Penang part 2 - penang hill, mee sotong hameed, 3d art museum and astaka padang brown

Assalammualaikum

Let resume my Penang trip story!

Day 2...

Penang Hill

Early morning lepas sarapan aku panggil uber going to Penang hill aka bukit bendera. Pelik kan sebab english dia bukan flag hill hehe...cost about rm20 but surely the best choice sebab tak serabut dengan traffic and isu cari parking.

Sampai penang hill tengok line panjang giler. Panik!

Fikir mereka semua tu que nk naik tren but no. Mereka sedang que untuk beli tiket je! Tu baru nak beli tiket. Lucky me sebab i bought earlier thru online. So aku tak perlu que panjang. Just walk freely ke kaunter utk redeem ticket....seriously rasa bijak dr orang lain haha. Ticket biasa utk mykad holder cuma rm10 je return. Kids below 4 is free. If nak cepat boleh beli tiket fast lane at rm 30. Fast lane tak perlu que panjang untuk naik tren sebab ada waiting room khas mcm kat airport. Then bila tren sampai mereka diberi keistimewaan naik dulu and secure seat.

Tiket biasa macam aku, kena beratur la untuk naik tren. Tak seramai org q utk beli tiket sebab ramai org still beli tiket so kami agak selamat la actually. 

Masa tren sampai kami bulat je mata tgk org fast lane masuk and pilih seat huhu. Langsung dah takde tempat duduk maka kami anak beranak kena berdiri. Again as aku ada mention dlm my other post about travelling with todlers...bestnya bw anak kecik ni kita akan dapat simpati hehe. 1 chinese man from china i think stood up and offered me his seat. Aku taknak la sebab dia beli tiket mahal tp dia insist for me to sit with Hadi so aku terimala...tq sir!

Pengalaman naik tren bukit bendera memang awesome tho sempit sikit. View dia very the cantik. At top station tu feeling very cold. Nampak eye bird view of penang. No regret la que utk naik tren naik and turun. Time turun mudah sikit sebab boleh plan bila nk turun. Tengok tak ramai tu kami cepat2la que kat tren. Again because of our kids...pegawai bertugas reserve seat for us...tq

Dari penang hill kami naik bus Rapid Penang to our next destination which is..

Padang Kota Lama. 

Mai sini semata mata nak pekena mee sotong hameed yang famos tu. Tambang bus cuma rm2 je seorang dewasa. Perjalanan about 40 minit sebab sesak. Terletak sebelah fort conwalis but kami tak pergi pun kota tu sebab penat and lapar. 

Nak beli mee sotong pun beratur panjang. Tapi air sgt cepat so dapat try cendoi and coconut shake without hassle. To me sedap la mee sotong tu cuma takdela sampai mengigau nk makan lagi...

Masa turun bus kami nampak penang 3d art trick museum. So habis makan je kami terus jalan kaki menuju museum tu. Dekat je no worry.

Bayaran masuk is rm15 dewasa. Kids below 4 is free. Mujur tak payah beratur this time tapi kat dalam ramai orang. Dia ada sediakan staff bantu kita ambil gambar at each and every arts. Mereka ajar how to pose sekali cuma sebab ramai orang so payah gakla nk begamba dengan aman.

letih begambar...serius letih. Coz mcm artis kot...rushed from one art to another...kena follow plak pose yg diajar..letih but we had fun haha

So kami call uber untuk balik hotel je. Rm4 je fare so kira dekat la tapi tak larat nak jalan dah. Kami pass tru jalan india...org kata if nak beli sari.. papadom etc semua murah kat situ.

Malam tu kami pergi cari makan di medan selera brown. Naik uber too rm 7 je. Meriah...semua makanan penang ada sana. Kami nk try chelup2 tapi takde meja yang available. So aku just again beratur beli passembur. Ok kita boleh pilih sendiri bahan bahan nya. Aku pilih sikit je bende tg aku familiar and know the taste. Sumhow bila siap jadi macam sangat banyak utk seorang makan and harga pun consider mahal la for food at food court je pun, rm17. Tapi sebab nak merasa takpela. Personally aku lagi suka rojak la...kuah passembur less texture and too masam. Wifey pula gigih pi beli sup daging cicah roti. This 1 memang sedap...best sup ever kot!

Maka tamatla day 2 kami di sekitar penang. Next time aku sambung day 3 insyaAllah..

Penang part 1 - Reunion Heritage House & Nasi Kandar Beratur

Assalammualaikum

Before 2016 melabuhkan tirai, let me blog my last entry for this yr....Penang trip experience.

I'll skip the journey part because that you can read in my previous post.

Hotel...

This is where we stayed for 3 nights

From outside it looks like simple budget hotel in old renovated 1 storey building. My 1st impression like demn i have been cheated by room picture seen on booking.com

However once i step into the building. I found that the deco inside is very beautiful, modern with some classical touch. In fact, it is actually a 2 storeys building heigh and 3 shop lot long to the back. I was surprise when i have to walk quite far to my room from the lobby. Our room was on second floor at the 3 building block of the entire building. Each block secured by autolock passing door and only guest with valid key can pass thru it. 

The bathroom in our room. Certainly at par with any 5 stars hotel i have been to.

First Night in Penang..

Based on google map, kami dapati bahawa nasi kandar beratur is about 10 minit je jalan kaki from our hotel. So we decided to give it a try. Dalam perjalanan dr victoria street tu kami jumpa Masjid Acheh, street art and the famous masjid kapitan keling. Rupanya our hotel tu betul-betul located at centre of attraction. 

Nasi kandar beratur ni exactly sebelah masjid. Bila sampai kami anak beranak dengan penuh keterujaan terus sama2 beratur untuk beli makanan. Tak ramai pun orang so que tak panjang. Sambil makan sembang2 dengan wifey that i tak rasa anything special about it. Sedap cuma tak kick pun...nasi vanggey ipoh much more appealing to my taste. Then we continued eating. Suddenly i realized that Nasi kandar beratur cuma open from 10 pm onwards. It written on the shop signboard. Then i looked at my watch, its only 830 pm. I read the small signboard at place where i qeu earlier....it written nasi kandar masjid! Haha

After we done...1 chinese couple came to our table and asking me...this is not nasi kandar beratur right? We just realized it they said...no wonder it tasted so average. I laught and told them that me too just realized it. 

Dengan rasa hampa kami balik bilik jela malam tu. Lucky ada street art. So dapatla compensate the feeling dengan bergambar. At nite that hour hari khamis...no crowd at all....u r free to take as many picture as u wish.

I stop here this time and will continue when i have time.

Penang via public transport

Assalammualaikum readers

Our destination this time is Penang. From Kertih to Kl is about 3.5 hours drive. Based on google maps if i drive from kl to Penang it is about 5 hours ++ so total driving hours is close to 9 hours! Hell no way i am going to drive that far and that long.

Hence i decided to use public transport from Kl to Penang this time.

We bought ETS ticket 2 weeks before our trip. We went to Kl Sentral as my attemp to buy it online did not succeed for few times. Normal sit is RM 59. Kids below 4 is FOC but must sit on lap.

Our train ETD is at 10.38 am. Thus we drove from Kertih a day earlier and stayed in Best View Hotel Bangi. Our room cost only RM 62. Why bangi? Because we wanted to park our car FOC at Putrajaya Sentral instead of paying so expensive parking fee at KL Sentral. For that we boarded KLIA Express from Putrajaya Sentral to KL Sentral. Ticket is RM 14 for adult. Kids above 2yo need to buy ticket at RM8.

On the klia xpress

About 30 minits we arrived at KL sentral. We ate our breakfast at KFC and waited for ETS. The gate only open at 10.25 a.m. Many people rushed downstairs once the gate open. We too! And lucky us because ETS is demn punctual. 10.38 a.m sharp departed from KL sentral. In KL it only stop at Station Kuala Lumpur. Non stop in Selangor. But when it reached Perak it stop at almost main station. Average speed was about 140km/hour. I took some time visited its surau, spacious and clean. Cafe and toilet were also in good condition. Has Tv and comfy seat.

ETS to Penang ended at Butterworth. From Butterworth terminal we initially plan to walk to ferry jetty. Somehow local RELA told us that there is a shuttle van for free going to the jetty. Just wait infront of the building. The shuttle come in every 15 minits. So convinience.

At ferry terminal we paid RM1.20 each for the fare. Ferry took about 15 minit to island. Once we unboard the ferry, we just walk to our hotel at Victoria street for about 15 minits.

Overall...the experience was tiring but certainly no regret. Imagine us with 2 small kids facing all those hurdles from Putrajaya to Georgetown. Penang people so far are helpful. We were assisted by penang mami at butterworth train station up to ferry jetty. Later an indian RELA carried our luggage at the ferry. Lastly a chinese lady willingly push our daughter stroller from ferry to mainroad because my and wifey had run out of hands huhu.

Will i repeat it? Not now surely haha. In fact i am thankful because i already bought a flight ticket going back to KL next Sunday...fuh!

on ETS

on ferry to island

Pas Pegawai Dagang/Expatriates Employment Pass

Assalammualaikum.

Harini aku nk blog tentang cara ringkas memohon Visa Pegawai Dagang or Expatriate.

Ini aku cerita utk senario dimana expat tersebut telah pun masuk dan berada di Malaysia. Perhaps dia masuk dulu guna social visit pass. In general that pass valid for a month depending on country of origin. So i have only that period to obtain working visa.

1st kita kena apply tru Expatriate Services Department (ESD). Ada many documents perlu upload on that system which antaranya:

1. Gambar size passport. Pls observe the detailing ye. ESD dh tetapkan size and measurement. They will reject if ada sikit tak sama pun. So far part gambar ni cukup menyeksakan aku haha.

2. Passport. Copy and scan dari muka depan and semua page dlm. Pls ensure validity minimum is a year and page kosong dlm passport ada more than 6 pages. 

3. Offer letter. Surat yg menunjukkan betul si expat ni akan kerja dgn kita. Jgn lupa stamp duty.

4. Contract of employment. If any put on sekali and stamp duty too.

5. Staff CV. Make sure ada latest work experience with some description on the work tu. Sebab CV pun sometime kena reject...walhal CV je pun kan

6. Position Description. Ha kena bagi sama PD for position yg kita offer ke expat tu. If tak tau apa tu PD, pls refer ur HR.

Ok once semua dh upload. Kita kena buat payment for application. Else dia tak proses. Payment online. 

Lepas bayar tunggu je la dia proses. If kena return for admenment dia akan emel. Normally reject very fast. If no rejection after few days, insyaAllah selamat la tu.

Application yang lulus akan dpt surat and form DP10. Kita print both untuk di bawa ke kaunter imigresen. Sediakan sama surat kuasa wakil syarikat dan surat permohonan visa pegawai dagang. Bawa duit juga utk pembayaran selanjutnya. Bila pergi imigresen sila ready 3 hari waktu bekerja. Those yg outstation jgn plan balik terus ye. 

Maka selesaila bab 1 untuk mendapatkan visa pegawai dagang kali pertama. In case ada bawa dependent. Boleh la ulang step esd utk dependents. Yup kita tunggu expat setel baru boleh applykan family dia. For dependent biasanya cepat sebab rekod suami dah ada dalam sistem ESD.

Below is simple diagram for the application processes.

Hope it helps and please correct me where i am wrong...

Thanks!