Observations of Penang

During the last holiday trip to Penang, I made 3 key observations that I would like to share

FOOD
At many of the food stalls - the hawker stalls - the serving is rather small. Not that you should complain as the price is also relatively low (low not cheap). I ordered Char Kway Teow and it was just enough for 3 large bites. Had to complement that with Prawn mee which turns out to be 2 mouths full (for RM2.50). On the bright side, this allows you to savour more types of Penang food without burning too big a hole in your pocket.

GURNEY DRIVE
Lesson to be learnt from the Christmas celebrations - do NOT go anywhere near there in your car. The Penangites will literally rock your car with you in it and spray you and the car with (if God was merciful), genuine fake snow. When we looked at Gurney drive in the evening of boxing day, the tide was out and you can see hundreds of cans of aerosols strewn all over the sea bed. Disgusting!!

And since this was the biggest tourist trap on the island, food here costs a lot more and is just so so. Go and look for food in the older parts of Penang. You won't regret it.

SHIPS
Since Penang has a port, you can expect many ships to be calling here. For the 3 days we were there, I caught the same ship on camera steaming towards the port (on 2 of those mornings). The zoom on my camera ( a Lumix DMZ TC15) is great. I can zoom in onto an object from a great distance, snap that photo. Then I review the photo and zoom in again (I am using 9M resolution) and I can make out the names of the ships although the shot may have been taken about 1km or more away.

I manage to catch the AMUSEMENT WORLD in the evening from Gurney drive - just sitting there. And then on 2 subsequent mornings, I caught it again heading towards port. I wonder if this is one of those casino ships which anchors just outside in International Waters so that gambling can take place.

So I googled it and voila - I am right!!

As Amusement World she is owned by Jackston MTME Ltd., Singapore and sails on non-landing gambling cruises from the port of Penang(Malaysia). Although she is nearly 40 years old she operates two 9 hour cruises from Penang each day is very reliable and popular with the local Chinese gambling community.

AS one gets to the end of this additional information you will see that she has had a very colourful recent history!

IMO number:	6620773	Name of ship:	AMUSEMENT WORLD
Call Sign:	T2JA2	Gross tonnage:	12764
Type of ship:	Passenger Ship	Year of build:	1967
Flag:	Tuvalu	Status of ship:	In Service
Registered owner:	JACKSTON MTME LTD	Address:	05-31, Ubi Avenue 1, Singapore SINGAPORE
Ship manager:	UNIVERSAL SHIPMANAGEMENT	Address:	05-31, Ubi Avenue 1, Singapore SINGAPORE