that has its very own unique culture and structures.

The glance of Penang Port Swettenham.

One of the art murals drawn by a talented artist, Ernest Zacharevic has been spotted on a wall in Chew Jetty as we went deeper inside. There were a few luxury boats docked nearby to the village by foreign tourists which is simply amazing for such a rare sighting. We cycled around the Four Pillars in Sungai Pinang area through the Jelutong Expressway's motorcycle lane after we visited the Chew Jetty. The distance starting from the highway towards the Four Pillars were so scary as we were cycling in the motorcycle's express lane, the rev up sounds from the motorbikes deters us from taking our glance back at each other even to the sideways. We all had our dinner in Chulia Street for the Famous Wan Tan Mee and ended our cycling adventure at night. The photo collections of some of the art murals I got for that day as follow:

We called it our cycling adventure for the day, what about yours? Let's share your experiences and cherishable memories!

Trip to Penang Pulau Jerejak

Being a pure Penangite for almost 20 years, I have to admit that that was the first time I stepped onto an island opposite Queensbay Mall named Pulau Jerejak which the history of the Jerejak Island can be found here. So, it happened on last Saturday when my friends and I had our adventurous outing in Jerejak Island. The adventurous outing was started at around eleven something in the morning as I woke up late as an organizer unintentionally for 8:30AM ferry then all of us missed the 9:45AM ferry again because we went out for our breakfast nearby. We signed up for a package that includes to-and-fro ferry ride, buffet lunch, and 5 exciting activities that costed each of us for RM65. The 5 activities are wall climbing, rappelling, jungle trekking, flying fox, and lastly, crossing over a suspension bridge which they would probably implanting unforgettable memories into your mind like all of us had.

The all-in-one receipt that counted 13 of us on package that day.

Regardless of the precious time being wasted while waiting for the ferry to arrive, we had our great interactions in within the group. Everyone was wondering what would it look like on the other side especially me. "There is a spa resort? Like how?" are the thoughts that kept me wondering and imagining while walking on the seashore.

Penang Bridge, early in the morning.

The 13 awesome spirits who made the day!

Nearly an hour of waiting, the wait was finally over at around 10 something in the morning. All of us finally got on board on the ferry after a distance of walk from the station towards the jetty where we waited for quite some time over there. Upon departure towards our adventure, we were getting closer and closer to our destination. Of coarse, the view from the ferry or maybe from the Jerejak Island to Queensbay was such a rare scenery and they are only be angled through the lens of your camera or your eyeballs while the ferry gets in its track slowly to your destination, Pulau Jerejak.

The interior of the ferry that carries tourists to the Jerejak Island.

The views are fantabulous aren't they? After we arrived at Jerejak Island's jetty, we walked our way to the hotel lobby where we were expecting the instructors of our day. The Jerejak Rainforest Resort is clean yet simply beautiful. Immediately, we started our first two activities with wall climbing and rappelling after meeting up one of the instructors. The wall climbing was really fun and I managed to conquer the maximum height of the activity on my second attempt while rappelling was great too where you are to descend towards the end of a rope from a certain height which was the height of the wall climbing.

We had our buffet lunch in the resort hotel and waited for our next activities in the resort hotel's compound that will start at 2 o'clock. Some of us went playing poker in the lobby while I went for swimming with the rest in the resort hotel's pool. Upon continuing our third activity, we were asked to stretch ourselves first before we headed into the rainforest for jungle trekking. The jungle trekking was quite a challenging activity as compared to others as it was because of the slippery slopes and muddy tracks we encountered in this rainy season.

Group photo before we started our jungle trekking.

The entire jungle trekking came to its end when we reached the suspension bridge. We were only allowed to cross the suspension bridge five persons at one time. The experience of crossing over this suspension bridge was an awesome one because it is not a usual thing we can experience in our daily lives. The feeling of crossing this suspension bridge was like you-are-about-to-fall-but-you-are-not especially when someone tries to shake the bridge, it must be a heart pounding moment for those who are afraid of heights.

The suspension bridge!

Right after crossing the suspension bridge, it was the last activity we were having there back in Jerejak Island called flying fox. Again, the flying fox was really great were you are flying over from an end to the other end that is lower. As everyone of us had finished the flying fox, we headed back to the hotel lobby and took our rest there.

A screenshot taken out from a video footage of mine on flying fox.

There was a tree snake resting on a steel bar while we were on our way back to hotel lobby.

Despite being injured while getting down from flying fox, I would say this trip to Jerejak Island was a memorable yet adventurous hangout I ever had with my friends! The RM65 per person for the entire activities was worth it after all that include the buffet lunch which personally I think it is acceptable to fulfill your hungry stomach with no expectations of being a luxurious buffet. The trip to Jerejak Island of ours had ended at about 6 in the evening when we called it a day on that Saturday but the visit has yet to be ended for me as there are still some sites to be explored.

Our last group photo at the jetty back in Penang's.

Kek Lok Si Temple and Pagoda Displays of Lights

Thursday, 9th of February which was the 18th day in the first month of Chinese Lunar Calendar. 3 days after the 15th day of the first month of Chinese Lunar Calendar, we had missed the displays of lights on the gigantic Kuan Yin statue. Rather than the miss, the displays of lights in Kek Lok Si Temple and its Pagoda were lovingly beautiful. I feel like visiting a heavenly paradise walking around in the temple after meeting up with my friends and had the famous Laksa down the hill.

The displays of lights in Kek Lok Si Temple when we had missed display of the lights on Kuan Yin statue.

The displays of lights of the Pagoda before and after.

The entire temple was well decorated with lightings. The combinations of light colors were fascinating and attractive! In addition, each of the lighted lanterns were attached with labels of labels of wishes made by the donators along the corridors as you are walking upwards to the Pagoda.

The lanterns with the attachments were hung alongside on the ceiling of the corridor.

Like I said, it was heavenly beautiful inside the Kek Lok Si Temple. In front of the lighted small Pagoda sitting a statue of Buddha in His pavilion can be found when you are walking upwards to the Pagoda. I still feel like living in a paradise looking at these photos, do you feel so?

We come here once in awhile throughout the year so getting lost on our way up to the Pagoda was kind of expected until we took awhile to figure out the route towards the Pagoda where the souvenirs' shop are located. A fee of 4 Ringgit Malaysia are collected at the entrance towards the Pagoda.

And so after making our wishes and rang the bell below the Pagoda, we made our way towards the highest level of the iconic Pagoda back in year of 1927 through the stairs. The Pagoda is also known as the Pagoda of 10,000 Buddhas. As we reached the highest level of the Pagoda, the first thing we enjoyed the most is the chilling mountain breeze which was so cooling and refreshing. Besides that, we were able to enjoy the panoramic night view of Air Itam from there before we headed home that night.

For the displays of lights on the gigantic Kuan Yin statue, you may want to view a blogpost of the preceding year with a video attachment on the Display of Lights in Kek Lok Si Temple in the link below:

Displays of Lights In Kek Lok Si ( Year 2011 )