Nine Emperor Gods Temple, Queensbay Mall, FIFA...

" When i get older, i will be stronger,
They'll call me freedom, just like a wavin' flag,
And then it goes back, and then it goes back,
And then it goes back... "

When it comes to holiday, to me, it means going out and exploring the world. While i'm still not able to fund my own vacation completely, going out with my family is the best and the on every level, i enjoy it. Like it. Love it.

This time, it was a short visit to Penang. Without a doubt, Sungai Petani has great food! But Penang, it just simply has so much to offer. And, food aside, i just realized that Penang has so many interesting spots that stand out to attract tourist; tourists like us. Definitely, Penang is worth the UNESCO title.

On our way to Penang island, we stopped by to visit the Nine Emperor Gods temple and it was beautiful. Intricate carvings on the pillars, walls and ceilings. A tour around the temple simply is fascinating.

The majestic gate welcoming visitors.

Dragon carving! Amazing.

Dad and brother at the side of the temple. Notice the pagoda on the left and the phoenix carving on the right?

Lovely painting on the wall facing the Nine Dragons fountain.

Nine Dragons fountain at the centre of the temple, in front of one of the prayer rooms. This picture doesn't do it justice; it's bigger than what you see here.

If anyone wishes to visit Penang, this temple is on the mainland, somewhere near Butterworth, and absolutely a must-visit recommendation from me.

The next place we visited was the Queensbay Mall. It was, rather, a disappointment. We were there on Sunday and the traffic into the parking lot and the parking lot itself were terrible. The parking lots, outdoor, had no proper parking guidelines and the cars were parked as if those people had no brains. Seriously, it was like as if we had to squeeze through the cars and worst still, there was no parking in the first place we tried (the attendants still allowed people in) and we were forced to exit only to enter another empty, newly opened parking lots. And... I still don't get why the people didn't want to enter the newly open lots, plenty of spaces, but queued in line to enter the covered ones. I mean, the queue to enter was looong. Different thinking, i reasoned.



Anyhow, what made this visit interesting was the ways, i noticed, how soy bean could be consumed. I had tried one out of the three unique ways of soy bean and to be honest, the other two were tasty.

First, soy bean drink with 'yoo tiau'. Interesting combination. Will be trying this soon in KL.

Second, ice cream soy bean. As we descended the escalator, we say people making a beeline to this shop. Intrigued, we tried one. Not much to my liking though, it tastes... weird.

Third, and probably the more common, was the Michael Jackson drink. A combination of the soy bean drink with the 'cincau'.

Yes, if you're wondering, i took soy bean three times in one day. I might have an overdose of it already.

The trip ended with a satisfying dinner at Gurney Drive.

Onto World Cup. Spain suffered a devastating 1-0 loss to Switzerland. What a waste, i want Spain to advance to the next stage but looking at it now, it'll be a challenge. Brazil scored 2, Italy drew at one, Holland won 2-0. Argentina facing South Korea, France facing Mexico. It'll be interesting to see these teams continue to battle it out in the second round of Group Stage if they want to progress to the next stage. Germany remains my favourite for now.

On another note, this is another World Cup 2010 song, Waving Flag. Nice beat...



wc10 watches WC10, and liking Penang.

" And everybody will be singing it,
And you and i will be singing it,
And we all will be singing it... "