... as in, I am. So I apologise for not coming back here sooner - I've found myself coming home and collapsing into bed for a nap on any day I'm not occupied with some other thing. If there's food rescue, lessons, or medical appointments then I have no choice but to keep on pushing through the day. But oh how I relish my free afternoons. I am actually GLEEful about getting home and showered quickly so I can get snoozing!
I blame the menopause. And the heat.
On the relationship front, things have been good with us recently. I can't complain. BIKSS is supportive of my rescue efforts. He is also very supportive financially, contributing to my retirement plan as well as my holiday efforts.
On the work front, piano school pulled a shit move on me last month so I've given them my notice and will be out of there in October. I was considering going back to teach with my previous school, but in the end decided against it as I really don't want to be tied down to fixed hours. I've decided that I will just keep on with freelancing and giving myself the space to enjoy life. Especially with these aches everywhere and feeling so tired all the time. I'm coming up to 4 months without a period since I've switched HRT medications, altho it's hard to say if I've already menopaused since the last few years I've been on a cyclical HRT, which means I could have very well already passed the one-year-no-bleed mark.
But, all in all, life has been pretty decent. I've been to Penang recently with the sis and managed to visit with an old friend who used to work in my part of the world. He moved back home a few decades ago and I've seen him twice since then. This was the third time I managed to catch up with him in 3 decades. My last trip over there was 13 years ago with my folks, which was the last he saw of them. I shall make it a point to visit there more frequently.
It was a last minute trip, as our Macau plans got washed out. Typhoon Wipha and all that. Still, we managed to get decent priced tickets even tho it was the night before, and on a full service carrier on top of that.
We turned it into something of a mission trip/pilgrimage. We spent half of our first day there shopping for requested items and other supplies for St Joseph's Home (orphanage) and then carted everything over there.
Then since there was a thrift shop near the St Francis Xavier Church that shares the same plot of land, we spent an hour or so in there too.
The pile on the left is CG's (mum's caregiver who is now MY caregiver!) picks, and the pile on the right is mine (black skirt, brown sweater, navy tee) - the bag was bought as a gift for a friend who is absolutely nuts over Naraya bags.
Then we walked over to the Church of the Assumption, which seems to have been recently completed. It's so clean and bright!
And even has its own Catholic stuff musuem.
With things like this on display.
Some of the art / murals / wire pictures around Georgetown, Penang
The view from the Rainbow walk, 68 storeys high.
Here's a video...
For dinner we ate at the revolving restaurant at the top of our hotel. It was kinda interesting. The buffet spread was on the part of the restaurant that DIDN'T move, but the tables did. So technically if you sat long enough you would be able to just get up and pick at the different dishes as you moved along!
TRIGGER WARNING - BAKERY OFFERINGS COMING UP
CLICK AWAY NOW IF YOU FIND IMAGES OF CONFECTIONARIES DISTRESSING
(EITHER TO YOU OR TO YOUR DIET)
Near our hotel there was a bakery called Kenny Hills Bakery - we ate there on Day 2 for breakfast then went back again on Day 3! The fish pie was highly recommended but I prefer some of their other bakes. Still, it wasn't bad. It was just not my thing, I guess.
Scones on the other hand... now we're talking! I bought a couple to bring home with me and just had one this afternoon. So good. So so good. They pack some tiny tubs of strawberry preserve and clotted cream along with your scone so there's no risk of not having the full English Scone Experience.
Sadly I did not buy any of these to take back with me. We had already bought too much.
I did get 3 of these - one of each flavour, except the strawberry one.
Also very good. Very very generous fillings.
I picked up some chicken mushroom pie, REAL CHICKEN MUSHROOM pie, not the rubbish we sometimes get here which is just bits of chicken in a cream sauce with frozen mixed vegetables.
Let me find you a pic -
There we go. Just Chicken. and Mushroom. Delicious. There were 8 chicken pies in the display case when we got there. There were no more chicken pies in the display case after we left.
Between the two of us we bought 4 bags worth of pies, puffs and other sweets!
I didn't get the quiches because the sister wanted all of them.
I'm not a huge fan, so I told her she could have the lot.
Banoffee - more banana, less toffee. All delicious.
Crumble Cheesecake - oats and nuts and fruit are healthy right? Cheese has calcium, and I'm sure chocolate is good for SOMEthing.
Alright. That's done. You can breathe a bit easier now that the
OMG-I WANNA EAT ALL THAT
portion of this foto dump is over.
We spent half a day at the Penang Peranakan Museum.
While my ancestors hail from Malacca, there are also Penang peranakans, altho they tend to be a bit more Chinese in their dress and cuisine, while the Malacca peranakans tend to have more Malay and even Portuguese influence in their dishes.
An entire room was dedicated to the display of ceramic and porcelain bowls and pots. The most famous of these is what is known in Hokkien (Chinese dialect) as "Kam Cheng" :
A Kamcheng is a decorative, lidded porcelain container, particularly significant in Peranakan Chinese culture, often used for ceremonial purposes or as a symbol of status and marital bliss, and although its exact original purpose varied, it was commonly used for storing food or other items. The name "Kamcheng" is believed to be derived from the Hokkien dialect, meaning "covered jar" or "covered vessel".
Here are some pretty kamchengs taken off the web from a Google search - and no, sadly I do not own any. I love looking at them, but only when they're not in my house.
I also spotted this Polyphon which I admit I had to look up. It's so fascinating.
After the museum we hopped onto a ferry to get to the mainland (Penang is an island) -
The view of Penang bridge (on the left) and Penang island from Butterworth (mainland)
That ferry ride to the mainland was so that we could come visit the Minor Basilica of St Anne. We were there during the week leading up to the feast of St Anne so we decided to pay a visit to the church and say a prayer. It was something of an experience. In where I live when there's a feast day of something or someone, the church is usually just busy for 5 hours on the day of. And then it's back to normal.
*The old church on the right with the steps leading up to it*
*The new church aka Minor Basilica*
BUT not so for these folks. The grottos (yes plural) were ablaze with candles and fragrant with flowers.
(I didn't take any fotos with the candle light cos it messed up my camera's ability to adjust for light.)
The church was open till late (this was close to 9pm) cos they had Masses 5 times a day the entire week to celebrate the upcoming feast day, with different special intentions for every day of the week leading up to the actual feast.
There were some shops set up in the courtyard selling flowers and candles and bottles for collecting Holy Water, which is where everyone got their flowers and candles for placing at the grottos, and inside the old chapel. And souvenirs. Of course, souvenirs. Tee shirts, book marks, all the usual Catholic stuff too - medals, rosaries, prayer books...
Anyway after all that churching we decided to get ourselves a ride-share across the bridge all the way back to our hotel instead of dealing with a car-ferry-car transfer. Well, not quite to the hotel. Just before we got there I remembered seeing a Tarbush Restaurant (of Kuala Lumpur fame) and decided I absolutely HAD to take the sister and CG there for dinner. So that's where we went. We all ate too much.
Top left - Shish with bechamel pot (chicken and mushrooms in bechamel sauce)
Top right - baba ganoush (roasted eggplant / tahini / lemon juice / garlic / spices)
and foul bil laban (fava beans / tahini / yoghurt plus other bits like tomato and parsley)
Bottom - Shawarma Chicken Roll - with tahini / yoghurt / coleslaw
It was an easy walk back to our hotel, thankfully, so we COULD walk all that food off instead of having to get a cab. But it wasn't SO near that it wouldn't have done any good. Along the way we spotted this pair of pubs. We suspect they're owned by the same people... LOL
The next day we were heading off home so there was very little by way of sight-seeing, but we did end up shopping for some cheaper-here-than-back-home necessities since I had luggage space and we had nothing else to do. (Toiletries, face mask, deodarant... that sort of thing.)
And that's that guys. I'm getting out of this chair. Part of the reason I haven't been posting (or using my laptop to do any of the things I really should get down to doing) is that sitting in one spot for anything longer than 10 minutes makes my hips / back / shoulders hurt. And so I will say sayonara for now, and see you for the next foto dump after my trip to Manila with CG!
