Holiday time - part 3 Penang

After the Butterfly farm, the next stop was lunch and then the Teluk Bahang Dam. The Teluk Bahang Dam is one of the 3 dams of Penang. One of them, the Mengkuang Dam is located on the mainland. The view at the TB dam is rather threadbare. We had a bit of fun trying to get through the poles. Shit!! My stomach is still bigger than M's.

We had a quick stopover at the Fruit farm. But this is not the season for local fruits. NO durians, NO rambutans, NO mangosteens. So - short stopover.

Next pit stop - Snake temple. Alex bravely agreed to have the python and viper snake draped on him. Grandma saw the photos when we got back and had shivers going up her spine!

We then tried to get tickets for the Penang Hill tram (which just reopened a couple of weeks ago after being shutdown for more than a year). No luck. Arriving at about 5pm meant we could only get tickets for the 9.30 train. And parking was jammed packed full!. We decided to go to the Air Itam dam as Kek Lok Si temple would also be closing down by 6pm.

Finally!! A place that V and M has not visited!! We had to salute quite a number of people who made their way up there by BICYCLE, WALKING and RUNNING!! I would have given up walking after 100m. The view is a heck of a lot better than at TB dam. There were also a heck of a lot more people up there compared to my previous visits. Looks like more people knows how to get up there nowadays. After TB and AI dams, you can conclude that the water situation in Penang is well under control. Both dams were visually almost filled to the brim. A notice board showed all 3 Penang dams were similarly full.

We ended the day with dinner at the back lanes - Char Kway Teow, Yew Char Kway, etc. We also bought some jeruk at Chowrasta.

Third and last day started with local breakfast at Pulau Tikus, clean up and check out. First stop was at the shops selling local stuff between the Botanical Gardens road and Gurney drive. Bought lots of Bak Kut teh preparations, coffee and other snacks. Then we tried out luck again at Penang Hill. still no luck. Arriving at just before noon, we could only get tickets for around 6pm. Plan aborted!!

So we made Kek Lok Si temple our last stop. Don't really like Kek Lok Si - too commercial and it's all about money on a religious excuse. They currently have this scheme that if you pay a minimum of RM30, you get to write on a tile (name, greetings, whatever) that would be used in the construction of the housing for the Goddess of Mercy. I have seen writings dated just a month ago with faded writings. I smell a con here.

If you take the incline train from the mid section up to the Kuan Yin statue, the route goes through numerous shops selling blings and other stuff not related to religion. We took photos with the statue of our birth animals, walked around a bit and then called it a day.We took the ferry back to the mainland - another activity that V and M has not done before!