Returning to Old Haunts

Penang Road (CNB 2013)

Over the recent Raya holidays we found ourselves going back to some old haunts in Pulau Pinang. For me, some of these haunts go back to my childhood days.

Kompleks Tun Abdul Razak (CNB 2013)

"They often say you should never return to the places of fondest recall because they will never be quite the same. Oftimes, it is simply because they have changed over the years but on other occasions it's because they were never in the first place quite what your mind so clearly recalls today" (Roger St Pierre).

Jalan Penang was my older siblings' and my 'playground' after school. This Penang Road was where we sometimes had our lunch (usually laksa and ... laksa) and shopped before going home. Then when B and A were children, we used to park at the Magazine Circle car park to cross Penang Road to Komtar (Kompleks Tun Abdul Razak) or Macalister Road & Dato Kramat Road to Gama. Of course Komtar was the 'happening' place then, and later became pretty rundown. We have realised that in Pulau Pinang, when a new shopping centre/mall is open, an older one is usually 'abandoned'. (Bukit Jambul Complex is another sad story, now mostly frequented by foreign workers.)

On the third day of Eid, we met up with an old friend FD at the Royal Hotel coffeehouse in Jalan Larut. This hotel was previously the Sheraton and earlier the Merlin. Here was where I saw my first Rafiee Ghani oil paintings and resolved to own at least one by the artist when I retired. Now I see that the two paintings there are not placed side by side anymore and (horrors!) one of them is slightly hidden by a lighted tree decoration.

Next door to this hotel on Macalister Road is the Penang Plaza, where at the Fima Cold Storage here, we used to do our weekly grocery shopping. We 'bumped' into our Bapa Malaysia and other Kedah royalty here sometimes. I guess they also needed to shop for groceries, eh? Anyway, today the facade and the inside of the building is so different from back then. More spruced up, maybe.

A spruced up Penang Plaza (CNB 2013)

Along Jalan Magazine, B and I went into the Butik 21 to tailor some clothes. She had previously had some clothes done here before and after some disappointments with the KL and Shah Alam tailors, its back to this PP tailor. Another case of 'pi mai pi mai tang tu juga'? With M we later had tea at the Trader's Hotel (formerly Shangri-La), another old haunt along the same road.

B posing along Jalan Magazine (CNB 2013)

Traders Hotel (CNB 2013)

On one of the evenings in the island, we dined at The Ship, still serving 'the best steak in town'. I probably had steaks there before, but now I am content with fish. I wonder if they still allow people to go on deck like they used to and were the waiters really wearing 'sailor' uniforms then? And as is routine, a walk along the Batu Ferringhi night market after dinner. Only this time, my feet got the better of me and I could not venture as far as the other family members did.

The evening sun lights up The Ship (CNB 2013)

M and I went into the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) campus, for him to visit the School of Chemical Sciences where he had had a working stint before and for me to see the new extended library building. But it being a public holiday, there was not much life around so our visit was very brief.

M at the School of Chemical Sciences (CNB 2013)

Our accommodation in PP this time included the Equatorial Hotel in Bukit Jambul, where numerous USM functions were held (maybe still are). I recall the many Convocation (Chinese several course) dinners here and also the USM/Library conferences/seminars/workshops held here too. There seems to be new wings/blocks added to the hotel complex so the occupancy rate must be good.  And I'm glad they have retained/maintained their 'hanging gardens' of the Money plant.

By the 'hanging gardens' of the Equatorial (BB 2013)

If my memory serves me right, buildings in Georgetown used to look old. But now that it is a Unesco heritage site since 2008, many have been spruced up. But I am not so sure about all my memories of this enigmatic island, because quoting Roger St Pierre again, 'Probably the most compulsive liar you are ever going to meet is your own memory'.