Today, I write with fond memories of the places I went in November as I took a break from work. Like all stressed out father, such rest are rarity but when you get it, make sure you make the best out of it. I really did that and I just wanted to spend as much time as possible at some nice places and I did. I am always intrigued and fascinated by archaeological places, museums and places of interest plus the lure of good food. Yup! Nice places and the tummy rumblings go hand in hand when travelling......
We started out with a trip up north for my buddy, Rosli daughter's wedding in Bedong and a trip to Lembah Bujang Archaeological Museum nearby. It was a wonderful experience of understanding what took place at these places a long time ago. The best part is that the museum is free of charge and very well kept indeed. As for the outdoor upkeep, I must say I am equally impressed with the cleaniness and the well kept place. The model "candis" were exceptionally interesting and there is something mystical about them too.
You may ask what is so interesting and mystical of such places and artifacts, right? Well, for one, you could see the strategic placement or the placement of balance in the building of such places of worship. A lot of emphasis was given to ensure that these so call "candi " is properly balance and depicts harmony flow. It is like the entire "candi" will be surrounded by harmonious flowing running water which will create the ambiance of harmony. From the stones cuttings to the art works and stone carvings, they were really interesting. It was really interesting to note the Buddhism and Hinduism influence to these "candi". Interesting indeed, I tell you. Well, this is just my perspective of things as I see it. The experience there was truly wonderful. One that I cherished a lot.
The other place which I truly enjoy was the trip to Bukit Mertajam to visit St.Anne's Church. I must say, this is truly one of the most beautiful churches I have ever been to. Never mind the denomination or whatsoever, the church is such a majestic one.
As I sat at the old wooden pews in the church and with the gentle voices of choir singing from practising carollers, it was truly an experience of a lifetime. I must say, I was overwhelmed with such thankfulness in my heart knowing such beautiful church is in place. The architecture of the church is absolutely great and majestic. It is just so awesome being in this church and the experience alone is so worthwhile. I love the artworks especially the wood carvings, the bronze or metal works of art depicting familiar Biblical stories, the rustic wooden pews that adorned the congregation worship hall and the wonderful mosaic works adorning the historical wall.
The worship hall was just great and I felt the peace in my heart and simple adoration for His presence that day. It was a great feeling. Even my sister felt she was at some overseas church and never knew it was such an experience. The other great experience is that one would get to know the Story of Jesus to the Cross through the works of art around the vicinity area of the church. What a great experience! Blessed and humbled are what I felt while at that place of worship!
Butterfly Farm in Teluk Bahang was the next destination my family and I went during our short break. Though the entrance fee was a little stiff as the area was quite small but it is still a great surprise for me. The butterflies are beautiful and I enjoyed them thoroughly. Maybe one would complaint that there are many of the same species of butterflies but I must say, there are truly amazing. Multicolored butterflies flying by and making a pit stop at your hand or head or shoulders can be quite an experience if you are a nature lover like me. However, it does get quite uncomfortable as the place was not that big and there are plenty of visitors to the farm. I noted pertinently that there are a lot of social photographers at the farm. Yeah, I must admit that this is a photographer's haven if one wants to shoot pictures of the unique butterflies.
Then , there is the over-rated Colmar Tropicale place in Bukit Tinggi. There was so much said about it and so on but sadly, to me this is just another theme resort. Incidentally this is a French theme place. Sure, the buildings are nice and so on. It is a little damper for me just like the weather then while the journey there was arduous and long plus there is an entrance fee too. I guess, there is so much hype in it but overall, it was still a nice cool place to go just to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city life, I guess. Anyway, I bought some pastries from one of the bakery and they are stone cold! I really wished they could have warm the pastries a bit before packing them for us to eat. It would have been a better experience, I guess.
Anyway, take not the beauty and attraction away from this place as the idea of it is good. Looking at the pictures of it, I too would have given my mom and dad a hard time by constantly harassing them to bring me there for my holidays! As for the Japanese garden, I must say that the road towards the garden is horrendously steep while the steps ( I hate steps!) up to the garden was my nemesis indeed! The Japanese garden was well kept and clean but just too little to see.
I guess, my next memorable experience was hopping in and out of hotels like E&O and Rasa Sayang Shangri-La Resort. These are truly beautiful hotels. Rasa Sayang Shangri-La in Batu Ferringhi has a truly beautiful beach front and nice relaxing lawn to go with it. The facilities are great though I wouldn't afford to stay here, to be honest. Everything was nice and cosy. I just truly love the feel of this place and being able to walk around the place with SL and SYuen are just as good.
However, Chi Spa did not sound that nice in Hokkien and so, I did some signs which disgusted SLing but we both burst out laughing at the end. Guess, just two old people having a lighter moment in life!!! It was just a nice day enjoying simpler things in life. Yeah, we had so much fun just visiting hotels and E&O is the other great hotel too. We walked from the old wing to the new wing and got a shock in our lives when we enquired about the room rate! Thank God, my heart did not skip many beats or else, you'll probably know where I will land........
Anyway, thanks to my brother-in-law, Tee and my sister, we were able to sample the Seberang Prai food fare again which was a real delight to us. Thanks to Felicia, we got our coffee fix together with some nice bread while spending time with son, JWee and also with Felicia were priceless. I never could understand how one could live by a 780 sqft apartment and still go to work sane each day. There space is simply too small but obviously there are people who still could do it. I shudder at the thought of how on earth is JWee gonna have his own place if prices of apartments/condo in Penang keep rising to the 600k to 700k range.
I often wonder if there is any hope at all for the citizens of Penang unless you already own a place n the first place. I guess, I am pretty lucky in the sense that I do have a landed property which I could call home and snug nicely each night at my rustic bed. I guess, I should kiss the ground called home and wished I hadn't complained too much. A roof over the head is better than none, right? Yeah, breaks like this makes you realised just how blessed you are in your life and so I have learned! And so I have learned.............
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