Feb 22 & 23
1) When I was planning my holiday back home in Malaysia, there were two places I had intended to visit, apart from my hometown. The first was Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia. The second was none other than Penang - the place which holds the most memories for me, many of which were made throughout my medical school years here. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that a day after the KL trip was over, my parents and I took the Sri Maju bus to Sungai Nibong Bus Terminal, Penang, to spend two days and one night there.
2) As much as I wanted to return to Penang to relive the nostalgia, I actually came to meet up with some of my friends who were still here. It was indeed unfortunate that my buddy Zi Yan had returned to the UK a day prior to our arrival. Nevertheless, I was still able to meet up with Kuhan, Tenisha, and Jong (the latter to my surprise as it was unplanned!) To recap, on our arrival in Penang, we took a Grab taxi to meet up with Kuhan and his mom at the Penang Club. They had very kindly invited us out for lunch at Sutera Restaurant. Located in the touristy area that is Armenian Street, this local restaurant specialises in halal oriented food. We spent the entire afternoon catching up, myself with Kuhan, and my parents with Kuhan's mom. It was wonderful to hear how everyone was doing. After a sumptuous meal, they dropped us off at our hotel (Sunway Hotel Georgetown), where we checked-in and had a quick nap. At night, we went window-shopping at Gurney Plaza and Gurney Paragon, before having dinner at the night market just next to our hotel. The hustle and bustle of Penang night life will never fail to impress me. After a long day out, we retired to bed early.
3) Day two began with a quick visit to the hotel pool. We had booked a Grab taxi to Big Ben Cafe for breakfast, only to be informed that they were closed for the whole week. Therefore, we decided to have breakfast at one of the local markets leading up to our next destination - Kek Lok Si Buddhist Temple. This is the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia and an important pilgrimage centre for Buddhists from Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore, and other parts of Southeast Asia. We paid around RM50 (around 8 GBP) for three return tickets. In order to reach the 120-feet tall statue of the Guanyin (the Goddess of Mercy), we first had to take a cable car to the second station, then a buggy to the third, before a final cable car ride to the top. In addition to the statue of Guanyin, there was also a seven-storey three-tiered pagoda for us to ascend. After spending the entire morning here, it was time to head down. We booked a Grab car to take me to the RCSI-UCD Malaysia Campus (RUMC), my alma mater, while my parents went back to the hotel to check-out.
4) While waiting to meet up with Tenisha, I managed to bump into Ms. Janice, the Student Affairs Officer, who proceeded to give me a whistle-stop tour of the latest changes in the campus - the most notable of which was the addition of the Clinical Skills Centre on the first floor. I also met up with Jong, one of the seniors from the Class of 2020, who was back for a friend's wedding. Following this, I finally met up with Tenisha (after her clinical teaching), and after being introduced to Isaac, the three of us went out for some excellent Char Kway Teow in Bayan Lepas. We dropped Isaac back at work, then returned to RUMC for some impromptu orthopaedic OSCE sessions, and then Tenisha and Tony (her group mate) had to attend the Friday MDS sessions. I proceeded to take a Grab ride back to the hotel lobby, meet up with my parents, and together we went to Sungai Nibong Bus Station to catch the bus back to Ipoh.
5) Overall, this Penang trip may have been rather short but it has also been a memorable one. For starters, it certainly felt different returning to Penang after two years. The last couple of times I had taken the Sri Maju bus here, it was as a medical student aiming to pass my final exams. This time around, I returned as a fully qualified doctor on my annual leave. A wave of nostalgia swept across me as we traversed familiar roads, especially the ones leading to my old place of residence, my medical school (RUMC), and Penang General Hospital (where I was mostly attached to as an RUMC student). It is true the saying that we often look back at things with rose tinted glasses. Reflecting back at all my memories of Penang, there were some really high highs as well as some really low lows, but at the end of the day, all of them have become a part of my memory of Penang. I do hope to return some time soon, and make some new memories in the process. And on that note, I shall end my blog post here. Many thanks for visiting as always, enjoy the pics, and have a great weekend ahead. Cheers!
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