Fatty Loh Chicken Rice @ Fettes Park Penang

It was lunch time! We were scratching our head what to eat for lunch in Penang as we had too much options to choose from. Before we came out with any conclusion, our "tour guide" was kind enough to suggest us this eatery at Fettes Park, Penang - Fatty Loh Chicken Rice.

Our "tour guide" told us this chicken rice's shop had been doing the business for decades and it is one of the popular place to eat Hainanese chicken rice in Penang. Although chicken rice doesn't sound so attracting to us especially when we are talking about "Penang local delicacies", but at the same time we couldn't make up our mind what and where to eat, so we just go ahead with our tour guide's suggestion!

Just before the entrance to the eatery, you could found this very cute chef sculpture with round stomach standing tall beside the little staircase lead to the shop. Before you get your seats in the shop which is aircond-ed, you must first place your order outside the shop just after you climb the little steeled staircase.

After we placed the order, found our fengshui table and observed the surrounding, we just realized that this is not just "another-chicken-rice-shop"! This shop had gain some reputation when they won the title "Guang Ming King of Hainan Chicken Rice" in a Hainan chicken rice cooking competition organized by Guang Ming Daily.

They had also been awarded as Malaysia Top 10 Hainan Chicken Rice in "Malaysia King of Hainan Chicken Rice" competition co-organized by Guang Ming Daily and local tv channel NTV7.

We had not been waiting for long before the foods were served on our tables. We ordered roasted chicken for 3, roasted pork and a plate of taugeh cooked with oyster source.

The roasted chicken was smooth, juicy and tender which I believe is the most fundamental requirement in preparing a good chicken rice. The thinned sauce topping the chicken is nice eating with the rice.

The roasted pork was delicious as well whereas the taugeh just normal, nothing that special to elaborate about. Now come to the rice itself, I personally felt that the chicken rice was lack of some flagrance to please my taste buds. If compare to the chicken rice balls I ate at Malacca not too long ago, the delicacy level of this chicken rice is still far behind. Anyway, this is my personal opinion as how delicious is a food is something very subjective depends on individual. 

One thing I would like to mention is the price here is pretty reasonable. With this much of foods we ordered for 3pax, the bill came out with just around RM26. The price was relatively cheap as the portion of the foods served were quite big.

If you wish to taste North-Malaysia champion's Hainan chicken rice, here is the address:
21, Jalan Fettes, Fettes Park, 11200 Penang.

Business Hours: Mon-Sun 9.30am-4.30pm

After filling our stomach, we continued our journey to the next tourism destination of Penang - Penang Butterfly Farm! See you there!

Pinang Peranakan Mansion @ Penang

Botanic Gardens, Reclining Buddha Temple, Burmese Buddhist Temple, Fort Cornwallis, Queen Victoria Memorial Clock Tower and we were at our 6th destination of the Penang trip on 6th of October - Pinang Peranakan Mansion. Peranakan which also known as Baba and Nyonya mainly at Straits Settlements such as Penang, Malacca and Singapore are acculturated Chinese who had adopted selected local Malay culture and later colonial British to form their own very unique way of lifestyle and customs.

Pinang Peranakan Mansion is actually a museum of Baba and Nyonya in Penang where the mansion itself was owned by a very famous and influencial historical personality, Kapitan Cina Chung Keng Kwee. Remember about what you study in History book during secondary school about "Kongsi gelap Ghee Hin dan Hai San"? Yeah, the rival triad who caused the Larut War in 1860-an. Kapitan Cina Chung Keng Kwee was the "daigo" (leader) of Hakka (Hai San) group at that time!

Interesting fact is that Chung Keng Kwee himself is not a Baba, but he commissioned his mansion to be built in the influence of Baba and Nyonya architecture incorporating Chinese carved wood panels, Chinese Courtyard, English floor tiles and Scottish ironworks. The mansion itself reflects the typical home of a rich Baba about a century ago, including their luxurious lifestyle as well as their customs and traditions.

Admission fee for each adult is RM10 and free for kids under 6. The fee appeared to be a lil expensive to me, but trust me it worth the money as there are too many to see and too many to capture inside the mansion. Just in case you dunno, this mansion had become the venue for few film/drama shooting. Among them include "The little Nyonya"《小娘惹》by MediaCorp Singapore, a very successful local drama "The Iron Lady"《女頭家》produced by ntv7 and Double Vision, a film featuring Dr Sun Yat Sen refuge life starring by Angelica Lee(李心潔), "Road to Dawn"《夜明》 and others.

Upon entering the mansion is a wide space served as waiting lounge with air well at the center.

The room on the left was meant for gathering and is a reception hall...

... and the smaller chamber inside the room was the place for the ladies to enjoy their card games or did some gambling perhaps to spend their leisure.

Yes, these were the cards they played at that time which caught my attention. Perhaps these were the ancestor of Mahjong or they were totally different kind of card game? I really have interest to know. There was actually a tour guide in the mansion who will explain to you about the histories, the stories and everything about the mansion provided that you have at least 10 persons in a group visiting the place.

Coincidentally there was a big group of tourists visiting the mansion at the time of our visiting, so there was a tour guide trying to introduce the place to them. We tried to join in and listen, but the group was too big and the voice of the tour guide was too small to reach the back. We finally decided to give up and spent our time touring around ourselves while shooting as many photos as we like!

On the right side of the waiting lounge from the entrance was a dining hall with a long wooden western style dining table which reflects the western influence in early Baba and Nyonya lifestyle.

The upper floor showcase the family living hall, bedrooms, traditional bridal room with typical Nyonya matrimonial bed and sewing room.

The upper floor is also where all the antiques are displayed including women accessories. Some other interesting artifacts I found out are the huge vintage standing camera, radio, vintage platter player and many more!

Oh ya! Footwear is disallowed during you visit to the upper floor. So make sure leave you footwear (except stocking) before the staircase heading to the upper floor.

Another part of the mansion which may gain your attention is the kitchen on the ground floor. The kitchen space is relatively big which shows its importance in Peranakan culture. Here you can see all sort of cooking utensils, even refrigerator and oven of the old days!!

At another side of the mansion is an ancestral temple which look really impressive! You know those old time ancestral temple of rich families which you saw in Chinese drama? If you did, then this is exactly like what you see on tv!!

There were lots of colorful sculpture decorating the wall of the ancestral temple, each of them represent some meaning.

It was certainly a great eyes-opening experience visiting to Pinang Peranakan Mansion. If not because I was worry my camera's battery will get flatted for capturing too much, I would have more picture to share about this mansion. Anyway, you better visit the place yourself to feel its ambiance which certainly will impress you I believe.

The mansion is located at 29, Church Street and open daily including weekend and public holidays from 9.30am to 5.00pm.

Queen Victoria Memorial Clock Tower @ Penang

This is not really a tourism venue but our "tour guide" stopped by here to let us take a look and he told us this is a very famous clock tower in Penang.

Yeap! It's the most iconic clock tower in Georgetown named Queen Victoria Memorial Clock Tower. The tower was built by a Chinese tycoon named Cheah Chen Eok in 1897 to commemorate the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria's reign (1837-1897). This statement was carved on the structure itself.

The tower is 60 feet tall and it was to commemorate the 60th Queen Victoria's reign. This is not any coincidence but each foot represented each year of Queen's reign.

From the reading, the interesting fact I found out is that Queen Victoria never visit to Penang at that time and before the completion of the tower in 1902, she already passed away (1901).

Opposite the clock tower at the center of roundabout is a futuristic look metal sculpture which caught my attention. Heard it symbolizes "buah pinang" where Penang got its name from the plant.  

We just stopped there for couple of short minutes before continue our journey heading to Pinang Peranakan Mansion. Not much nice picture taken about the tower, so these are the best I got! ;)

Fort Cornwallis @ Penang

Honestly, I never heard of other old fort in Malaysia other than A'Famosa in Malacca, until few days before my trip to Penang, when I did some reading on the tourist spots on the island, I found out this fort in Penang called Fort Cornwallis. It became our 4th destination during the visiting to Penang recently.

Fort Cornwallis was built on the site where Sir Francis Light made his historical landing in Penang in 1786. This star-shape fortress is the largest standing fort in Malaysia and is named after the Governor-General of Bengal, India, Charles Cornwallis. Originally it's just a simple stockade made out of nibong (palm trunk) until it was reconstructed using bricks at a cost of 67,000 Spanish Dollars in 1793.

Upon entering the fort compound through its main entrance, each adult will be charged RM 2.00 and RM 1.00 for a kid. There are not much to see inside the fortress, basically just the old walls, old cannons and old structure. Well, I guess that's what a historical fort is all about, isn't it? However, there are some important artifacts in Fort Cornwallis that you may pay attention to.

First, is Francis Light's bronze statue which you will never miss when you enter the fort compound as it's placed near the entrance overlooking the fort. As at the time we reached the place was near to noon time, the weather was burning hot and the sunlight was so strong, that's why I couldn't snap a clearer picture of this statue.

Secondly, the gunpowder magazine structure at the North-West bastion of the fort. This structure was constructed in 1814 as a place to store explosive inside the fortress. Its pillbox shape design with thick wall was meant to minimize damages in the event of explosion.

Thirdly, the legendary Sri Rambai Cannon. I just knew that this cannon has a very interesting and legendary story behind it and if you wish to know more, please google yourself. ;p Anyway, this cannon was found in the Straits of Malacca in 1880 and placed at North-West bastion of Fort Cornwallis facing the ocean.

The cannon has Dutch East India Company symbol on it.

There were many other cannons beside the legendary Seri Rambai which you may like to take some attention to.

Fourthly, the Chapel. It's located at the south-west corner of the fort. It was built by Francis Light for worship purpose and is the earliest Anglican church built. The first recorded service taking place in this Chapel was the marriage of Sir Francis Light's widow or the mother of the sons of Francis Light, Martina Rozells with John Timmers.

Last but not least, the cell. The narrow space was first used as the barracks to house European artillery, then been converted into the cell room for prisoners.

"The fort was used as military and administrative base of the British East India Company to protect the island from possible onslaught launched by the Frenchmen. However, there was no battle has ever taking place at the fort, not even during Japanese invasion in 1940s." What an interesting fact about this fort.

As the weather getting hotter, we spent about half an hour to 45 mins before leaving the place and heading to the next destination, which was Pinang Peranakan Mansion. See you there... ;)

Dhammikarama Burmese Buddhist Temple @ Penang

The 3rd stop of our Penang trip, of course is the one just few steps distance and exactly opposite Wat Chaiya Mangkalaram - the Dhammikarama Burmese Buddhist Temple. This Burmese temple is as fascinating as the Thai one in term of its architecture. With more than 200 years of history, the temple was designated as Penang State Heritage Site to be preserved as tourists attraction in 1998 during Visit Penang Year.

Upon walking into the main entrance you could see a long stretch covered path in front of you. Paintings are hanging high along the path and they tell the story about the life of Gautama Buddha. We stopped a while to look at the paintings and read the story. At this time, an old man (hereby call him the uncle) approached us and took the initiative to explain to us about the death of Buddha. We thanked him for that.

We then walked towards the end of the covered path to reach the main shrine hall. Here you can see a little different look of Buddha in Burmese Buddhism practice. There were monks on duty here and you can seek them for blessing and praying.

I think we were extremely lucky when we had change to witness the Relics of Buddha which had been displayed here for the public to view! The relics were sealed in a stupa-like container and been placed in front of the Buddha statue at the center of the hall. The relics look something like pieces of jade in few colors, such as green, white and black.

At right-hand side of the main entrance to the temple compound is another hall called SIMA Shrine Hall. The main attraction of this hall is it houses a giant all-marbled standing Buddha. The interior of the hall is decorated with very impressive wood engraving arts pieces which is really gorgeous!

Behind the giant Buddha image are 2 rows of smaller Buddha statues. From the reading I just knew that each of these Buddha statues is a replica of localized Buddha image from different part of the world during various stages of Buddhism influences including Japan, Pakistan, Nepal, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia and etc. Too bad I didn't pay much attention on them during the visit. Perhaps I should do it next time if I revisit the place!

Behind the SIMA Hall is a courtyard with very nice landscape which worth to spend some of your time here.

A giant globe could be found here with 2 mythical look creatures guarding it. These creatures are called Panca-Rupa which said to be the guardian and protector of the world as they have the trunk of the elephant, 4 hoofed legs and 2 agile ears of the horse, lion-faced toe (chimera) with two deer's horn, the body and tail of fish and 2 Garuda's wings!

Dhammikarama Burmese Buddhist Temple is definitely a spot you shouldn't miss when you visit to Penang. We had spent quite long time here as there were too many points of photo shooting. As we were out of time, we had to leave the place after buying some souvenirs at the SIMA hall before heading to our next destination, which is Fort Cornwallis.

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p/s: Oh ya... just before we stepped out from the SIMA Hall, the uncle that I mentioned above approaching us again and he offered to take a group photo of us in front of the giant Buddha image as a remembrance. I first hesitated a while before handled my camera to him. We sat in front of the entrance, *catcha*... first photo done... "one more one more and this time put your palm together", the uncle kindly told us. “Wow! what a nice post!" I was thinking. *catcha* Ok, 2nd photo done."The photos very nice, without any handshake!", the uncle claimed. While gave back the camera to me, the old man whispered, "can give me some money?  I just wanna earn some for living". Well, finally he shows his true color.

Anyway, I didn't blame him although honestly I did feel a little uncomfortable as initially we all thought he's a helper in the temple. At least he's working on something meaningful to gain some return which is better than another one just sitting at the entrance to ask for money by knocking a container on the floor. Rest my case here... just to share some experience... ;)
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