Penang February 2007

EarthDate 2332-02022007,

Hey ppl, Im starting this post from Mingood Hotel, Argyll Road Penang...if thats how you spell it. Its 11:32pm 2nd February 2007 and its been a fantastic day.

I got out of bed at about 9:30 this morning. Got everything all set and prepped.
Dad cameback and we decided to have lunch at the Old Train Station in the city. The ANW apparently turned out to be an abandoned KFC, so we had to settle for the mamak instead.


After saying goodbye to my dad as he had to leave for his errands, I set off on My First Journey of Spring 2007. Not only is this my first milestone, a solo trip to Penang and seeing my friends, it marks the transistion of my life from a student to a man with Free Will able to change dreams into action.

My bus left on Schedule at 1pm. And I spent most of the time reading and nodding off. We Reached the Sungai Perak Rest House at about 330pm. About high time as it was hot and 'the tide was rather high'. We left 20 passed 4pm and managed to squeeze to a 6pm arrival time.


It is at Sungai Nibong that I was received by my dearest friend Brenda. Ive not seen Brenda for 2 years (Officially) and to finally meet her in person after so long was simply beyond words. Still Bubbly and Gorgeous as before.

Anyway, she took me to Gurney Drive to have dinner. Got me to eat the char keow Tiao there and the Lok LOk... of which the sauce was fabulous(U are lucky my betting luck not so good this year if not hehe).

After she left at about 9pm, I met up with my friend Kon(aiyaaa....!). We had a small dinner at Gurney as well before we started hunting for my hotel. And oh my gosh, we would not have found it if we didnt have the Penang map in his trunk. The place is liveable(u are right Bren...i'll try the 140 one next time) but the lighting is abit to the dim side(not enuf yang energy..right Lilian?).


We were suppose to head to Batu Ferringhi for supper...but since it was close to 12, we decided to postpone it to the next day instead....(4 dollar DVDs :( ).

Will post some pictures the next time around.....and add on to this post tomorrow...cheers...

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Earth Date -03022007,

This entry was recorded into my Blue Travel logbook 2 hours after the Earth Date above. In Mingood Hotel 409.

Today turned out to be rather interesting. Got up at about nine something. Had a tough time trying to sleep but it turned out to be a good night.

Anyway Kon picked me up close to 11 am I started considering picking up Bren for Brunch together. Unfortunately, she was without transport and could not meet us at QB yet. So we continued our journey down south to see Motorola.


Not much of a trip but it did help us with travel placings. Bren told us that we could get decent Chee Cheong Fann at this place called 'SUPER TANKER' (aiyah.....super tanker...stim mo..). It was okay .... and after spending sometime at Kon's Crib, we set off to whisk our princess.

Kon's filtered personality shone through and we were off to a GREAT start. After the 3rd bend, Bren became the fourth member of our Aiyah club...(Rayner ah...) And after the 5th bend, Kon was transformed to Bren's import man-ho the super sensational 'Alejandro Konillius'. (Konstantine Konwallis or Konmodore..wateva tickles ur fancy) with a 'K', from Pee Jay, dont mess wei!

With Sexual innuendic humor and a fantastic array of 'lame'; we set off on our very own tour of Penang (Heritage indeed).


We began with Laksa lunch at 'Aiya...Itam ah...' As one who never really fancied laksa, it was a turning point for me. Taking a bite, i could see why ppl travel from far and wide for this World Famous heritage.

Next, Fort Konwallis.

As usual the scenery is gorgeous . Just look at its beauty

and its reality..

The Fort turned out to be a fantastic play ground.


It had really large attractions,


and huge majestic masts.


The Failure to find the Milo truck led us to Little India for a lil scouting, and then to the World Famous 'Cenoi shop'

After much planning and consideration, the next stop was the taman bunga...(so sorry Bren...though u suggested it). How ungentlemanly of us( emm maybe just me).


Though if not for her sacrifice, we would not have gotten so many kewl pics. ( Wuv u!)





Kon had to leave for his B-day Partee, so he was to send Bren back and me to spend some quality time with myself at a shopping centre. Again Bren was kind enuf to accompany me for dinner (huggies).


Neyway, just as Bren was at the midst of getting me drunk, she was hijacked by her mom, and i spent the next 3 hours with myself. Within three hours, I spent 23 bucks on food and drinks, checked out the whole E-Gate ground floor shops, rounded Tesco and got myself Hi on sugar water. By the time Kon picked me up, I was so high on Sugar, I could barely think straight. But after a couple of gulps, it toned down.

The trip to 'Batu F'ing Hi ' was fantastic as well. We were suppose to go there to get cheap DVDs, despite Bren's warnings of them being closed (yes yes u r always right, for ur own good), we decided to go anyway. We found out that the Inbound and OUtbound track was a perfect trail for a Time attack!! AND the DVD shops WERE closed.

The day ended when Kon sent me home and I drank as much as i could to lower my glucose level.

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Earth Date 1800-04022007 Sungai Perak Rest area

After a very interesting Satur-day, waking up at 10 am was god-like. Mask Rider's Justified was singing under my pillow into a new day. The morning was fantastic and so was my hair.

At twelve i left my room and checked out. I was hungry and asked the 'concierge' if i could get something to eat. She was kind enough to reopen the kitchen and serve me a good toast, tea and other bits and pieces. One thing I like better than a fantastic room, is customized and personal hotel service. It was bed and breakfast all over again. What they lack in placement of the hotel, they made up in service! Her name as I recall is 'Emerald' or so I heard. Hotel Mingood, certainly worth 70 bucks per night!!



Kon, got me there after and we met up with Bren at QB. She gave me this, A cute graduation Bear... with 'honors' labelled on its butt-tag too!! (THANKS BREN!!! GoSH Im starting to fall for u! GO OUT WIF ME!!Onegai!XOXO)


There was this concert with unknown singers to us who sang and gave out astro gifts to the audience. After a while, we lost interest and start roaming around. went to several shops and passed the time while waiting for Bren's Friend.




We went for lunch at about 2 at this restaurant that i kinda forgot the name, Jack or something. A nepalese that spoke fluent mandarin..(oh how banana i feel...Joseph baNAna... lay hoe?) Well with Alej's super Konstantine charms, we were off making interesting lunch episodes again.

But as Good things have the habit of sloping. THe delights of the trip was coming to an end for me. The sinulsoidal rule of events. The bus that would take me back was at 4pm. A 45 min headstart was wise (as you will soon read).

Bren and her friend decided to walk us to our car(with me playing with my house keys, Hitch). Unfortunately, the inefficient lift system prevented them from following us to the car. So we bid the ladies farewell, and made our way up 5 floors to Kon's ride.

We realize that we had to get our ticket to the autopay machine, spotting a sign on the 5th floor, I got down in vain to find the machine. I told Kon to wait for me at the 4th floor as i go look for a machine. I went to the 4th, no machine. Went to the 3rd. found the machine but no 1 ringgit. Lucky i had a five and couple of guys also looking for the machine. I manage to get my 5 changed, paid my ticket and ran back up to the 4th. Kon was in the wait..so i rendezvous with him in time for him to use the ramp down to the 3rd. Wat a Macguyver.



Anyway after that incident and our cursing a BMW driver for missusing its breaks on the 60 degree downhill ramp, we reached the station with 15 mins to spare. Stepping on the bus marked the end of my first trip, but the beginning of a new life ahead.


What Have I learnt?
Seeing my Dear Bren again after so long and my Aiyah friend Kon, I realized how much I have yet to learn. Opinions, judgments, ingenuity, frankness, impromptus. All these values that I have neglected so while I worked on other strengths.

But it is this very reason, that I started this trip, to rediscover myself and the people around me. It is not just the destination, but a journey of the mind. To be able to see what one lacks, and build from it, to be a better person for one's self and to serve the people I Love and care for.

I want to be not just the Kid who dreamt of the rabbit. But the man who brought the rabbit into the hearts of millions of children around the world.

For all da uploaded pics from my cam, go to photobucket.com and search for triblade84. And for a proffessional blogger's version of This trip go to Bren's blog.

Adelaide November 2006

Justin's Log Date: 11 November 2006 5.00 a.m Day 1
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This trip consist a group of monash students, including Eujin, Yin Chien, Wei sern, Rayner and me. Population 5. lmao.

As time passed I made sure that Rayner brought his protector for my comp. This is our journey to Adelaide, the City of Churches.

Coach S, Seat 38. 7.20 a.m.
We left the house just after 6am with the minor inconvinence of getting a goodie bag that we left behind. We manage to catch the 6.15 bus to Huntingdale but barely. There we took the train to Southern Cross station where our 'Cross Country' train awaited us.

Our train was due to depart at 7.30am and we had to get the tickets from the booth before boarding. Once down, we brisked to platform 2 and Eu Jin darted off to get our tickets. And we were off, in Coach S od the Overlander. We were poofed from not sleeping. Nonetheless as I finish this entrym, we are just minutes away from depating Melbourne on a 10 hour journey to Adelaide.

Yu Sheng's Place, 11.45pm
We arrived at Adelaide's Railway station a little after 6 pm. After collecting our luggage and some brochures we took a free shuttle down to the city. Initially we thought of stopping at Rundle Street but told the bus driver to drop us off at Victoria Square.


And as some twisted perverted fate, we ended up in the middle of a procession. Not just any parade. The Adelaide Pride Parade. Gays, Lesbos, 'whores', the happy and the SM all in one parade celebrating what they believe in. How appropriate it was that it was held on 'Hindley Street'. Wat a first step in to a new city.

We met up with Eujin's friend Yu Sheng and his gf and had an awesome dinner at Grote Street. The dinner was awesome , Duck Kangaroo, alligator meat all fantastic. That night we were suppose to head on to our friend's place down south, towards Glenelg, but was stopped by the rain so here we will stay the night in a three storey apartment since everyone was dead tired.

Justin's Log Date: 13 November 2006, 1.30 a.m Day 2
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In the morning, we left for Paradise Community Church. We took the famous O-bahn bus to the Paradise Interchange where we met another of Eujin's friends.

The service wen on till 1pm and we went for lunch. We had 2 pizza rissoto, pasta and garlic bread at the Cafe Primo. After lunch, Icecream was in order at Cold Rock. After a run to Rundle Mall, we separate and wandered around the city on our own.

The Info Center was closed, so we thought of going ourselves to the key places. The state Library was first. But it was about to close, so it was merely a pitstop for mitcurating and refilling our bottles. We then visited Uni SA and then the botanical Garden.




Next we wandered around till we found ourselves in the Cinema watching BoyTown. Show was hilarious. Anyway we had a late dinner and took our stuff to Stop 14 of the tram to Eujin's other Friend Elaine.

Justin's Log Date: 14 November 2006, 12.10 am Day 3
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We started pff in the morning with a trip to Thrifty on Hindley Street. We left Marion Street by foot and reached the place 15 past the hour with an allowance of a small mishap of Jin's wallet and handphone.

We decided to head to the Jam factory to see how glass was made. Then we headed to the Car, the Mitsubishi 380. A good car with Lots of space.





And off we were to Handorf the Oldest German town in Australia. The highlight of the it was of course the food, lunch at the Handorf Inn where we had lots of sausages. And a beer for Eu Jin. Meeting RuO and his Angels along the way.





The Strawberry farm was next. 2 Dollars entry, we gobbled up as many strawberries as we could, picked up some for friends and had loads of fun as well.





Then we left for Mt. Lofty Summit with some detours along the way.

Next up was the St. Flinders University. Go visit our host elaine 'studying hard' for her exam.
Next we left for the city, made some last minute shopping for the next day. and finally head to the pancake shop.

I had 'IT'a sweet pancake stack with syrup rock nuts and jamacian bananas for 10 bucks.
After the reunion we went to one of the fantastic apartments 'Botanical Apartments', really nice, chatted up with some friends and finally headed home to bed.

Hawker, Justin's Log Date: 14th November 2006, 10.30 pm Day 4
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Left Elaine's at 9. went to Barossa valley for lunch and a couple of drinking stops like Penfold.
Next came a 4 hour journey North till we decided it was time to stop. We stopped at a town called Hawker, got a self-contained Motel thingy for about 130 bucks and began our rest. We decided to head up to Flinders Ranges the next day.

Elaine's, Justin's log Date 16th November 2006, 2.00 am Day 5
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We had a good start. It was about half an hour's ride to the Trail head site of Wilpena. There we travelled up a 2 hour return trail to a lookout point. Making interesting videos and pictures especially at one of the cliffs. Oh yea..lol

It was another 4-5 hour journey back. By the time we reached Adelaide, we were able to go to Glenelg got dinner (oysters) and see the beach.



Then it was supper with Elaine and Melissa (though Weisern wasnt feeling well and I had to dissappear in the car for a long bit). They had drinks, while rayner and I had orange juice.
Then it was real pizza to finish the night.

Tenten Bayview, Justin's log Date: 16th November 2006, 10.30 am Day 6
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We were out of Elaine's by 9 something, returned the car by ten and walked to somewhere north of the city for brunch. YC left us for a bit to meet another friend. It was good as we had an abortion. this slab of chips, lamb sour cream and sweet chilli sauce. MMMM.



Then we made our way back to Haigh's choco in the city, met up with YC and headed to the airport. That concluded our 6 Day journey of Adelaide. It was fun, nostalgic, interesting, and lame to say the least an enjoyable roadtrip for all of us.