Monday
As the Botanic Garden was nearby, we had wanted to visit the place in the morning (thus we discussed on Sunday night). So at the prehistoric crack of dawn (well it certainly felt very early!) at 7:30am, three of us: Xinghao, Yingyi and I belatedly rubbed our own eyes as we, dressed in T-shirts and bermudas, walked down the main road that would lead us to the Botanic Gardens. Of course, being careful, we took no chances: we brought our cameras on this early morning walk.
Entering the grounds of the garden, we found the locals already in brisk activity.Amidst the men and women taking their morning walks and exercises in the Botanic Gardens, we observed an extended monkey exodus/expedition as well.
An entire troop of monkeys appeared before us, crossing the asphalt walkway, taking what seemed like a very long time to do so. Quite an astonishing sight, we must say.
The procession of the monkey troop- we spotted baby monkeys hanging from their mothers- went on quite orderly, in a quiet manner. There was of course the occasional hissing of a protective male when a jogger went too near to a mother carrying her young. Walking on, Xinghao led us to a busy stream surrounded by rocks and lush greenery. As it was not by the main path, we had to descend a series of steps to get to it. Yingyi recalls the place as the one she had visited before on her last trip to Penang. The sound of a waterfall was nearby, but it was elusive: we could not see it from the stream. The base of the stream was laid with round smooth stones dispersed around large irregular rocks. Taking off our sandals- Xinghao was the first- we dipped our legs in the cool water- the level comfortably came up just below the calf. 
After the wading (and enthusiastic photo-taking) in the stream, we made our way back to the entrance of the Botanic Garden. Back at the apartment, we vigorously woke the two sleepyheads- Yaoshan and Yifang- up, and had breakfast. Over bread, cake and instant noddles, we discussed our agenda for the day. We had to, first, buy our train tickets back to Singapore. And this we could only do at the ferry terminal of the island. As the public bus took us to the ferry terminal, we were treated to the streets sights of Penang. Through the frequent turns (there were several short streets), we saw activities taking place just beside the traffic throughway- the commotion in the shops, people passing through the shophouses, people waiting, browsing or just sitting in the coffeeshops. We were spectators to just another regular Monday in Penang, I guess. At the end of that meandering trip (I tracked our progress on the map I bought the day before), we alighted at the ferry terminal. Funny how the same place looks larger in mid-morning than on the night we first set foot on the island two days ago. After buying our tickets (Xinghao acquired two more larges bottles of mineral water in the process), we briefly contemplated about taking a taxi to Komtar (did we? A figment of my imagination perhaps), a shopping centre with a octogonally-shaped tower (without suspicion- and competition- the tallest building in Penang). In the end, we hopped on board the public bus again. From the bus terminal (it seemed that lots of buses had to pass through this terminal- which was housed in a cavern at the ground floor of a podium block), we walked around the building of Komtar, trying to locate the main entrance. Shopping MacDonalds “Mummy”, I want tickets Buy local foodstuff Went home Pictionary Tuesday 
We went to buy local foodstuff for our families and friends back home... 
We went home (the bus wait was very long though)... played Pictionary... then slept...
... back to home... © 1999 Hongheng. Email: akip9006@nus.edu.sg. |
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