It was Sunday and after Raya, so traffic going out of Penang was exceptionally heavy. Driving down to Nibong Tebal was quite uncomfortable but I guessed I could learn to get used to it. Who knows, years later I will be one of the contributors to this nasty traffic.
Next, we headed to Penang.
First Stop
First stop was Prangin Mall. I parked my car there and we walked our way to komtar and went to eat cendoi and laksa at the stall immediately adjacent to it. The food was nice, but not so lovely to be called two-thumbs up. The price, however, was two thumbs down. Incredibly exorbitant.
Image taken from http://grabyourfork.blogspot.com
The weather was scorching so we left the place quite fast. A friend came out with the idea to go Armenian Street to seek the street arts, but considering the sweltering weather was a huge hindrance, I said we'll go in the evening, and we agreed. After the meal, we went to the next stop.
Second Stop
Gurney Paragon!
Image taken from www.leinvest.com
Comments: Too high class for ordinary people like me. Winding and extremely narrow parking and poor system. I'll say the lousy system is pardonable because the mall is still new, but the way they built the parking was laughable. The construction was poor (a bit too low), the curve was intimidatingly narrow (huge cars please be aware), and most of the lights malfunctioned. Oh, and we almost got into a lift made up entirely of soft wood.
Not my cup of tea. Won't visit again.
Well, I did go to Harvey Norman to kill some time while waiting for time to dinner. Having none advanced technology in possession, being able to fiddle with some at a crowded mall is quite appealing. The new computers with touch cover looks very weird and the keyboard is so flat and solid, I don't even know why would anyone bother to use it. Then I was looking at several iPads and smartphones that looked nice, but the price alone would rob you one month of meals.
Third Stop
Northam! The food I aimed!
It was only 5pm but because we still had several stops, we had to make it quick and take early dinner.
The restaurant was situated at a seaside, and while sitting there you could hear the sound of the waves hitting the beach. Okay, the foul smell emanating from the beach is a little disgusting, but the sound of the waves was really relaxing.
So we ordered some foods that were, in retrospect, quite exorbitant. Two chicken pot pies, one German sausage, one Arabian sandwich, pasembur, hokkien mee and umm....two cups of drinks.
I would really love to go there again.
Fourth Stop
Armenian Street! It was around 5pm, the sun had begun to set and the weather had begun to cool down. It was quite fun walking around the streets with lots of strangers. The atmosphere was different, and somehow the ebullience spread out the entire place and your fatigue would be wiped out instantly if you were there.
So my friend went there to look for one of the newest drawing: the minions! It took us a while to find it, and when we've found it, to be frank, I never expected it to be the pole on a middle of a narrow road. No wonder my friend said "find the tiang". Now I know why tiang!
The street arts were not centralised within a street so we had to walk quite a distance to find the others. I had to drive from one street to the other end to find the drawings of a young girl and a young boy on the swing.
And the traffic had really become heavy.
Fifth Stop
Ubah bird!
We didn't know where the bird was and so we had to try every place we can go. My friend suggested it was beside the highway so I literally turned into every left turns available along the stretch of the highway. It was dark, almost 8pm, so finding a floating plastic bird on an unlit water was quite tough. Eventually we found it, and the location was really unexpected.
Due to time constraints and fear of traffic jams, we left rather fast. Anyway, it was dark, and photo snapping was quite impossible.
Sixth Stop
Nibong Tebal pasar malam! Lol!
After dropping one of my friends at Perniagaan Gemilang, I had to drive my friend back to NT. The traffic had turned so slow even tortoise could walk fast than your car. After exiting Juru Toll the traffic was fine, and I could drive to 110km/h. And I thought the traffic was so smooth and everything would be fine.
Shortly after Simpang Ampat toll, the traffic came to an immediate halt. There was no reason for the sudden gridlock. The first stretch was due to two massive lorries, driving side by side, that crawled slowly on the highway and caused the extremely long line of cars behind them. After passing them the second gridlock was long and I didn't get to see what happened. I exited the Nibong Tebal and freed myself from Hell.
It took me one hour to drive from BM to NT, and I drove the last 1.5km on the emergency lane, tempted by my friends and other cars. Thinking of it now, I don't even know I should feel ashamed or I should laugh at it.
Exiting the toll, my friend brought me to pasar malam in NT. It was still crowded despite being 10pm at night. I met up with another friend there, who went there 9.10pm and waited for 1 hour to meet with us. Sorry ya, lol. My friends had supper but I had only a cup of coffee because I felt sleepy and my leg was sore due to the jam.
After dropping my friend home, I drove back to BM by highway again. Going back to BM was smooth and the traffic was light. It took me a mere 25 minutes to reach BM and everything was fine.
It was a nice day, a nice trip, a real eye-opener for heavy traffic, and nice experiment. I would love to go out like this again in the future, haha!
*Photo credited to my friends, YYX
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