Old town exploration

We explored the old town by foot today. Starting from our hotel, we walked north passing many beautiful old Chinese buildings. We found our way to the main street which passed by the Kapitan Keling mosque. The surrounding areas were rather Indian with flower sellers and eateries.

We continued to the Cheong Fatt Tze mansion (or Blue House). We hadn’t checked on the timings so it was pretty good that we only had a 40 minute wait till the guided tour of the house. That gave us some time for a drink and kwayteow nearby.

The matronly woman guiding the Cheong Fatt Tze mansion had big personality and a good sense of humour. She told us the history of the man and the mansion well. Unfortunately many places were off limits but we could stick our heads through for a peep. The two side wing now serve as exclusive guest accommodation while the centre is used for functions, weddings and movie shoots.

We grabbed a lunch of Penang Laksa and Rojak at a Teochew place by the four-way overhead bridge near KOMTAR Walk. It was as good as I remembered. The laksa was so rich in flavour that the others I’ve had subsequently seem pale in comparison.

I wanted to take Kim for dinner at the hawker centre on Gurney Drive. We took the bus but I didn’t get off at the right place and we ended up overshooting substantially. We backtracked there in a taxi. As we weren’t quite ready for dinner, we explored a nearby mall where Kim toyed with the idea of buying an apartment in the Bayan Lepas area.

We had a lovely dinner of Prawn Mee, Satay, Pohpiah and Fried Kwayteow before taking another taxi ride back. The ride took us all the way along the waterfront which was new territory to us. There were lots of flash hotels and eateries.