Penang Sights

Highlights of the last 2 days:

• Visit to Toys R Us - Sindhu was ecstatic when she discovered there is a Toys R Us in Gurney Plaza next to our hotel. Not that she really wanted to buy anything, she was just so euphoric to be in an American store which triggered so many happy memories. Rushil rushed to the Ben 10 section and picked out something for $40. I relayed the budget to him and that guns were not in the list of toys he could buy. I guess my budget was very low and not being allowed to buy guns severely limited his choices as he settled for a small Ben 10 toy from the vending machine. They spent like 1.5 hours in the store, I didn't see what the big deal was, we could buy pretty much any of those toys in India.
• Sindhu spotted an Auntie Anne's Pretzel joint in the mall and we quickly rushed over there. Prasad and I wanted to get Jalapeno pretzels with spicy cheese sauce or mustard. Unfortunately, they didn't have any of those so we settled on plain pretzel sticks with chilli sauce, delicious nevertheless.
• The kids and I saw "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs" in 3D. They really liked the movie and wanted to see it again today. Movie theatre tickets are inexpensive in Penang.
• Visit to the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion with the kids - They were bored out of their skulls which translated to Rushil spending the whole visit bugging his sister but I really enjoyed it. The Chinese woman who gave the tour was a 60+ year old with a lively personality, excellent English and a good sense of humour. Cheong Fatt Tze is considered to be a one of China's last Mandarins and 1st Capitalists. He was a colourful man with 9 wives and he built this mansion for his 8th and favourite wife. The mansion became dilapidated over the years and in 1990 was restored and is now tourist spot and a homestay oozing with the perfect Feng Shui.
• Short visit to Wat Buppharam Temple otherwise known as The Temple of the Lifting Buddha. It's a Thai Budhist temple and interestingly also has statues of Hindu gods such as Ganesha and Siva. So what attracts the tourists to this temple? You ask a question then you ask the Buddha statue to become either heavy or light. If you asked for it to be heavy, and you're not able to lift the Buddha, the answer is yes to your question. You then ask for the Buddha to be light and if you're able to lift it, then you have a resounding yes to your question. Rushil tried it and the Buddha was too heavy and he was not able to lift it. His question was whether he would be strong so he was quite disappointed when he couldn't lift it.
• There is a Toy Museum in Penang which hosts thousands of small toys collected over the past few decades. It has a huge collection of Star Wars and has a recent statue of Kung Fu Panda. The kids had an enjoyable time walking through the isles and snapping pictures with my camera.
• Dinner at Anand Bhavan in Little India - The Bombay halva they served was mouthwatering and I couldn't remember the last time I had savoured every bite of a halva. Other than that the thali was a disappointment. A few days before, we had sampled the thali at Woodlands and it was excellent, the service was much better, the restaurant was cleaner and the thali far tastier. Little India was so lively and cheerful with beautiful lights in preparation for Deepavalli. The stores were bursting with sweets, Deepavalli items, clothing and loud Tamil music was blasting throughout the area. Throughout the city, they have posters with Deepavalli wishes, Kollam (rangoli) designs in the hotels and stores and everyone Malay, Chinese and Indian is aware of the festival.
• Batu Ferringhi - This is the beach resort area of Penang. We walked along the beach, the kids took horse rides while Prasad and I enjoyed chilled tender coconut drinks. Around 7pm, the stalls were setup and ready for night shopping on the beach. Sunglasses, designer purse knockoffs, jewelry, paintings, batiks, beachwear are some of the items being sold. It's a whole lot of fun and definitely a must-do in Penang especially if you like to haggle. We had dinner at a hawker joint, more on hawker food in my next post. Of all coincidences, we ran into Zubin a high school friend of mine that I reconnected with on Facebook and met in Bangalore a year back. We had not seen each other in 20+ years and now suddenly we see other twice in a year!