I've always loved travelling. And Covid was quite a devastating time for me. Thankfully I had a side project of renovating my apartment to keep me busy during that time. I should probably do a separate blog on my journey moving back to Penang. But in order to motivate me to start blogging again, I thought I'll start with topics that I am happiest writing about - travelling.
I love the idea of Solo travel. If the world was a safe place, I would solo travel everywhere. Unfortunately, it isn't the case. So I had to build up my courage to start travelling solo if I was planning to retire and explore the world. So to start off small, I decided on a 2 day 1 night trip to a nearby town call Ipoh. Note I have travelled alone before, on business trips, to and from Singapore, to visit friends, and probably the first trip I was on my own in an unfamiliar place was to Ubud. But my husband accompanied me the first half of that trip. So Ipoh Solo was going to be the start of the new way I am gearing up myself to travel!
Journey to Ipoh was going to be via train. I've booked a ETS (Electronic Train Service) for a 2 hour ride journey there. The train station of Penang is situated in the mainland, so it was quite an adventure alone just to get there. First I took the early bus to town. My train was around noon time, but I also needed to take the ferry across to the mainland to get to the train station. Being the 'kiasu' me, I was out by 9am, and reached town by 10am. A bit early, so I decided to take a walk to the newly renovated Esplanade to take a look. Above are the two beautiful view of the area.
They have build a special wall around the coast, where the water can actually come in during low, and even high tide. There are steps leading down which you can also go down to. It was a nice concept where you can actually get close to the sea water and get yourself very wet during strong tides too! It forms a nice change of scenery for a morning walk.
Here are the steps that goes all the way into the sea water. I was surprised that the sea was quite clear on that faithful morning. And as always, I am always happy when there are blue skies for my photo backdrop.
Further up there is a beautiful big tree, and I can sea people fishing underneath it. But what is beautiful are the tall high rise building behind, and I can sea the landscape of Gurney and Tanjung Tokong area out there. There's something about looking out to a familiar scene that reminds you that your home is somewhere out there :)
I don't often come to the Esplanade, so it was a good time to play tourist and walk around. I often see nice posting of the site on Facebook. Now it was my time to visit and see for myself. Above was the City Council building all in white. Any colonial building is beautiful to me. And I am glad the Penang State Government does try to preserved and make these heritage building functional.
There is also the City Hall building, all yellow and white. I've never actually been inside these buildings before. I am not sure if visitors are allowed? I'm sure it is just as old and elegant inside. Perhaps I will give it a try one of these days.....
On my way walking back to the Ferry Terminal, I passed by Fort Cornwallis. The old trees outside with the old fort stone walls make a good photo. You can actually have breakfast inside the fort during that time, but as of 2023, Breakfast At The Fort has been closed. There is a restaurant inside too which serves pretty nice local fusion food. I'll try to blog on that one day.
Inside Fort Cornwallis, there are old canons and a lighthouse. Interestingly, I have been locked inside the fort before when I was young. They would just lock up the gates without checking if all the visitors have left. I had to climb the gates in order to get out....
Walking on further would be the Victoria Clock Tower located at a round-about. Glad that it was newly painted, and the clock was still in tact. Can't say the same for some of the other old colonial buildings in Beach Street area....
Here's a view and a road sign of the location where I was at. The road-about is where the clock tower is, and I am headed to Swetteham Pier. My home in Penang is just before Batu Ferringgi.
At last, the pink coloured temporally ferry terminal at Swettenham Pier. As of 2023, the ferry terminal has been moved back to it's original place at Raja Tun Uda Port/Pier/Jetty. I have no idea who Raja Tun Uda is.....
The frequency for the ferry then was almost an hour a ferry. So I had plenty of time to look around and take photos of the old godown. If cruise ships were to dock in Penang, this was also the pier they would docked at. Anyway, the ferry ride to Butterworth and back was free back in 2022. As of 2023, with the start of the new ferry service, it now cost 2rm per trip! So now I have to add 4rm to my travel cost if I take the train from now on..... Anyway, leaving you with a serene seaview of the godown as you wait for the next blog entry. Happy waiting!
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