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Last weekend, I went hiking at Bukit Tabur. I have never been there before. There are two routes to reach the peak, one is the east side and the other, obviously the west side. We head towards the east side of Bukit Tabur. It was known to be less steep compared to the west side.

So up we went, the route is quite tough (for me).. the rest of the guys, they go up the hill as if they are just walking on tar road. =.=”

The place is interesting I have to say, with nice view. There are no leeches or bees or ghosts ( I didn’t see any).  The beginning of the path is quite easy, but as you go higher up, you have to use the rope to help you up. The sceneries are beautiful~ but the weather is getting warmer. Blame it on us for starting our journey late :p

On my way down, I have difficulties.. finding my steps. Luckily there are experienced hikers around, guiding me where to step with my trembling legs and my pair of sandals. I get scratches and bruises from knocking myself against the rocky mountain. I sure do wish the rocky mountain I mentioned here refers to the ice cream cake in Coffee Club, but no, this Bukit Tabur is a rocky mountain. We have to use rope at certain part of the mountain to climb up and down.. According to one of the experienced hikers, he advised me not to rely on the rope, rely on my legs and hands to grip and climb down.  I felt like a spiderwoman. Woohoo!! But no.. I feel too insecure not to rely on the rope. I have no confidence with the strength of my arms and my legs..

Anyway, I got down from the mountain in one piece. Still alive. It was fun, I do encourage those who like trekking to try this. But be very careful… there are people who went and died from falling down.

I was driving around the other day when I saw an old fishing village. Decided to stop at the road side and get down to take some photos, since I have my camera with me. This fishing village is no where near Batu Maung area, it is along the highway to Gelugor.

There is a sign stating that the place is under construction, and unauthorized personnel are not allowed to go in. Plus they have string (it’s only rafia string) tied from trees to trees to prevent outsider access..  I went in, of course, the fishing village seems wrecked down. You can see the house on the sea, slanted in its very own.. unique way.

Unsure if this is one of the fishing villages affected from the tsunami but it looks old and unsafe. From the photos, you can see there are rocks everywhere, but after the rocks, there’s a huge patch of sand before you can reach the sea. However, becareful, as that area is muddy and not safe to step on it. Trust me, I stepped on it and my right foot went down immediately.

Here are some of the photos from the fishing village

Kuan Yin Temple or also known as Quan Yin (Kuan Imm in hokkein), is known as one of the oldest chinese temples in Penang. Kuan Yin refers to The Goddess or Mercy with a loving compassion and pure devotion. Kuan Yin temple is located along the Lebuh Masjid Kapitan Keling, George Town in Penang.

On the three enlightenment days of Kuan Yin, the 19th day of the 2nd, 6th and 9th Chinese lunar month, the whole temple is packed with devotees and visitors who
turn up not only for worship but also to join in the celebrations and to watch puppet and Chinese opera shows which are staged on the temple’s open grounds.

The Kuan Yin temple was known to have saved a large number of Penangites who took shelter in the Kuan Yin temple during the World War 2, and the Japanese bomb dropped onto the courtyard instead of the temple.

In the courtyard of the Kuan Yin temple, there are flocks of pigeons and people are free to feed the pigeons. There are birds seller around too, for devotees or visitors who wish to buy the bird and set it free, known as a charity act to set a bird free.

In the inner shrine of Kuan Yin temple, there is a place for people to “ward off bad luck” and you can go for “Tiu Ciam” as well, meaning kneel down in front of the Goddess of Mercy, pray with sincerity with your question in mind and shake a tin given to you that contains a lot of sticks with words. One of the sticks will drop out from the container, then the devotees will “puak cheng poi” meaning to ask God whether this stick is the answer. There are ways to look at the result of the “cheng poi”. Once the devotee got the stick, he will then proceed to a “counter”, and the person in charge will read to him/her the meaning of the sticks written.

Being a Penangite, I seldom explore tourist attractions in Penang. However, one morning I decided to visit the Fort Cornwallis which is the largest standing fort in Malaysia. It is located near to the Esplanade and Victoria Memorial Clock. The admission fees are RM3 for adults and RM2 for children below 12 years old.

Some photos that I took :

Other photos are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/40458759@N07/sets/72157622821139904/

Some brief history from Virtual Malaysia website :

One of the earliest structures in Pulau Pinang, Fort Cornwallis was erected in 1786, not long after he acquired Pulau Pinang for the East India Company, from the Sultan of Kedah. The site where the fort was built is actually the first place where Light disembarked from his ship in 1768. Fort Cornwallis was originally built of nibong palms, but was replaced in 1804 with a sturdier stone and brick  structure.

Although built for defense by design, throughout its existence, Fort Cornwallis served more as an administrative centre for the British, having survived without much threat of enemy attacks. Fort Cornwallis was once surrounded with a moat roughly 9m wide and 2m deep. Along the perimeters of the fort’s wall, several canon bays were strategically placed overlooking the harbour in the north and the port activities along the eastern waterfront. In the 1920’s due to a malaria outbreak in the area, the moat surrounding Fort Cornwallis was filled in.

The chapel located on the south-west corner of the fort is the first chapel ever built on Penang island and was used by the British and Europeans living there. The first-ever recorded service, however was in 1799 when John Timmers wedded Martina Rozells, the widow of Francis Light.

I was looking forward to visit the Singapore Night Safari. Lots of friends recommended Singapore Night Safari, which claimed to be even more entertaining than the Singapore Zoo.

In October, Singapore Night Safari is based on the Halloween theme with a twist of fairy tales. The whole concept is creative and interesting. Be prepared to get scared and have a good time there. Just before entering the Night Safari, at the area where of the ticketing counter, you will be entertained by the guys dressed up in halloween outfit to scare you out (and for you to take photos with them).

The clown is the naughty one, that will run after you after you took photos with him. The aladdin, holding a fake hand covered in blood, is not the charming aladdin we all knew from the Disney cartoon. He will come behind you and shout “WARGH” to give you a shock. Of course, you are free to take photos with them. There’s Tinman too, and I have always love Tinman. (^^)

The hunchback of notre damn looks really scary, and the one with the dim sum stall scares me out the most.. A lady screams when she was posing to take photo, and a guy’s head came out from the Dim Sum tray. You will hear shrieks and screams even before you got into the Night Safari.

After went into the entrance, you can either take the tram (if you bought the tram ticket) or you can walk around the walking path. Some of our friends chose to take the tram, where else myself and few other friends decided to walk around by foot.

There’s this so-called Horror Path where you walked through before you will go into the zoo area to see nocturnal animals. You will feel an eerie feeling once you stepped into the path. I did not manage to shoot any photo as I was scared out of my wits….

There’s this zombie (asian kind of zombie), mummee , butcher that came out from behind the trees, and a freaky guy who came out from the well.. etc. It’s an experience that you really pay to be scared away. However, you can roughly guess where they will appear according to the screams and shrieks you can hear from a distance away..

After the Horror Path, everything went calm and peaceful as just like any other nights.. and you can walk without fear of something came out from behind the trees, and enjoy watching the nocturnal animals behind the cages. However, if you happened to see something unusual came out from behind the trees after the Horror Path, do run this time.

Other friends who took the tram claimed that the tram ride was fun as well. Other guys in halloween outfit will actually came out from bushes and climbed onto your tram. Just imagine that!!

I do recommend Night Safari, especially during the month of Halloween. However, many kids cried, so perhaps you wouldn’t want to bring your kids along. As for the nocturnal animals.. I see many different kind of cats.. Perhaps I was too tired to look out for the animals in the dark, thus the most prominent ones are the cat family.