Day 4 Penang 2014: Shopping

We slept in for today and only had our breakfast at 9:30am. :) It was late as compared to the other mornings where we would already be out of the hotel by then. We tried to be health conscious this morning and had the healthier alternatives for breakfast lol. :) 

The fresh fruits and mixed fruit juice with the breakfast set

Fruit salad with yoghurt

Muesli with yoghurt, milk and fruits

We took the Hop On Free Central Area Transit (CAT) from Komtar which was a mere 5-8 minutes away from our hotel. We just let the free shuttle took us on a loop and 45 minutes later, we dropped off at Komtar again close to 11am. 

The CAT shuttle: looks just like our buses

Views along the way: Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion (blue building)

From Komtar, we crossed over to Prangin Mall and we began our clothes shopping lol. :) Prangin Mall is huge with seven levels and a new extension. We had to keep a mental note of the shops we wanted to visit again or we would be walking all over looking for them. :P

We took the link bridge and walked over to 1st Avenue shopping mall. We browsed around and eventually had lunch at Kenny Roger Roasters.

Round-up platter: 4 side dishes

Macaroni & Cheese with chicken cocktail sausages

Spaghetti with chicken meatballs and chicken sausages

We arrived back at our hotel close to 4:30pm where we rested till after 6pm. In between, the girls had a dip in the pool. :)

The girls' purchases

At 6:30pm, we took a cab to Gurney Plaza at Gurney Drive. We mainly window shopped at Gurney Plaza as the girls were happy with their purchases in the afternoon. Their main mission at Gurney Plaza however was to get a manicure! And they did, including me haha. :P 

The unique pedestrian overhead bridge which is linked 4 ways

Views along the way

Along Gurney Drive

Plaza Gurney

The girls getting a manicure

It was close to 9pm when we started to look for dinner. We went to Gurney Drive Hawker Centre which was near-by but nothing caught the girls' fancy. We headed back to Gurney Plaza and had Peranakan food at The Little Nyonya Cuisine restaurant. 

The heritage building preserved within Gurney Paragon, another shopping mall

Gurney Paragon - we didn't have time to shop here. Next time lol

Gurney Drive Hawker Centre

The Little Nyonya Cuisine restaurant

Nyonya Dry Curry Noodles

Ramen with fried chicken & egg

Asian fried rice with pandan chicken

Cheese wedges

Specialty Nyonya Ice kachang

We three were very, very lucky. Just 30 minutes after we arrived back at the hotel (around 10pm), it thunder stormed! There was also a thunder storm last night but not as bad as tonight's. Lucky, we only window shopped at Gurney Plaza, did our nails, saw Gurney Drive Hawker Centre, had Nonya dinner at Gurney Plaza and back to hotel all within 3 hours.   

11 Nov 14 turn down snacks: Banana Chips & Chocolate biscuits

Our newly painted nails :)

Tomorrow is going to be another free and easy day. :)

A Day of Aussie Life

I experienced a day of Aussie family life. 
First, my best friend, Min and I went Christmas shopping at Westfield Miranda. We arrived just before 10am and the car park was almost full! Christmas shopping is the busiest time at the mall. I didn't go all "shopping crazy"! :) I was really proud of myself and bought only what I still needed to buy - a skirt for Juliane, a pressie for a good friend, and a Lush product. :) 
After our Christmas shopping, I went with Min to help the other parents with doing up the final touches on the graduating banner for the graduating Year 6 classes (Year 6 = Pri 6). It was a good two hours of hard work and the end product was amazing. :) Although I am not a parent of any of the graduating kids, I was asked to sign my name behind the banner too! It was really nice of the parents to include me. :)

After dinner (I had roo meat again! :D ), I took photos with everyone! :)

Aunty and Uncle who always treat me very well, like a daughter :)

Min and Graham who welcomes Min's nutcase friend with roo meat! :)

Me in the company of two really handsome guys! :)

It is so sad that it is my last night in Sydney. I really enjoyed being part of an Aussie family. :)

Wild Life, Gondola, Underground Mall and Night Life

Today, we are off on our own, just three generation of women spending time together.

First stop for the day: Taipei Zoo
We set off after 9am and took the Metro to the Taipei Zoo. We arrived just after 10am. The girls were really excited to be at the zoo. We took the visitors' tram right to the end and slowly made our way back down to the entrance/ exit. We visited Amphibian and Reptile House, Bird World, African Animal Area, Nocturnal Animal House, Desert Animal House, Koala House, Panda House.









In between visiting the animals, we had lunch too. We shared spaghetti, Braised Pork Belly Rice (Lu Rou Fan) and hot dog. It has been a long time since I had Taiwanese Lu Rou Fan and it was as good as my memory recalled and the pork ball soup, yum! :)


Second stop for the day: Maokong Gondola
We were finished with the zoo around 2pm. We walked a short distance from the Taipei Zoo over to Maokong Gondola. The Maokong Gondola is a gondola lift transportation, like our cable car in Singapore, which runs between Taipei Zoo to Maokong, a distance of 4000+ metres. The gondolas travel mostly over green forest and hills. We could see Taipei 101 and Taipei city in the distance as well as Muzha district. The girls were really thrilled riding in the gondola. They were laughing and squealing away with joy being so high up in the sky lol. Once at Maokong, we ate ice sticks to beat the heat and to look around the area which has tea houses and hiking trails. It was 3pm when we arrived back on solid ground.









Third stop for the day: Zhongshan Metro Mall (underground mall)
We took the Metro from Taipei Zoo station to Taipei Main Station. We went to the Zhongshan Metro Mall which is an underground mall which stretches from Taipei Main station to Zhongshan station. For the first time in many days, I bought 2 blouses for myself at Zhongshan Metro Mall, so did my mother lol. Marieann also managed to find her Korean children's comics here. :) I bought her 3 comics at one go to stop her from asking us to visit bookshops again lol. :P

Fourth stop for the day: Shilin Night Market
By the time we arrived at Jiantan station (the start of Shilin Night Market), it was close to 6pm. We were all hungry lol. We quickly located a eating place to have some food just to stop the growling stomachs. We were keen to browse the night market for Taiwanese snacks lol.


Chicken Rice, different from Singapore's chicken rice

Oyster Omelette

Smelly Tofu with pickles

Before we went to hunt for more food, we stopped by the game stalls. I wanted the girls to play at a particular game stall which gave me lots of fun during my childhood in Taiwan. Catching fish! The girls were most happy trying to catch the fishes in their nets lol.




After 15 minutes of "fishing", we went over to the food stalls. There were so many people. I think the girls were kind of overwhelmed by the people, the food stalls, the smells, the sights... They didn't want to eat anything. Finally, we ended up eating Japanese puff with mochi ice cream and drinking ice jelly drink with tapioca balls.








Fifth stop for the day: Neihu
We took a bus from Shilin Night Market to Neihu, my aunt's place. I have to collect the pineapple cakes which my cousin-in-law have made for me. We also had rice dumplings at my aunt's place as my mother and I were still hungry lol. We watched a bit of tv programme before leaving for the hotel via taxi at 9pm.

Hotel Sweet Hotel
The girls were dead tired after a long day. They were asleep by 11pm, the earliest ever since we came to Taipei. :)