Everyone, here is Marcin. He's my new colleague who's working in the German office, but he's actually a Polish. He's currently here in Penang for a few weeks, until just before Christmas. Since I was free during a weekend about a couple of weeks ago, I decided to bring him around to tour Penang. Talking to him made me discover that he liked outdoor activities. Therefore, I planned to bring him to the famous Batu Feringghi beach in Penang.
Marcin
After our brunch, we headed to the beach which was about 45 minutes away. The sun was extremely hot at 2pm, and the beach was quiet, pretty unusual, I'd say. Anyway, the good thing was that we got to bargain. :) Marcin was really interested in riding the jetski, so I helped him ask around for the price. However, once they saw Marcin as a foreigner, they didn't really give in too much of a bargain, only RM20 cheaper, out of RM150.
Beach at Batu Feringghi
I never thought of joining him to jetski, because it was a little inconvenient for me during that period. But he was so excited about it and kept telling me how fun it was, so in the end I gave in. And that was only because I felt bad about leaving him in the sea alone, in a foreign place. Of course, the fact that the jetski guide told me their boats were all stable and wouldn't capsize helped too.
"You have to ride against the waves..." says Marcin
Before long, we were getting ourselves ready by putting on safety life jackets.
Putting on life jackets
Could you notice my nervous smile just before I went on the jetski?
Posing with life jacket
Before leaving, the guide showed Marcin how to handle the controls, just one lever, to be exact. Either to accelerate or you stop by releasing the lever. Sounded pretty simple to me.
Getting instructions on how to operate
Oh, and don't forget the wrist strap...
Remember the wrist strap!
Then, off we went, into the deep blue/green sea! To be honest, the ride was quite fun, especially when we rode across the sea waves at high speed. However, I didn't quite like the feeling of the braking. Once in a while, when there was another ski which came in our way, or when the waves were too big for us to rush in full-speed, Marcin would release the accelerator, which meant braking. The braking was very abrupt, not gradual at all, and it kept making me jerk forward. A couple more times of the braking and I felt nauseous already. In fact, after 15 minutes (we had 30 minutes to use), I was already looking at my watch and praying fervently that our time would be up soon. At the end of it, I felt that I could almost puke, but I withheld myself to avoid embarassment. I just went to the nearest beach chair and laid down.
Having fun in the sea
After the jetski experience, we went to pamper ourselves nearby, with foot and neck massages. Foot for the guys and neck for me. It just so happened that I twisted my neck on that same day, so I thought a neck and shoulder massage would be useful to me.
Did I mention that I also dragged Bamboo along? But too bad he didn't bring an extra set of clothes, so he didn't join us in jetski. Actually, I don't think you'd need an extra set of clothes, just make sure you wear short pants.
Bamboo and witch
After our pampering massages, Marcin was still not satisfied and wanted to play some outdoor games. We saw a beach volleyball court nearby but the owner didn't let us use it. :( So Marcin just bought some random plastic ball and we played by the beach. I think we were running more to pick up the ball rather than running to hit it. *LOL*
witch and Marcin
Of course, running around for 30 minutes was indeed tiring, so we decided to go for a drink in a nearby cafe. We sat just nearby this small water feature, which was spoiled by the presence of the generator.
Pool with generator
Ahh... Refreshing coconut water to the rescue.
Sweet coconut water
Later, we went to the botanical garden in Penang, where we just took a slow and relaxing stroll around, while the rest of the people did their evening jogs or walked their dogs. Oh, I had a small misfortune here too, whereby I was chased by this prick of a monkey, just after I entered the garden! The monkey must have seen me eating my jackfruit, so it was rushing towards me, and I got panic and ran away. So that prompted the monkey to move forward further. Anyway, in the end, I just hid behind a rubbish bin, while the rest of the spectators looked on. *embarassment*
Botanical garden
Evening walks
Look at how peaceful the surroundings were. I guess you would have believed me if I said I was in Australia or New Zealand. :P
witch at the Botanical Garden
Big tree
Moving on, our next destination was the Youth Park, which was just nearby the Botanical Garden. Youth Park was surprisingly more crowded than the Botanical Garden. It was the perfect place for family to have fun because of the huge playground available, and a place for the adults to work out as well.
Youth park
See, even Marcin took advantage of the equipment there and did some stunts of his own.
Marcin lifting his body
Impressive, don't you think?
Another pose
Finally, it was time again to recharge ourselves, after a whole day out. We went to a Taiwanese restaurant called Kocha in Burma Road, where Marcin was obssessed with his latest favourite, the Pearl Milk Bubble Tea! He was fascinated with the pearls and kept asking for more pearls in his drink.
Bubble milk tea
Food in Kocha was not bad, above average but not great either. Marcin ordered the unagi set, while I ordered stir-fried pork, which was disappointing.
Very red unagi
Average Stir fried pork
But I kind of enjoyed the grilled dumplings though, even though Bamboo begged to differ. :) He claimed that the ones in Sakae Sushi were better, but I have yet to taste that. So perhaps for now, I shall maintain that these are good!
Pan fried dumplings (Gyoza)
Bamboo ordered spicy noodles, which was a specialty of Taiwan dish.
Noodles
That night, I reached home at nearly 10pm, after sending all of them home. It was indeed a tiring day for me, and it was ages since I last went out the whole day like that (except for shopping :P). But now I know that jetski can be fun (without the braking) and you don't need to be scared of falling into the water, cause I didn't! ;)
Marcin
After our brunch, we headed to the beach which was about 45 minutes away. The sun was extremely hot at 2pm, and the beach was quiet, pretty unusual, I'd say. Anyway, the good thing was that we got to bargain. :) Marcin was really interested in riding the jetski, so I helped him ask around for the price. However, once they saw Marcin as a foreigner, they didn't really give in too much of a bargain, only RM20 cheaper, out of RM150.
Beach at Batu Feringghi
I never thought of joining him to jetski, because it was a little inconvenient for me during that period. But he was so excited about it and kept telling me how fun it was, so in the end I gave in. And that was only because I felt bad about leaving him in the sea alone, in a foreign place. Of course, the fact that the jetski guide told me their boats were all stable and wouldn't capsize helped too.
"You have to ride against the waves..." says Marcin
Before long, we were getting ourselves ready by putting on safety life jackets.
Putting on life jackets
Could you notice my nervous smile just before I went on the jetski?
Posing with life jacket
Before leaving, the guide showed Marcin how to handle the controls, just one lever, to be exact. Either to accelerate or you stop by releasing the lever. Sounded pretty simple to me.
Getting instructions on how to operate
Oh, and don't forget the wrist strap...
Remember the wrist strap!
Then, off we went, into the deep blue/green sea! To be honest, the ride was quite fun, especially when we rode across the sea waves at high speed. However, I didn't quite like the feeling of the braking. Once in a while, when there was another ski which came in our way, or when the waves were too big for us to rush in full-speed, Marcin would release the accelerator, which meant braking. The braking was very abrupt, not gradual at all, and it kept making me jerk forward. A couple more times of the braking and I felt nauseous already. In fact, after 15 minutes (we had 30 minutes to use), I was already looking at my watch and praying fervently that our time would be up soon. At the end of it, I felt that I could almost puke, but I withheld myself to avoid embarassment. I just went to the nearest beach chair and laid down.
Having fun in the sea
After the jetski experience, we went to pamper ourselves nearby, with foot and neck massages. Foot for the guys and neck for me. It just so happened that I twisted my neck on that same day, so I thought a neck and shoulder massage would be useful to me.
Did I mention that I also dragged Bamboo along? But too bad he didn't bring an extra set of clothes, so he didn't join us in jetski. Actually, I don't think you'd need an extra set of clothes, just make sure you wear short pants.
Bamboo and witch
After our pampering massages, Marcin was still not satisfied and wanted to play some outdoor games. We saw a beach volleyball court nearby but the owner didn't let us use it. :( So Marcin just bought some random plastic ball and we played by the beach. I think we were running more to pick up the ball rather than running to hit it. *LOL*
witch and Marcin
Of course, running around for 30 minutes was indeed tiring, so we decided to go for a drink in a nearby cafe. We sat just nearby this small water feature, which was spoiled by the presence of the generator.
Pool with generator
Ahh... Refreshing coconut water to the rescue.
Sweet coconut water
Later, we went to the botanical garden in Penang, where we just took a slow and relaxing stroll around, while the rest of the people did their evening jogs or walked their dogs. Oh, I had a small misfortune here too, whereby I was chased by this prick of a monkey, just after I entered the garden! The monkey must have seen me eating my jackfruit, so it was rushing towards me, and I got panic and ran away. So that prompted the monkey to move forward further. Anyway, in the end, I just hid behind a rubbish bin, while the rest of the spectators looked on. *embarassment*
Botanical garden
Evening walks
Look at how peaceful the surroundings were. I guess you would have believed me if I said I was in Australia or New Zealand. :P
witch at the Botanical Garden
Big tree
Moving on, our next destination was the Youth Park, which was just nearby the Botanical Garden. Youth Park was surprisingly more crowded than the Botanical Garden. It was the perfect place for family to have fun because of the huge playground available, and a place for the adults to work out as well.
Youth park
See, even Marcin took advantage of the equipment there and did some stunts of his own.
Marcin lifting his body
Impressive, don't you think?
Another pose
Finally, it was time again to recharge ourselves, after a whole day out. We went to a Taiwanese restaurant called Kocha in Burma Road, where Marcin was obssessed with his latest favourite, the Pearl Milk Bubble Tea! He was fascinated with the pearls and kept asking for more pearls in his drink.
Bubble milk tea
Food in Kocha was not bad, above average but not great either. Marcin ordered the unagi set, while I ordered stir-fried pork, which was disappointing.
Very red unagi
Average Stir fried pork
But I kind of enjoyed the grilled dumplings though, even though Bamboo begged to differ. :) He claimed that the ones in Sakae Sushi were better, but I have yet to taste that. So perhaps for now, I shall maintain that these are good!
Pan fried dumplings (Gyoza)
Bamboo ordered spicy noodles, which was a specialty of Taiwan dish.
Noodles
That night, I reached home at nearly 10pm, after sending all of them home. It was indeed a tiring day for me, and it was ages since I last went out the whole day like that (except for shopping :P). But now I know that jetski can be fun (without the braking) and you don't need to be scared of falling into the water, cause I didn't! ;)
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6 comments:
OMG! How could you put such hideous picture of me in your blog for everyone to see!
now i finally come to meet of the bamboo up close and personal. first impression, he is not as slim n slender as his nick was...wonder how he acquire his nick in first place...haha
Jetski!! *Gasps* I've wanted to try it for the longest time! But yes you're right, I have this terrible fear of falling and drowning myself. Haha. Your pictures reminded me of how much I miss the beach! *Jealous*
Bamboo: We still love you :)
Anon: Haha.. Oops, I should have mentioned earlier that Bamboo's nick has nothing to do with his physical attributes. :)
MisSmall: Come on over to Penang girl! Lots of beaches for you to fall in love back again. ;)
I'm quite fond of Bamboo's nickname too, but now that you mention it, I can't remember how he came to be called that.. it's not for his height or weight it's true
meifong, haha.. you know what? I think I don't know why we came up with that nick too... after more than 10 years!
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