So last weekend was a combination of both for 8 of us as Operation Char Kuay Teow 3 took place. Me, Yong, Zhou have been on previous 2 occasion while Drew and PYH both alternated 1 trip each while Soon, Philip and Dee were the 'virgins'. Siang was supposed to come but he got *insert whip sound* by Wei Nie :P. Now that most of us are already working, planning a trip like this doesn't come easy. So before I continue, I have to say that the following is my view of the story, our contract blogger (Philip) has already put up Pt 1 (with pt 2 comin soon I hope) while I'm sure one or 2 more of them will do the same.
Ops CKT 3 got underway...
Well, the trip to Penang was pretty much uneventful, oh except for the fact that Yong did not have the freedom of spamming his Korean songs cos I literally took over the music scene :D. Soon already MSN-ed me few nights before and asked me to save his soul. LOL. So that's what I did. Ah, a car ride with Avenged Sevenfold, Metallica, Dragonforce, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and pals beats K-pop anyday! Though we did gave him some chance and he did manage to play some songs when we slept. Though I swore I could hear that annoying Gee gee gee baby baby at one point...
Spot the pattern. Hint: 2 nuts and a banana...
Right, as I've mentioned before, this was gonna be a whirlwind trip cos seriously, 3 days and 2 nights in Penang is NOT enough. So early early already yong and me decided to just mass spam the best places in town, no aimless trips to the mainland, and no experimenting with RM16 loh bak :P. Which meant 1 thing first : THE char kuay teow @ Lorong Selamat. Yes, the very one I had dreams about. This time we stayed so near, we walked there so at least was able to burn some calories la. And judging by the reactions of the first timers, Dee esp, I won't be the only one :P. Zhou also told me when we stopped for a break at Tapah that the first meal has gotta be THAT Char Kuay Teow. Guess great minds do think alike huh?
Dee won't be having char kuay teow anytime soon after this...
So after stuffing ourselves with the mandatory #1 dish of the trip, we checked in to our rooms and the first thing I did was to see if there was ESPN on the tele cos that night was suppose (said 'suppose' cos of the Burnley game) to be the 1st big test for United when they took on Arsenal (more on that later...). Without wasting precious daylight, we headed off to site number 2 : Penang Road for some Cendol and Penang Laksa. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of assam laksa and I still think the cendol in Malacca pwns the one in Penang ANY day!
Its all about location, location, location...
Had a short nap in the hotel right after that before heading downstairs for dinner. Yes, this time we stayed right down the road from the famous Macallister Lane hawkers. Tried many things, some delicious, some ok-ok but none yucky! At the start of our trip, I think it was Yong who said, ' what happens in Penang stays in Penang cos we won't be meeting anyone else we know here'. Guess this is one of those times irony is the best term used. Yong n Zhou already saw someone they knew and right then I saw the smallest friend in such a big place I knew. Of all people, Wei Pinn bumped into us during dinner. Seriously what are the odds? Turns out that her radio company was suppose to have some sort of countdown the next day on the mainland. Sorry Pinn couldn't come, very far, not very patriotic :P
Group pic #1. Epic trip it was...
And at night we went for mandatory dish #2 : Frankie Pizza. The newbies questioned Yong when he mentioned this and I jumped straight into his defense. Told them that I too was once a skeptic, but after the first bite, I turned into a believer, worship that pizza man! lol... Next they asked, ' 4 boxes a lot leh'. Again, I told them to eat first then you'd wish you had more! After getting the pizza, we went to search for the elusive roti babi in Gurney Drive. Last trip round, every night we went there, not even 1 time was it opened, this time determined, our persistence finally paid off, well luck actually, 1 for 1. And when me n Zhou saw how the roti babi was being prepared I knew it was worth the wait. All that batter coating the bread, ready to be deep fried, artery clogging for sure! (not that any of the food we ate weren't).
I swear it's better than Pizza Hut, Domino's and Shakey's combined...
So pre match snacks was settled, no prawn sandwiches but one bite of the roti babi dipped in a special sauce and I could've sworn I heard angels singing XD (would've been 10x better if we'd eaten it at the shop). As we all sat down to watch the match, me n yong were left gutted when arshavin scored a goal which foster should've saved. Though we were lucky not to have conceded a penalty seconds earlier. Second half, same players, different attitude, Old Man Fergie was at it again, lighting firecrackers up the players' asses. When Rooney won and scored the penalty, I would've settled for the draw. But when orang tua Giggs swung in the freekick on the right touch line, few would've expected Diaby, who scored 2 goals in the last match, to head in what must've been the BEST own goal I've seen. Seriously, that was a GREAT header! So a win for us, Rooney scoring, things look rosy for United.
Get in there!!!! 4 in 4 now...
Right, second day, Dee was already like a crack head who hasn't taken a hit in a week. Jumping up and down for THAT char kuay teow. So off we went, another round of THAT kuay teow. After that, not knowing what to do, we went and search for CC for some gaming time. Seriously, with the X-sunway/monash students, it was inevitable that this would happen. Too bad PYH had to go back n study though we found out later on he was sleeping half the time -.-'. We actually found this CC nearby when we went to buy pizza the night before, had awesome package of 5 hours for RM6 only! So camped there for 5 hours and before we knew it, it was dinner time.
My future cardiologist will have a field day on this...
Picked pyh from the hotel and went to Nortrom Foodcourt for dinner where I had what was my personal mandatory dish #3 : Beef ball kuay teow. I swear, the only better one I've had was in Hanoi, where they called it pho bo We ordered the usual oh chean, satay, char kuay teow, Vienna sausages, etc. And this time round, I ordered something else, it had a long fancy name: omelet-somethin-something-formage, which was basically eggs, mozzarella cheese and ham. Usually I tend to stay away from western cooking at food courts, cos lets face it, who sells good western food at food courts? But seeing that the chef was some white boy and having the assumption of white boy = western country was good enough for me. And boy was that the best I omelet I had. Sadly no pictures of that, too engrossed in eating and the photographers for the trip was busy munching down their own yummies. Apparently the 5 hours for RM6 package at the cc was too much a temptation for us so after dinner, we went there. When it was time to leave, all we did was go home, showered, peng.
So the next day, it was time to pack up and leave d. Really didn't feel like leaving. And as with all things, everything leads back to the beginning. So 1 last round of THAT char kuay teow. Dee, Drew, Yong and Zhou had 2 plates, 1 for the road so they say, personally 1 dish was just right for me, any more and I'd be puking out gold :P. We left right after that fearing the long jam back to KL but surprisingly traffic was quite smooth with the exception of 1 or 2 slow moving traffic incidents. And given that that day was merdeka, and I already told them I had the perfect shirt (correct not?), we headed to Baskin Robbins @ Tapah rest stop to take advantage of the 31% discount thing. Somehow I kena con that only 1 pint of ice cream can get the 31% discount. I clearly remember ordering 2 scoops and still getting the discount. None the less, really enjoyed my Strawberry Cheesecake and Rum 'N Raisin flavoured ice cream. Was so full after that I skipped dinner altogether.
Group pic #2. We did answer the call of 1 Black Malaysia. Messege shirts ftw...
So there it is, Operation Char Kuay Teow 3 from my point of view. I may have left out somethings unintentionally, so do check out the other posts from the others for better picture. Yes, it was EPIC... filled with epic FAILS, WINS, PWNS and more. And yes, I've eaten my words (and so much more) bout saying 2 days in Penang is enough. Dee sent me a text the next day that sums it all up, ' Aih... melaka food... aih...' . For those who missed part 3, don't fret, part 4 should be coming. Only a matter of time nia...
*Note: credit to Drew and Dee for the pictures above.*
