We have been planning to go on a holiday during Cutie baby’s second trimester, however we have been debating whether to go on a Germany trip (as part of our Europe exploration) or just do a short trip.
Our reservations about the Germany trip were 1) the long haul, 2) the possibility of air-sickness and lack of proper rest ruining the holiday mood, 3) the limitation of exploration with darling ferrying cutie baby in her tummy… …
So we finally decided to go on a short trip. Now the “typical short trip destinations” would include China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong which we do not find any “crave” to visit now.
Darling suddenly has a bright idea, “Aiyah, we just visit our nearby LEGOLAND and Hello Kitty World bah, then shelve our Germany plan till when Cutie baby comes out. Then YOU will be the one carrying Cutie Baby!”
It was an excellent idea, holidaying is meant for us to spend time together, exploring new frontiers, so it does not matter where we go. What matters is we enjoy!
So JB it shall be! JB a bit un-adventurous, why not add in another state! Penang comes to mind, after reading about the new art scene and yummy Penang food, and most important of all, Penang is a state that darling never went before! BINGO!
We took Tigerair from Singapore to Penang as it provides the best timing. We reached Penang at 10am and took the airport taxi to our hotel in Gurney Drive.
Pic with the Wooden Horses at Changi Airport
Hotel Evergreen Laurel
Room is spacious and most important of all, it faces the sea for a view “if required”. Haha, not that we will spend much time in the hotel admiring the sea but it’s something good to have!
once checked in, washed up, Eatinking has a mission to complete… … find FOOD to feed sleepinqueen!
First stop is the nearby Kopitiam for our first taste of Penang Food.
We had the famous Hokkien Mee AKA Har Mee AKA prawn noodles, the Curry Mee and Thick Savoury Lor Mee.
Let the pictures do the talking!
New Cathay Kopi Kedai
After the food, we walked towards the street with the Thai Buddhist temple and Burmese temple facing each other.
Wat Chayamangkalaram houses the famous reclining Buddha which is gold plated and stretches 33 meters (one of the largest reclining Buddha in the world).
Flanking the entrance are a pair of Nagas.
This is the reclining Buddha. Of course I asked permission to take photo.
Behind the reclining Buddha are several Bodhisattva which represents the Chinese zodiacs. So we each found our representing ones and made a wish. Darling has 2 coz she is carrying Cutie Baby too!
After that we crossed the road and entered the Dhammikarama Burmese Buddhist Temple. The gate is not as impressive as the Thai one but the interior definitely is more impressive. The long corridors has pictures depicting the life of Buddha and the backyard contains several interesting statues. The most impressive are the pair of Panca Rupa AKA world guardians. Panca Rupa is Sanskrit, meaning it possesses a combination of the best parts of 5 animals: trunk and tasks of elephants, four hoofed legs and 2 agile ears of the horse, the lion-faced Chimera, the deer’s horns, the body and tail of the fish and the 2 powerful wings of the Garuda.
Wat Chayamangkalaram. Reclining Buddha, Dhammikarama Burmese Temple, World Guardians
Next stop is another landmark in Penang, the Pinang Peranakan Museum. The peranakans AKA Babas and Nyonyas, was a prominent community of accultured Chinese unique to this part of the world, especially in the Straits Settlements (Penang, Malacca and Singapore). The community has adopted ways of the local malays, the colonial British and created a unique lifestyle and customs, not to mention their Nyonya Kuehs and yummy peranakan dishes! This museum is also used for the shooting of several movies and TV serials, including our perennial favourite “The Little Nyonya”!
Pinang Peranakan Museum
We spent a good amount of time admiring the house, the antiques and taking a short break from the heat. Next we shall attempt to look for our first mural! This is the most exciting part of our Penang trip, to go mural hunting! Ever since the first murals done by Lithunian artist Ernest Zacharevic, in conjunction with Penang’s Georgetown festival, several new artists has attempted murals as well as steel installations to brighten up the art scene in Penang and it’s all too exciting!
The first 2 murals are located along Gat Lebuh Chulia
The first mural is “Children on the swing”. See how happy and curious the children are!
Children playing Swing with Darling
The next mural is a bit tricky as it’s hidden behind a stupid truck! Lucky there’s another couple of mural hunters who spotted it and we followed them! Haha.
Darling giving the defending sister a boost!
Steel installations along the way
Next we proceeded across the main road Pengkalan Weld to our next checkpoint, the Clan Jetties.
This is a traditional settlement created by Chinese immigrant who share a common historical, geographical and lineage origin. Today there are still 6 clan jetties along the waterfront, namely the clan Jetties of Lim, Chew, Tan, Lee, Yeoh and 1 of Mixed clan. We went to Lim Jetty first as we were attracted by the sugarcane lorry. Haha, I finally found the ORIGINAL Sugarcane! This is the one we grew up drinking. The sugarcane is plump and smooth and very green. This is different from the sugarcane used in Singapore nowadays where it’s more light green and the surface is ridged. Somehow I feel the juice from this smooth one tastes sweeter. Maybe I am biased but I like this better! And it is a good chance to show Darling what I mean by the “old sugarcane vs the new sugarcane” while we were having sugarcane juice in Singapore.
Lim Jetty and SugarCane Juice lorry
Brave darling has to overcome her fear of the planks over water and walked the planks with me to explore the various houses built over water. I wonder if all these households have the surname Lee?
The next Jetty we visited is the next door Chew Jetty. It’s lined with shops selling souvenirs now, with magnets and caps and hats the main goods on sale. We bought a set of magnets featuring all the original Ernest Murals!
The reason why this jetty is so popular is that it’s one of the bigger ones around and there was a Ernest Zacharevic mural here which had almost vanished due to the sea wind corrosion. We can barely make out the mural now. It’s a pity, lucky we still have magnets to preserve that memory.
Chew Jetty and faded mural
After a tiring day, with poor darling carrying Cutie Baby around, we settled down at one of the shortlisted café across the road, “Patio”. Apart from murals, Penang has become home to a few “famous” cafés and Darling have kindly short-listed some for us to visit. I will share the interesting photos of the cafés in the later parts. Patio is a café by day but night-time will see it transformed into a happening pub. The courtyard has a “green wall” and it keeps the whole area cool despite the blistering heat outside!
We had some appetizers coz we are saving our tummies for the feast tonight!
Patio
The final stop is dinner and the obvious choice for us is Gurney Drive Food Center!
We hired a taxi, paid the standard fare and we are on our way. (Can’t remember if it’s 25 or 30 RM). The taxi uncle told us the the Gurney Drive food center will close a day a week, and it happens to be tomorrow night! Lucky we decided to come tonight instead! Heng ah!!
We arrived at 7+ and the crowd has not arrived yet. We can find seats easily. It feels like our Newton Circus Hawker, just that it’s more hapzard with mobile tables and chairs. The popular stores will have queues forming and drink and dessert stores will be scattered around the area. Every store has their “territory”, especially the drinks and desserts store. Many a times we have to order something from them, in order to sit at “their table”. Not that we are complaining, the weather is just too hot that a glass of cold barley or a cup of cold LuoHanGuo drink is just not enough!
After a feast of Assam Laksas, Orh Jian, Cendols, Char Kway Tiao, we decided it’s time to stop. Haha, I could just carry on eating forever!! It’s so cheap there, every dish is about 3.50 to 4.50 RM and they give a really big bowl! We slowly strolled back to our hotel, enjoying the cool sea breeze… … Hand in hand… … Ahhhhhh…. Life should be this good… …
————————Day 2 Mural hunt——————————————————-
Rise and Shine!
Day 2 starts and we will be Mural Hunters today as we aim to cover as many of the murals, old and new today, from the original Ernest murals to new-age murals, to cat murals and even Minion murals!
But the day always starts with Good breakfast! New venture to another Kopi Kedai to sample new food!
Yummy Penang breakfast
Off we go after the hearty breakfast, we took a cab back to the Jetties and start our journey from there.
Hope the mural research can pay off today!
Starting point Pengkalan Weld, cross the road and enter Gat Lebuh Armenian. There are a series of Cat murals along this street as well as along Lebuh Victoria. These are created to raise awareness for pets and street animals, some are pretty interesting! Enjoy!
Cat Murals, some are destroyed. Best pic is Darling the Mouse FACE-OFF with Skippy the cat!
At the end of Gat Lebuh Armenian, we have to cross the Lebuh Pantai. Branching from Lebuh Pantai are 2 streets with murals, the Lebuh Ah Quee and Lebuh Armenian. We went Lebuh Ah Quee first as there were only 3 murals there while the bulk of murals are along Lebuh Armenian.
Lebuh Ah Quee murals:
Boy, Can give me a ride or not ?
The faded pet Godzilla
The real Bruce Lee would never do this, cutie kitties, Minion rip
We backtracked onto Lebuh Armenian and murals galore!
Lebuh Armenian murals:
Misc Steel installations of Penang street life
The super famous mural of Children riding the bicycle
Learn to speak Hokkien the Mural way
Faded Cat mural playing with colours
2 Minions stacked up still cannot kiss Darling
At this point, we have to take a breather and sitter. Just nice that there’s a café along the street to rest our tired legs.
Edelweiss café has a nice interior with old style tables and a ancient clock and some nice playful decorations dotted around the café, especially along the way to the toilet.
Edelweiss Café. The Lion holding the receipt, the ancient grandfather clock, the toilet rules, the Cute toilet installation and Mango Drinks
mural behind Edelweiss café
Steel art and Shophouse gate mural
We have a super interesting find along the way! During the childhood times when we had ice kacang back in Singapore, my parents would tell me about this ice ball which costs 10cents back in their times when there is no ice kacang. It’s called “Czeg Buah”, I think it’s a combination of hokkien and malay (“Czeg”means ice in Hokkien and “buah” means Ball/fruit in malay). They used to hold the ice balls using their hands and suck the syrup out of the ball, then use the ball to have a ice throwing battle, maciam like the snow fight ang-mohs have.
I never expected to find the legendary ice ball still present in this present world! We found it in Penang, along the mural hunting trail.
Darling somehow can always find the right way to suck the syrup out of the ice ball!
70’s Ice ball
Lion dance mural next to 70’s ice ball shop
This Old man mural, which is supposed to be clog maker around the area.
After the old man mural, we took a left turn onto Lebuh cannon, where we found a mural of a cute boy reaching for something.
I can reach but you cannot reach. Bleh =p
Our next break is coming up soon. After the “reaching up” mural, we made our way to Khoo Kongsi.
Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi is one of the most distinctive Chinese clan association in Malaysia. It has an extensive lineage which can be traced back 650 years ago. The main attraction is the magnificent clanhouse Leong San Tong. The khoo Kongsi complex actually consists of the clanhouse, an admin building with a meeting hall, an opera stage opposite the clanhouse and 62 units of terrace houses and shophouses.
Khoo Kongsi. Notice the Khoo family members who have 光宗耀祖-ed all have a golden signboard to their name.
After our short pit stop at Khoo Kongsi, we journeyed on for our next food stop at Lebuh Carnarvon…YEAH! We went to try the legendary Seng Thor coffee shop Orh Jian!
The crispy Orh Jian is combined with a generous serving of Orh, coupled with the yummy garlic chili makes this dish truly one of the best I have tasted so far!
Even though it may not be the healthiest dish around, but heck lah! The Orh Jian is Sedap!
Seng Thor Orh Jian! Worth the calories!
We decided to use up some of our calories by walking to the next mural cum food stop. We walked along Lebuh Carnarvon, turned left into Lebuh Campbell and came to our next pit stop and a shortlisted café stop… The Moustache Houze. It’s a 3 storey shophouse and meant to be a café cum boutique hotel. Moustache Houze is themed on moustaches and the décor is full of cute moustaches and retro stuff. The tables, shelves are made of recycled window grills, metal door grills, pipes, benches. There is this nice corner with swing chairs and we rushed there straight away!!! A pity the swings are fixed, if not we will really swing till the cows come home. There is a corner with a mural of an old uncle carrying a child on his shoulders. The boy looks so amused and excited at something above and the lightbulbs complete the picture!
This is such a cosy café and should be a good hangout place for Penangnites. Darling ordered the special Kiwi ice cubes drink where kiwi juice is frozen into cubes and we are supposed to pour cold soda to mix and drink. I got the Chocolate icecubes drink which is supposed to be mixed with the flask of warm milk. Fresh interesting ideas! The pistachio cheesecake is a delightful treat too! No wonder we got the last piece! The straws come complete with tiny moustaches and serves as a nice souvenir and photo prop.
Moustache Houze. Cool place to chill out…with free WiFi!
Random Mural we found along the way. 叉烧包 or 莲蓉包 or 大肉包?
After the short but deserving break, we carried on the journey to search for the murals! Walking along Lebuh Campbell, we reached Jalan Penang. Turning right and walking along Jalan Penang, we stumbled upon the huge mural in the open-air carpark…
Trishaw rider waiting for customers
The Cheong Fatt Tze mansion is just behind, a pity they have converted to a hotel and only allows 3 fixed timings for guided tours. Since we could not make it in time, we admired from outside. It looks dilapidated and kinda eerie with the broken timber doors and ceilings. But the architecture is beautiful.
Cheong Fatt Tze mansion, now a boutique hotel
It is about late afternoon now and we still 1 more mural to complete our entire collection! Walking along Jalan Muntri, we are keeping a constant lookout for the last giant mural… and behold the Lady in Blue, trying to lift herself up using the window shelters!
Yay!!!! We completed our mural hunt successfully! Time to reward ourselves with another trip to the café. Hahaha.
Before we reached our designated café, we passed by this cool café called “Behind 50”, décor is cool, notice how the bicycle passed through the wall!
Behind 50, passing by the Kungfu Ah Ma!
Walk ah walk, as the sky slowly darkens, we reached the highlioght café of our trip…..presenting Café 55!
This is Café 55, popular for it’s coffee art. This is not your usual coffee art ok! It’s 3D coffee art! How often do you see that!
Cafe 55 3D coffee art. I got a pig, but Darling got a bear/cat. Hmm….I am a pig!?!?!
Well, no matter how nice the coffee art is, it has to end up in out tummies, Buahahahah, but at least they will live on in our photos!
We backtracked to Jalan Penang, passed back the “lady in blue” mural…Boy it does look kinda eerie in the dark…
Nonetheless, we strolled along Jalan Penang, hoping to catch some kopi Kedai that’s open but I guess it’s just too late… already 9pm.
In the end, we ended up eating at Kenny Roger’s in a shopping mall. Well, at least it’s still a decent cheap Kenny Roger’s meal.
Eerie Girl in Blue, Dinner at Kenny Roger’s
Took a taxi back and KO-ed.
——————————————-Day 3—————————————
Today shall be a HOLY day.
It’s a super hot day again, blistering heat. We had breakfast at another recommended kopi kedai… never fails to deliver. Yummy Penang Food!
Char Kway Kak and Hokkein Mee and Kopi-peng for breakfast. Yay Yay Yay!
Our last breakfast in Penang
We walked along Jalan Burmah after breakfast to hunt for Darling’s favourite Tao Sar Piah! It is a battle between Him Heang and Ghee Hiang. Him Heang is the local Penangnites champion while Ghee Hiang is the one boasting 155 years of tradition. Him Heang is exclusive and can only be bought at their factory along Jalan Burmah, while Ghee Hiang has many branches scattered around Penang…and they recently opened an outlet along Jalan Burmah too! Haha, how thoughtful so we can buy both brands within easy reach.
The Him Heang is unmistakeable. The aroma is in the air even before we see the building! Really baked fresh!
Him Heang Tao Sar Piah Mural and the Ghee Hiang mascots
Bonus!! We happened to catch Apong Guan across the road in front of Union Primary School! Apong (Apom) is a pancake actually. Apon Guan dishes out yummy fluffy pancakes with sliced bananas and corn and it only costs 50 cents Ringgit a piece! We gobbled down 2 each before catching a taxi to our destination! Should have bought more!! Ah Guan even smiled for the camera!
Apong Guan
Today we are climbing all the highest peaks of Penang. First peak to conquer is the Penang Hill. It boasts of the steepest railway climb in the world, steeper than Hong Kong’s Peak. The tram is imported from Switzerland and it really can whiz us up the hill in a jiggy! Poor Darling has a fear of heights… but she made it up and down the hill!
Penang Hill has not much attractions, majority of the people came up to escape the city heat. It’s still scorching but at least it is cooler up here. We tried the freshly baked Tao Sar Piah while getting a break too! Fresh Tao Sar Piah!!! No fight no fight, they are damn good! Him Heang’s Tao Sar Piah are still warm! I fell in love with freshly baked Tao Sar Piah! WooHoo!!!
Penang Hill and freshly baked Him Heang
They are building a canopy walk but the scenery is not as great as Hong Kong’s peak so we didn’t bother exploring…not just us…nobody bothered exploring it… Hahaha.
Our next destination will be the Holy Grail of Penang Laksa…. The Air Hitam market Penang Laksa! Which is just 5 minutes car ride from Penang Hill.
This is truly GOLD STANDARD! The soup base is so fragrant and full of fish! The spiciness and sourness is just at the right mix. When mixed together with the prawn paste, the taste is heavenly. Added in the crunch of fresh cucumbers and lettuce and soft rice noodles, this is truly Laksa Heaven! Next surprise is, the price is the same as any other Penang Laksa! This legend can whip up such miraculous Penang Laksa and he does not charge more even though he is so so so famous now. This commands RESPECT!
Air Hitam Penang Laksa. No1 in Penang and possibly the whole of the region
We trekked up the slope to Kek Lok Si, which is one of the largest Buddhist Temple in Southeast Asia, passing by several shops selling almost the same things, T-shirts, bags, useless souvenirs…wonder why some tourists would even bother to buy…
Jiayou Darling for the climb!
Atop the first hill, we had a short breather, taking a unique elevator up the second hill where the newly minted Bronze Guan Yin is located. It is still not open to devotees but Guan Yin is there for all to see from afar.
This is sculptured by the same bunch who did the Sitting Buddha in Hong Kong Lantau island. There are some similarities in the eyes I think. SO serene…
Today happens to be a festival for praying I think, maybe for turning the fortune. We explored the temple complex, climbing hills, knocking bronze bell and climbing the pagoda. Man, we are really sincere. Hope Buddha and Guan Yin will bless us with a healthy baby and a blissful family life together for many many many years to come!
Kek Lok Si
Next up is the Holy Grail of Cendol. The dessert which is synonymous with Penang, The Penang Cendol! The most famous being The Penang Road Cendol. We got the cab to drive us direct to the Cendol store, without which we cannot consider ourselves as having completed the food pilgrimage in Penang. As expected, the crowd is there but the cendol is whipped up very fast so waiting time is negligible. The cendol is really soft and the coconut milk base very aromatic. Add in the Gula Melaka and the Big soft red beans, this dish is perfect. Darling finds some similarities between this and the Melacca one which I have to agree…Eh Masterchef say one leh, must be true! To me, they both taste great!
Penang Cendol
Since we are at this area, I proposed to hunt for another mural which is at this area as well and YES! Darling was game enough to join in my madness!
Curry mee uncle mural. The laughing Grandpa mural is beside it
Dinner Dinner, our last dinner in Penang. We went to New Lane Kopitiam, which is an open-air concept with stalls lining the road. They will deliver the food to the nearby kedai kopi. This place offers variety but somehow the quality is lacking. Maybe we have eaten the best, so we find this place not as good. But still, good convenient place to savour all of Penang’s famous dishes.
New Lane Hawker and the final attack on Penang delicacies
Hailed a taxi back to hotel, collected our bags and off we go to Penang International Airport for our flight to Johor Bahru. This airport is quite Cui AKA shattered glass AKA damn lousy. There is no proper chairs for passengers to sit down! So we ended up sitting in the multiple massage chairs.
The flight was smooth and we arrived in JB earlier than scheduled BUT we have to wait for a long while before the connecting tube can be attached to the plane for us to walk into the airport. In the end, we came out of the airport quite late, about 11+ pm.
Took the airport taxi to our hotel KSL Resort and checked in. Location is good, being sited above a mega shopping mall but the bad thing is, there are no late night eateries around here….even if there is, we wouldn’t have the guts to go out so late at night on the streets of JB.
The solution? “Room Service in-house dining” Actually not bad leh! Darling says that the hotel will send motorbikes out to buy the food back and then the hotel will plate them nicely using the hotel plates and sell to us at high profit margins… maybe but now we are both too hungry to care anymore. Tuck in!
KSL Hotel Room Service
———————————————Day 4 —————————————————–
Today is LEGOLAND day, after opening so long, we finally set foot on LEGOLAND! Before that we had a Burger King breakfast at the nearby Mendici mall. Not too bad since I got a free Coke light thanks to a mistake by the counter staff.
After breakfast/brunch we start our LEGOLAND themepark adventure! Immediately inside the theme park, we can see multiple LEGO characters like the tourist, clown, sleeping man, policeman etc scattered around the theme park so we can find some “thrill” of looking out for them.
Legoland miniatures
More Legoland
Legoland part 3
LEGOLAND is big as compared to Universal Studio Singapore but I feel that they have not made use of the land wisely. A lot of empty plots of land within the theme park and they wasted more space by setting up stores which we see very frequently at Pasar Malams, such as throw the rings on bottle openings, hooking fish etc to win some LaoPok looking pirated Minion. Hey wake up the idea LEGOLAND! We did not come here to play Pasar Malam games, we are here to experience a land made of Lego, look what they have given us! Crappy rides, unimaginative castle, not-so-impressive 4D shows and mascots which looked uninspiring and failed to draw many people queueing up for photographs with mascots. In all other themeparks, guests would rush to get a picture with ANY mascots but here in LEGOLAND, the mascot was really standing there ALONE, with nobody queueing up aside from the 1-2 guests who HAPPENED to be a the area… Wake up the idea LEGOLAND!
More miniatures and the Lonely LEGO mascot
The good thing….and the ONLY good thing about LEGOLAND is the Lego Miniworld. It’s amazing how they can LEGO-up entire buildings, cities, including the people, cars, flowers, animals etc. Darling was disappointed at the miniworld, she would have hoped it is bigger so we can walk right into LEGO world! Well we can only leave it to imagination now… … I am amazed at the feat of creating cities out of small bricks…maybe it’s just me… hahaha.
What’s disappointing for me is that they strongly advertised the LEGO structure of the Stars Wars Death star but in the end, the exhibit is being removed in it’s entirety from the Mini-World section! And there is no notice to say they are sorry etc…
Legoland Singapore Miniland
Legoland world edition
LEGOLAND is big but it lacks content and imagination and does not inspire us to wanna re-visit again.
The “BIG” shop is LEGOLAND boasts to have the largest collection of LEGO collectibles in the whole of Asia, but we did not find anything unique to buy back…well, we did get a LEGOLAND magnet (which looks boring but still it’s mainly for our fridge magnet collection) and I got myself a Ninja Turtle Leonardo keychain… I quite like that..Lolz.
There is no themed restaurant in LEGOLAND so we just had a simple pizza from one of the eateries for lunch.
Pizza
The most disappointing thing is the “parade”. Apparently it’s for a limited time only that there’s a parade, I think till the end of March or something, but it’s something totally not worthy of our time. We are expecting floats, cars, big props and LEGO characters dancing and performing along the way but all we saw were a bunch of 5 malays trying to be the Ninjagos of LEGO, a magician who performed in one of the shows, the 2 mascots Emmet and Wyldstyle and the lion hero from one of the LEGO series. Ok, managed to grab a picture with each of them but it’s a “since we waited so long for the parade, whatever lah just take lah” kinda kiasu mentality.
The “Parade”
We decided to pop by LEGOLAND hotel for a sneak peek after leaving LEGOLAND.
The LEGOLAND Hotel on the other hand is very well designed in our opinion. It gives us the feeling of being in a LEGO world with the setup and interior décor. The elevators are cute when disco music and light effects came on whenever the doors are closed. I like that! the rooms are all nicely themed as well from the pictures, I think any kid would love to stay in one of those rooms.
LEGOLAND hotel. Notice the disco lift! The Pirate Ship LEGO is very impressive.
Taxi back to KSL mall for some shopping. There are a lot of shops there but we just don’t have energy to slowly walk around. Haha.
We had dinner at one the Hong Kong style café, had a stroll around and went back to hotel for a early KOONZzzz.
—————————————Day 5———————————————————-
Today is the last day of our short Malaysia getaway but there are still programs lined up! Today is Darling’s dream land… The Hello Kitty Town!
This is located at Puteri Harbour where it is located in the same building as Barney & Friends and Lat’s place.
Hello Kitty Town is the second Hello Kitty theme park we went to. Of course we went to the original Sanrio Hello Kitty World in Tokyo! We had little expectation of this Hello Kitty Town in view of the size but BOY, we enjoyed ourselves more here than at LEGOLAND! SERIOUSLY!
Inside the Hello Kitty Town, there are a few zones for us to explore. Every Zone explored will entitle us to a stamp on our journey passport card and some zones can only be visited once. The first one is Hello Kitty house, comes complete with the living room, study room, bathroom, kitchen and bedrooms.
Hello Kitty Town and Kitty’s House
After the kitty House, we took a break for lunch. The only themed restaurant in Puteri Harbour is Lat’s Café, where we are in an animated restaurant with props and sounds which make us feel like eating in a Kampung. There are large TVs playing Lat the Kampung boy’s comics. Quite a fun comic, showing us what a typical Kampung day is like and the Kampung games they play. The food is not bad too.
Lat’s Place animated restaurant
After lunch, we went back into the action of Hello Kitty Town!
Next comes the Hello Kitty show when the cute Kitty and Daniel will dance and perform in front of the kids. Really cute and fun to watch the kids having fun and dancing along to the songs!
After the show, we went to the Heartful forest Black Wonder. This is large section of the Town where we can only enter once. This is supposed to be the lair of Kuromi. Kuromi wears a black jester’s hat and is the only Sanrio character with a skull as a symbol. The story about this Black Wonder is that Kuromi loves the bow on hello kitty and has requested the Hello Kitty creator to give her a similar bow. The creator is too busy and ignored her request. So angry, she kidnapped Hello Kitty and Dear Daniel in her castle! We are supposed to be knights trying to rescue Hello Kitty and Dear Daniel from the Black Wonder. Once we enter the Black Wonder, we are given a hand lantern tagged with a sensor. This will track our progress. We will pass through a maze, collect clues from 5 locations within Black Wonder, then find the correct password from the clues gathered to save Kitty and Daniel.
We anyhow played the first time round coz halfway through we heard the announcement that the Hello Kitty Parade will start soon.
Kitty Parade
So we returned for a second round… … lucky we were allowed to try again but this time we are only given 1 lantern to share. (maybe because there is no crowd)
Full concentrated, 2 brains + 1 cutie baby brain combined, we easily conquered the Black Wonder and rescued Kitty and Daniel… all in record time for a “A” grading too! With a certificate to prove it!
Black Wonder
Next we went to the various 1-entry points, the Button badge making, the Cookie studio, the coaster crafting and the costume doll up. A pity we were denied the chance to dress up as the Kitty characters…apparently the person in charge says only catered to children, but we did see photos of adults wearing the costumes lo!!! Irritating.
Kitty Town activities
Lucky we did manage to get a group shot with My Melody! And Darling shook hands with Kitty as well!
I think Darling enjoyed this Hello Kitty Town so much more than the LEGOLAND and I did too!
The Hello Kitty shop is quite big and full of cute stuff but we only got ourselves 3 fridge magnets…Darling says that we will bring cutie baby back here to buy more cute stuff after Cutie baby come out into the world. OKAY it’s a deal!
Kitty Shop and Puteri Harbour
We took a cab back to the hotel, collected our baggage and took the 1.50 Ringgit Causewaylink bus back to JB City Square.
Think we will go home already??? Not yet! At least not before we had the 許留山!
Desserts at City Square
We did a bit of window shopping and went back Singapore.
Home Sweet Home!
It’s a short trip but definitely a fun and enjoyable one!
Darling, we will go for a Long-Awaited Europe trip after Cutie Baby come out k!
Afternote… …
The next week we went for a Gynae check and Cutie baby is now a 1.1 kg baby at week 26 (when average size is 900gm)! Oops, looks like we ate too much during our Penang trip and Cutie Baby needs to go on a diet lo.
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