We cruised our way to Queensbay in the late afternoon. Jen and I sat at backseat enjoying scenes of Penang in dim light. High rise apartments scattered along the road caught my attention and triggered my thought. I ended up counting which apartments had most floors, not that I never saw any sky scraper before but I was awed to see how people could reside in such far-from-ground environment. A prince of soil like me, so called, preferred to stay on the ground in cottage style house with visually appealing garden to live happily ever after. You could imagine Australian aborigines how they have had lived for thousands years and how they were connected to spirits of the earth and to sing with all voices of mountains or Heidi who sleepwalked to see blooming daffodils and to feel the sun throwing her light on sunburnt grass (I love reading storybooks). That is how life is beautiful according to me. Apparently, I could not survive in stone jungle like those sky high apartments. The shopping mall that we went to, reminded me of the one I visited in Tebrau City, Johor Bahru. It was not this shopping mall that fascinated me but, it was the people whom I spent time with that made this outing rewarding. Just like going for a movie, it is an event (with emphasis) that makes the whole experience of watching the movie enjoyable. A room full of people, who screamed, fumbled, confused, laughed and other sorts of human interjections justified the fun of being in a movie theater. With a pair of ‘selipar Jepun’, I walked into the mall liberated with rights of being a tourist and feasted my eyes on an ocean of things on display. Everything looked neat and bright. Jen and I parted our way with Christie and Ain so that they could enjoy their therapeutic shopping moment without having two guys tagging along who naturally wished shopping could be done in matter of seconds! We ended up being in a food department. Being in a detox program I was honed to choose healthy food and I started off with celery mixed with fruits juice. Next, Ned and I bought some sushi and later all of us took dinner in Nando’s. I ordered a plate of green and a bowl of salad topped with some Italian sauce. It was sumptuous! We had a nice dinner. Ain changed her mind of taking home piece of chicken that she was eating frightened by an urban legend foretold by me. A renowned spirit; lurking in darkness craving for meat that drivers brought with them when suddenly car engines purred into silence not until the meat was removed to appease the famish non-human entity (Ha! Ha!). We bid goodbye to Ain after sending us to Old Penang Guest house. She drove back to Kedah to be with her family and I watched her until she disappeared in the distance. At this leg of the journey, our real vacation had just started. I retired that night with thoughts in my head. Ned was fast asleep when suddenly rain poured heavily. I conclude, life is great when you spend time with people that will make it even greater! Good night everyone!

Old Penang Guest House was the place where time had stopped and brought us as far back to the era where British personnel was walking down the street. It had a classical touch into it; a two storey building that is now fully operating as a guest house. I was completely overwhelmed with architectural design of this building. Not to exaggerate, it was not like a Colosseum (that kind of grand historical masterpiece) or a Tudor house (my specific inclination to French traditional house) but to be in a place where you could just stand and absorb the thoughts and feelings to be in a present moment was a total tranquility. This guest house had a similitude of local and western work of art. Nestled in a multicultural neigbourhood with predominantly Chinese culture filling the atmosphere, I could witness Western architectural ambiance at every corner. Upon entering the guest house, we were greeted by ages old fading tiles on the floor with attractive pattern on it. Some of it had seen its better days creating admirable rustic effect. There was an arch that led us to another section of the guest house of which we could see a few breakfast tables were nicely arranged. Also, there was a wooden stair led to upstairs for more rooms on the right where Jen and I were going to be roommates during our stay. What had really drawn my attention was the natural lighting that came from the ceiling. There was a little square uncovered rooftop that allowed a generous sunlight to illuminate the entire café area. I could imagine myself reading a nice novel for a whole lazy afternoon looking out the street and drinking fruit juice and enjoy every bit of the experience. But, apparently, I was not into novel so I would replace it with some books on world history or theology that should evoke my perspective about the world. It seemed to me that reading these kinds of material made me feel alive encapsulated with life energy stirring within. I really should stop talking about books now. The room was decently furnished with wooden floor and green wash on the wall. I could almost feel homey feeling. Outside the room, there was a hallway leading to a window at one end. I remember, I stood there on a cloudy day trying to comprehend historical essence by looking at nearby buildings on how was the place looked like when it was first built, who were the people living across the street or who was the very same person who used to stand here watching the day as the time went by as what I was doing. I sank in my own thoughts and entertained myself with array of nostalgic moments. I let myself being intertwined with the present moment without allowing myself to be pastist or futurist. This is what I call as being passionate about life. After freshening up, Ain, another good friend of mine of which I would describe her as a person with exquisite beauty with substance, drove us to one of the exciting hypermalls in Queensbay, Penang. To be continued….