We wake up with a normal Western and Oriental buffet. Nothing to talk about. As we leave the hotel, late greetings from friends from college starts flowing in one after another. Must be the bad reception we have in the hotel I stayed in. Isn’t it weird, have WIFI but no GSM reception?

The pretty lady that being assigned as our tour guide brings us to a few tourist attractions. First stop is taking a boat ride 海上看金门. 金门 is actually a piece of land in Taiwan. When the political situation is tight back in the 70’s, the place is flooded with military ships flying missiles over the air. We also witness the oldest reserved canon from afar, which is only used once in history. The boat brings us across the Taiwan border and we are able to receive receptions from Taiwan network distributors. They served tea (RMB100 for 6 pax) and also provide in boat dancers to perform for us.

Next, we took a ferry to 鼓浪屿 (Drumming Wave Islet). Due to time constrain, we just have a simple scroll on a portion of the island. The local products are sold at crazy prices. The first shop offered a packet for RM20, but by the end of the trip, another shop offered the same package for RM8~! Imagine that. In the island, there’s no motorized vehicle. So even the banks have to hire people to carry the money by foot. Transportation is not a problem to the locals as the ferry operates from 5am – 12pm daily with a ferry every 10 minutes.

After lunch at a seafood restaurant, we went shopping at 中山路. Nothing interesting there for me, just apparels and clothes suitable for the ladies and fashion conscious men. A lot of local brands sell their suits for > RMB1000, not like China brands are cheap. On the contrary, there are also shops selling jackets for RMB100~150 at their pre-renovation sales. After walking for hours (time stops when you’re bored) found a shop that sells muar chee 叶氏麻嵫. Took a cab back to the hotel, and slept like a pig as shopping is really tiring for me.

Woke up by my roommate 传益 at 8.30pm. We ate at the restaurant across the road. The 12 of us gobble down at least 8 dishes with boxes of beer and hard liquor. The bill turns out barely reaching RMB300. Which gets me to think why our nasi lemak are sold so expensive. A few of them are debating about the rich families in Penang, this taught me that there are still a lot for me to learn about.

Wanted to drop by the Internet Café to clear some mails, but it turns out those places requires users be registered to use. Can’t blame the operator, as I believe it has to do with the government policy.

Labels: Travel