Nik


you can put anything here

Wednesday, November 30, 2011 @ 2:15 PM PERMALINK

Every year the Bongs pack up their things and disappear for about a week. Before my first trip here last year, I've heard many stories about this place and how amazing it is and when I was finally invited over, it surpassed my expectations.

A family friend of the Bong's who we all affectionately call Uncle Steven owns a huge plot of land in Merbok, Kedah and has started building his Malaysian home there.

Merbok is a small kampung in Kedah, it is so small that it takes about 4 minutes to walk from one end of the kampung to the other. Uncle Steven grew up in Merbok and his childhood house has been turned into a  musuem as well as a tribute to the Lee surname. Uncle Steven has painstakingly traced the orgins of the Lee surname all the way back to Mainland China and its history is displayed in this mini musuem.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

To get to Merbok, we first fly into Penang, where the eating commences..

First stop. The beef noodles here are to die for. And everything, except Char Kway Teow is cheap.



2nd Stop, famous Char Kway Teow.


Funny fact, Char Kway Teow in Penang is easily the most expensive hawker food, while most food costs like 3-4RM/plate, a plate of Char Kway Teow can easily cost 7-10RM/plate.

The view from our van's window



There are two options to get to Butterworth from Penang Island, ferry or drive over the bridge.
We normally pick the ferry because even though its slightly slower, its more scenic and is a relaxing change from being on the road.

View from the ferry


The boys enjoying the breeze


This is the bridge mentioned in Option 2.


Once we get off the ferry, its a couple of hours until we get to our destination. Uncle Steven stopped to pick up some dinner for us along the way.



Kampung Merbok


Once we get to Kampung Merbok, we have to drive up the hill behind to get to Uncle Steven's house. Driving up and down is no easy feat, there are stones to avoid, streams to go over and slopes to climb up.

But once you clear all that, you are greeted by this.











And what is there to do in paradise? You'll find out in the next post, cause I gotta get ready for work. (sigh, no waiting tables in paradise though, thats for sure)

Labels: malaysia, travel

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