I did not drop dead....

Forgive me for I am SO guilty for not blogging for almost 2 weeks!

And sorry if anyone got upset that I didn't inform them I was gonna be away - I know someone did. :)

Well I have two good reasons for my disapperance from cyberspace, one - I was away in Penang for a holiday and another is a long story I'll share the next time round.

A bit about Penang - its a small island in Malaysia and it's more commonly known as "The Pearl of the Orient". The main reason I went to Penang was to attend a fren's wedding.

My best friend was supposed to go along but couldn't make it at the last minute so I had to travel by myself. Luckily I'm pretty used to travelling alone or I don't know how I would have survived the trip - what more with no proper plans in place at all.

I'm also quite lucky that I had booked myself a good hotel. I guess I somehow knew I was gonna spend a lot of time just lazing about.

This is The Gurney Resort where I stayed at.













Nice eh?

And as usual - i asked for a nice view.















And yea this time - they heard me right. :)

Check out the studio room I stayed in. Here's the amazing king size bed where I can roll from one end to the other and not piss anyone off.















The rooms comes with a nice little study by the side so I can surf the net or send someone a fax - but errr....I kinda sat there and ummmm....people watch...















A nice little couch to hang around and watch TV, plus a dining area too...















and not forgetting the nice bathroom with jacuzzi.















Ha - i had a nice time soaking in the steamy hot tub.

Eventhough Penang is a small island, it has a fair bit of attractions for sight-seeing. So i hired a tour guide at RM35 (USD10) per hour to show me some interesting sights.

I got to visit some lovely temples...







For some strange reason - this reminds me of the Royal Palace in Bangkok - everything is shiny, bright and gold...



there's even a reclining buddha...



Mr Tour Guide wanted to show me some gardens....



And after the second garden...i said NO! No more gardens! I am not a huge fan of nature....



So he took me to view some nice beaches instead...here's the famous Tanjung Beach where apparently lotsa tourists go to...



Penang Reservoir - where the main water supply is stored.





And he also took me to a fishing area hence the reason for many boats and a jetty.





Gurney Hotel was a good choice for it has a lot of clubs and restaurants nearby so at night I hung around in this club called Chillout.





It was pretty alright, with a local band playing all kinds of music. And I guess the vodkas and martinis i chugged down one after another helped immensely. :)

Gurney Plaza, the best shopping mall in Penang is a ten minutes walk from my hotel - so thats where I spent most of my time - shopping, dining, watching movies, getting a manicure, etc.



And along the way to Gurney Plaza, I saw a pretty house that looked out of place admist the neglected bushes and untrimmed tree branches...





Not that you can see much of it due to the high gates covering most of it and the fact that its almost hidden, but I dunno why i just felt I had to snap a picture of it. Go figure... :)

Penang in general is a bit disorganized to me - the public transportation system does not work, food and shopping at certain locations can be overpriced - and after a chat with a cabbie, I found out that the average local makes only RM1200 - 1500 a month (USD 350 - 420) which makes me wonder how they survive. Anyways, it was a pretty good break for me.

And I know I must have missed out on the action from so many other blogs - so now it's time to catch up! :)