Rastam is 27 (1)....

23rd September 2009

Rastam, pakdokter's son, turned 27 today. And he has now been away for 3 years, working and living in Tokyo, Japan. How fast the children grow and with both the children living overseas and pakdokter and partner both being semi- and fully retired respectively, we can now really understand what it is like to be in an 'empty nest'. Luckily these days, with the internet technology and the webcam via MSN or the Skype, we all could at least feel that we are not so far apart after all....

Pakdokter was reduced to looking through the piles of old albums at the many old photographs documenting the things that the family had done together through the years. The family had done quite a lot together, actually...........

one of the earliest photo of Rastam, at 2 years old?...


playing sand at the Cherating beach circa 1988....

with their 'bunny rabbits'....

pony ride at the Fraser's Hill....

with Ah Ying,

the family 'amah' for the first 5 or 6 years....

10th birthday?.......1992....

pool-side of house in Damansara Heights...

on top of the Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa...

with pakdokter at the Datai, Langkawi....

'what's so funny?.....'

with the Japanese language tutor...

first family trip to Tokyo....

pakdokter's partner did her sabbatical at

the Tokyo Metropolitan Hospital...
of the' Todai', the Tokyo University...

sleeping 'tatami' at a university guest-house where pakdokter had

an arrangement to visit the Psychiatric Department...

waiting at the little airport at Caticlan,

to fly out from Boracay Island back to Manila....

at Kews Garden, London....

visiting "Mum" who was recuperating from surgery...

with "Bib" in London....

at the Kews Garden... London...

Rastam is 27 (11)....

The family travelled on overseas holidays together, at least once a year, making use of the time-share exchanges which pakdokter had invested in, in the 1980's. These travels exposed pakdokter's children to many interesting and exciting places all over the world early in their lives.....

at a vineyard at the Hunter's Valley....

pakdokter's partner was doing a graduate programme in Medical Education

at the UNSW ( University of New South Wales) in Sydney..

same trip, at the Blue Mountain near Sydney,

we drove up with auntie Amy Lloyd's family....



somewhere in Turkey

the trip started in Athens, then the Rhodes Island,

by boat to Marmaris in southern Turkey,

trekking up by road to Pamukkale, Ephesus, Izmir,

Gallipolli, ,Bursa, Istanbul



first ? experience with snow at the

Yosemite Park in California......



at snow-capped Bariloche in Argentina....

the cable-car at Rotorua, New Zealand North island...

at the Angkor Wat...

the Alhambra, Granada, Spain

learning to ski at Zermatt, Switzerland..

the Matterhorn in the background...

in front of the Pyramids, Cairo, Egypt..

Rastam turned 27 (111).....

'unsinkable' at the Dead Sea, Jordan


camel ride at Petra Jordan...


the desert safari in Tunisia....

with classmates of the APIIT at Genting Highlands...

the first day at Rastam's house in Caulfield, Melbourne...

2002...

celebrating 21st birthday? in Melbourne in 2003....

singing at a karaoke club in Tokyo in 2006....

at Shinjuku, Tokyo, December 2006..

Melbourne, February 2007, for Natasha and Neil's wedding...

with the Ogawas in Osaka, Spring of 2008.....

April 2009......

Where and what to eat in Penang....

Whenever pakdokter travelled to Penang in the past, it was almost like a ritual that we would look up dishes for which Penang is famous for. We would never fail to have the 'choon piah' ( deep-fried poopiah) and the 'inchi kaybin' ( deep-fried chicken taken with a sauce made of the Lee and Perrin's sauce mixed with mustard powder with chopped chillies and onions mixed in the sauce. Both the dishes are associated with the Hokkien Chinese community. The regular haunts for these dishes would be the Hollywood Restaurant along the Tanjung Bunga Road or the Government Sports Club somewhere near the General Hospital. And another favourite was the 'mee goreng' and the 'mee rebus' of the mamak stall located by the road-side in front of the Chinese Recreational and Sports Club.

Pakdokter had never gone to the much talked and blogged about food stalls at the Swatow Lane. Swatow Lane would have been an easy walk from the E&O Hotel, up Penang Road, turning right into Hutton Lane and on to Swatow Lane. Swatow Lane is famous for its 'char koay teow', 'orchien' which is oyster fried in eggs, the Sultan mee goreng (mamak)and of course the ice-kacang. Unfortunately pakdokter again failed to make it to Swatow Lane this time.....

Walking through the Heritage sites of the city pakdokter and partner discovered the lovely restaurant called 'The Sire' at a heritage house called the 'Museum'. This isthe first house occupied by the millionaire Yeap Chor Ee, the founder of the Ban Hin Lee Bank which later became the Southern Bank which has now been taken up by the CIMB Bank. The 3-storey old house has been restored and turned into a 'museum' exhibiting antiques belonging to the late millionaire. The ground floor is a restaurant called the 'Sire' serving a selection of 'fusion' dishes.

As pakdokter was too early for dinner and badly needed a rest after walking around the city, we opted instead to just allow ourselves to indulge in the 'spirits' of Stella Artois, Hoegaarden White and the Victoria Bitter VB! It rained so heavily during the time that we were resting at the 'Sire', that the front pavement of the shop was flooded in ankle-deep of rain-water......

We had our dinner at the 'Straits Kitchen' in front of the Penang Court Complex hoping to get our first dose of 'choon-piah' and'inchee-kaybin'. But this Peranakan shop did not serve Hokkien dishes, so we settled for Asam Fish, Sambal Udang Petai and Pajri Nenas. Well, the food was....so, so,..........

fine dining at the '1885' at the E & O...

The next day we drove out to Batu Feringhi to check out the scene there. The two hotels we checked out were described in the previous posting. On the return drive, pakdokter was so glad to find that the Hollywood Restaurant was still in operation. We were the only patron for lunch. The restaurant looked dilapidated ( probably damaged by the tsunami years ago) and would not probably survive many more years. However we were happy that our favourite dishes were still being served! Or else we would have to go around and find the Government Sports Club.......

We opted for 'fine dining' on the last night in Penang. The E&O fine-dining restaurant is called '1885', the year the hotel was built. It served a 'fusion' cusine'. Pakdokter opted for 'spaghetti aglio olio' for starters and 'grilled cod on a bed of wasabi soba and salads' for the main course. There was no space left for desserts. The '1885' is a lovely and cosy restaurant with great ambience. It was not crowded, so service was top marks...

THe E&O serves a great buffet breakfast. Apart from the usual breads and eggs counter, there were nasi kandar dishes to go with rice or roti chanai or roti jala. The usual array of porridges, the mee sups and even the char koay teow. Japanese breakfast was also available and one gets a truly strong brewed coffee.....

And it was nice to be able to have breakfast on the patio overlooking the sea....

the Hollywood Restaurant along the Tanjung Bungah Road...


choon-piah and inchee-kaybin....
we were the only patron!

the floating mosque viewed from the Hollywood Restaurant

the Sire Museum Restaurant...

the Museum exhibiting family heirlooms and antiques

on 3 floors of the building at the back...

Where to stay in Penang....

Pakdokter was glad that we managed to get a room at the E&O Hotel in Penang. The E&O hotel is full of old world charm. The suites were spacious with modern comforts and service befitting its 5-star ratings.

Founded by the Sarkies Brothers, these Armenians from the city of Isfahan in present day Iran were also the founders of The Raffles in Singapore and the Mandarin Majapahit in Surabaya (which pakdokter had written about in one of pakdokter's blog on a Surabaya Golf Tour previously).

photos of the Sarkies Brothers, the founders of the E&O Hotel...

the outdoor restaurant viewed from the sea-side garden...

pakdokter's partner with potraits of famous personalities who stayed at the hotel....

Herman Hesse, Somerset Maughm, Kipling, Charlie Chaplin, etc etc...

Pakdokter had initially tried to book a room at the Rasa Sayang Hotel but the more affordable Garden Wing was fully booked and pakdokter was offerred instead a suite at the RASA Wing, the newly refurbished luxurious wing which sold for about RM1200 upwards per night! It was too expensive for pakdokter's liking. In fact pakdokter was glad that pakdokter had chosen the E&O as it was smack in the city and not miles away as where the Rasa Sayang is.....

From the outside it did not look like much work had been done to the Rasa Sayang, but walking through the lobby, pakdokter suspected much improvement must have been made to the suites to enable it to demand such high rates. The gardens of the Rasa Sayang was as green as pakdokter remembers it many years ago.

the lobby at the Rasa Wing of the hotel....

The Hard Rock Hotel is the newest hotel on the island, just opened a month or so before this festive season. It was probably fully booked, judging from the crowd at its lobby and swimming pools and the cars at the parking area. It was previously the Casuarina Hotel, but given a new touch and paint to its exterior creating the 'hip' look which is the trade-mark of all Hard Rock hotels. The usual musical memorabilia were on display at various corners of the hotel.

The economic recession has hit Penang just as it has hit everywhere else in the world. The gym instructor at the E&O told pakdokter's partner that the hotel only had about 30% to 40% occupancy the previous 3 or 4 months. The Hari Raya holidays helped the hotel to fill up 80% of the rooms.