[Travelogue] Short-Escape: Penang, Day 2 :) | Town Steamboat Restaurant, Tree Monkey, Tropical Spice Garden, and Passions of Kerala
By Lasmarya Hadi Purwanto - December 12, 2016
Hell-O!
Yeah, I'm finally back to update you with our second day short-escape in Penang, it has been exactly a month from the last post. So sorry for the late update, it has been a hectic and crazy month, weeks spent to prepare for my students' upcoming exams, and also the past week spent mourning. Finally managed to find a day in between to write this entry, before entering another super busy weeks ahead. So, before I'm off missing again for another few weeks, here it is. :)
October 26, 2016.
Headed out for breakfast in the morning. Took the last full members selfie in front of the house while waiting for Uber to come pick us up. You know, thanks to Uber, we have been travelling in muuuuch convenience. For the founder of Uber, *search google right away*, thank you so much much for creating Uber. XD
And, we arrived in the Town Steamboat Restaurant (some call it Dimsum Food Restaurant), which is literally the dimsum buffet paradise in Penang! There is a huge variety of dimsum here, and they all go for super affordable price. I heard that this restaurant is locals' favorite, and mostly packed by families having breakfast together. With the (again) super affordable price, this is the perfect place to fill up your dimsum craving without getting broke.
Charged up our energy with the fulfilling breakfast, it's time for us to split up. Ms. Diana Liu was leaving as she still got work to do back in Singapore and couldn't join us for the rest of the trip. It's so sad, but we're thankful that she's still willing to fit us in her super-packed schedule, and come with us even for only one day. :)
Since not all of us could fit in one Uber, we decided to split into two teams. One team sent Ms. Diana Liu off to the airport, while the other team would head first to Teluk Bahang.
The farewell selfie in Penang International Airport. 
It was already lunch time when we arrived at Teluk Bahang. We didn't even realize that we had spent so much time just for sending off Ms. Diana, that we spent our whole morning on the way to the airport, waiting for her to check-in - saying goodbye - taking goodbye selfies - recording silly farewell video for instagram story - saying goodbye again (for real this time!) - sending her to the departure gate - wandering around the airport for several minutes - wondering whether we could just ride Rapid Penang to Teluk Bahang - finding out that it takes almost two hours to reach Teluk Bahang by bus - cancelling our plan - ordering an Uber - then arrived at Teluk Bahang. I guessed we must have played a bit too much in the airport? XD )
Sooo, lunch lunch at Tree Monkey, an open-space restaurant mainly serving Thai cuisine, located right next to the Tropical Spice Garden entrance gate. Well, the restaurant itself is located high up on the hill, so we needed to walk up a path leading to it, as seen from the pic above.
(L.G.H Cold, Thai Tea Milk, and Thai Tea Lime)
If I'm not mistaken, L.G.H stands for Lemongrass, Ginger and Honey.
(M. Curry Chicken, RM 20.80)
(Crispy Kang Kung, RM 18.80)
(Cashew Nut Chicken, RM 26.80)
While we're having our lunch, we were surprised by the sudden appearance of some monkeys, swinging and hanging from one branch to another live in front of us. And, we're sooo "heboh", spontaneously taking out our cameras and snapped some pictures of them before they're gone, haha
The waiters said we got really lucky that they showed up at that time of the day, as they usually hide under the shades and wouldn't come out until later on the day. woohoo :)
The waiters said we got really lucky that they showed up at that time of the day, as they usually hide under the shades and wouldn't come out until later on the day. woohoo :)
Can you spot them in these two pictures?
It was too bright to look up when they showed up, and I simply pressed the button of my camera mindlessly for several times without knowing whether I got them in frame or not. Haha
Overall, the food is really okay, especially the dishes with cashewnut, oh how I love nuts, and the service is really okay too with a very close to nature ambience and a live show of the monkeys, but surrounded by all the greens, come the mosquitoes too. So, it would be a good idea to bring mosquito repellent. Price-wise, a bit costly, but with the exclusiveness of the location itself, the price is still in the reasonable range. Again, a good recommendation if you are around the area or planning to visit the spice garden and didn't want to be too far away. :)
Next, after lunch, it's Tropical Spice Garden's turn. Tropical Spice Garden, a once abandoned rubber plantation turned into award-winning eco-tourism destination in an eight-acre of secondary jungle facing the shore of Teluk Bahang, showcases more than 500 varieties of tropical spices and herbs.
The admission fee for adult is 35 RM each, you can also check the admission fee for others thru the website.
Our walk towards the garden trail begins at the front office, where we pay the admission fee and were asked to apply some sitronella oil all over our body to avoid mosquito bites. Then, we were introduced to a friendly yet very vigorous old man, who is also our tour guide thru the garden. He is still very healthy and strong enough to walk thru the long path and climb up the uphill stairs while explaining each one of the plants that we encounter along the trail. Not to mention with the baking hot sun above our head that left us sweating a lot, he's still full of energy even until the end of the tour. Thumbs up for him! :)
We were served with herbal tea, added with organic stevia, in a kiosk, while resting, just right to cool off the heat.
Honestly, when Daniel Jiang first took us to this place, I had several seconds of "seriouuuusly? we're going to that place?" kind of moment in my mind, cause the weather's really hot, and getting into a semi-jungle didn't sound that enticing to me. Haha. But but but, I ended up enjoying the garden tours, learning some new knowledge about nature, and getting up close and personal with the exotic flowers, plants, spices and herbs #cieehh wkwk
As the day hadn't ended yet, we went to the shore of Teluk Bahang, initially for sight seeing, and there was barely anyone there, except for a motorboat owner, who offered us a deal for a round trip to Monkey Beach for 150 RM.
There's nothing much to see in the Monkey Beach, and we turned the boat around in disappointment, but we did enjoy the boat ride though, especially because I got to have this cool photo of me taken. XD
#sihiyy
Then, heading back to the other corner of Penang, by riding Rapid Penang. Finally, getting the chance to ride it, after an amicable negotiation with Mr. Daniel Jiang. :)
When travelling, I always find fun in riding public transportation, it's something about the experience of being local that I like very much. hihi
(Cracking up every time I see this pic, not because I look weird in it, but because it was awe-somely photobombed! wkwkwk)
The second-to-last stop of the day, dinner at Passions of Kerala in New World's Park, Georgetown, Penang, which according to the reviews in TripAdvisor, serves the best authentic Indian food in Penang. Well, I have a weird kind of palate, that sometimes the food that most people won't like, can taste weirdly okay for me, as they said, I can really handle food with spices well. That's why, I don't find the food served here to be really that bad, but most of my friends couldn't handle the taste at all. Soo, if you think you can't have any meal with too much spices, then Passions of Kerala might not be a good choice for you.
(Mutton Varuval, RM 15)
(Fried Sotong, RM 17)
(Chicken Masala, RM 7)
(Prawns, RM 15)
The beautiful light decorations at the New World Park. :)
The final stop of the day was a short shopping time in the Avenue. Well, there's not much to tell about shopping, you'll definitely get bored, haha so I'll just skip it to save your time. Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading, and see you in the next post. :)
xoxo
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