I got the opportunity to visit Penang leisurely this time. I have been here for several occasions due to site work at Guthrie but it was always a day trip visit. Flew in early morning to Penang, do some work at Guthrie and catch the last flight back to KL. It was tiring. This time I brought my family along to Hotel Bayview Georgetown Penang for a conference presentation. My paper was scheduled on the 2nd day so, we traveled on the 1st day of conference. I tried to catch the 2nd session in the afternoon but arrived too late and we went straight to the pool instead. The girls were ecstatic to be in the water and they were amused by the bath tub. They had another long session of hot water bath in the bathtub that night! Lim Guan Eng officiate the conference on the second day, just before my presentation session. It was very informal meeting. Photo session with the minister was a mess! We let overseas presenters to take photo with the minister and I just could not wait to finish my presentation. Ten minutes and it was over. Very short presentation since they did not schedule it properly, I guess. And there was only one session where they crammed Mathematics, Computer Modeling, Civil, Applied Sciences, Electronics etc. There were just a handful Electrical paper and most of it was just Academic papers from Masters and PhDs students. It was a good experience though, the 3D tetrahedron simulation from Nonaka-san was awesome. I waited until lunch time and had a conversation with another colleague expressing that he gonna ask for inter-department transfer. Another loss for the unit but I guess the boss doesn’t care much. I could not believe that one of my previous colleague resigned because he hated the boss so much. What a shame! Only if he could be more positive to take challenges ahead of him.. mmm..
I went to USM in the afternoon for a discussion with DFA on the data. She was so ever friendly to invite us for dinner that night at her enormous house in Jawi. We spent couple of hours in her house and went straight to Hotel afterwards. On the 3rd day, fewer participants were in the session but I stayed and listened to a couple of interesting papers while finishing my work. The internet connection cost a lot, so I decided to forgo the web for a while. The conference ended in the afternoon and I asked DH to drive to Tesco Gelugor for lunch. The kids and I had a yummy Yong Tau Foo Penang style with very delicious soup. Shop a little bit and decided to go ahead for Bukit Bendera instead although I left the camera at the Hotel. We boarded the Ventricular Train up the hill, hopped on to another train in the middle, took about half an hour to reach the top. We were about 700m above the sea level on top of the hill. The kids were amused by the view and the train itself. The old Chinese photographer offered to take our picture for a small fee. We walked up the hill, prayed in the mosque and the kids had a snack at the nearby restaurant. Downhill trip was faster but the kids were already tired, Najihah did not get her nap and Nabilah kept on asking for accessories. Whatever lah..
It was a nice family holiday after all. Will write on our trip to Bukit Merah following this visit shortly…
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