Gurney Drive - the hot spot in Penang, the tourist belt. Almost everybody who comes to Penang will end up here one way or another. Hawker foods, shopping mall, 4-5 star hotels, luxury condominiums and strings of cafes and restaurants. The pride of Penang.  And that’s all about Gurney Drive now.

Once where waves pound on the retaining walls and sandy beaches for swimming and fishing are all things of the past. What’s left of it now is mud, mud and more mud! Read here: PENANG - The Pearl Of The Orient Or Is It “The Mud Of The Orient?”

Nothing demonstrates the perverted priorities if not for the plain idiocies of Chief of Police Musa Hassan when he sought the help of Interpol to find Raja Petra Kamarudin. Then as if to remove any residual doubt we have of him, his senior officers questioned DAP leader Lim Kit Siang over an alleged seditious speech.   (Read on here from Bakri Musa at Malaysiakini)

 

There are few places I love to hang-out to have a good coffee and get lost in cyberspace. One of these places is Mr Pot@Gurney. This is a place where you can just chill-out and enjoy the cool breeze coming in from the sea along Gurney Drive.

Now Mr Pot has branched out to another outlet. It’s Mr Pot@UPR (Upper Penang Road). You can’t miss this place. It is located right in the eye of UPR. As you come towards Penang Road along Farquhar Street, it’s on your right, directly opposite the famous Cheong Tze Fatt Mansion and Continental Hotel.

You get a fantastic view of the UPR, especially if you sit on the upper floor, over-looking the Cheong Tze Fatt,  Mansion.  It’s has an open balcony concept. There is a big screen on the ground level with a couple of LCD TV scattered around and on the upper floor there are a couple of LCD TV too. And this a good hang-out to surf the net. I could spend hours here blogging!

If you like to watch the English Premier League and enjoy a couple of cool beer with friends, then this is “the place.” And if you are not a beer drinker like me, no worries. There is a large selection of beverages to choose from. Coffee, tea, chocolate, fruit juices, smoothies, etc, etc. or if you feel like having something to munch, there are bread toast with the spread of your choice, French fries, wedges and lots more. And there are also a variety  of mouth-watering Asian and local cuisine and a wide range of western food as well.

My recommendations:

Try the coffee, either the local or white. It is as good as you can get. And it only cost you RM2.60 and RM3.80!

Mr Pot Silky Barley, a cooling drink is another of my favorite. And the price? RM2.90!

And for something cool and refreshing, Dragon fruit juice RM6.50 or any of the fresh fruit juice.

If you want something to eat either for breakfast, lunch, dinner or supper then try the Nasi lemak with assam fish and prawns, hard boiled egg, peanuts and bilis and sambal, and all for RM6.90

Or if you prefer chicken then go for the Nasi Lemak Rendang chicken (RM8.50)

Or the Assam laksa (RM5.80), Seafood Liguini (RM9.90), Fish and chips (RM10.90)
Big juicy Beef burger (RM8.90) Beef Hor Fun (RM8.00) Fried rice RM6.60

Something lighter? Then go for the mushroom soup with garlic bread for only RM4.80

Ask for the set lunch. The asian set is for RM7.90 and western set is RM9.90! Both come with soup of the day and a drink. Defintely a good deal!

The service staffs are polite and helpful. The environment is clean and spacious. The food and drink are reasonably price without compromising on the ingredients and quality. A cool place if just want to just hang-out and have a coffee and read the newspaper, or have a lunch or dinner party with friends! And the good news is you can go there anytime of the day as both Mr Pot@Gurney and Mr Pot@UPR are open 24hours!

(For your information, I’m blogging this article here at Mr Pot!)

Nestle right in the middle of the banking district in Georgetown, Penang’s Little India  is in a world of it’s own. If you have never been to India and you want to experience what India is like, this is a good place to start.

I’ve backpacked all the way from the south of India, starting from Chennai (formerly Madras) to Srinagar in the north, and everywhere in between, in my younger days. It took me almost 2 years to make that journey. I love India. That’s why I love to scroll down the streets in Little India whenever I have the opportunity. It brings back such fond memories of the good old days.

Tabla and sitar chanting music blasting at full volume on side of the road, and pop Hindi music on the other side. Jasmine or Rosewood scented incense fills the streets. Noise, people, lights, music, traffic, crowded streets, little roadside stalls, large textile shops, jewelry shops, spice shops, restaurants, ginger tea, tosai, parota, and everything India…,  are all here.

Little India

- A World Of It’s Own

(Click on image to enlarge)

(Note: Photos are taken with only a mobile phone camera)

Malaysiakini reports:

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today said Umno had offered to share power with PAS in Selangor after the general elections as it was within its right as the incumbent state government.Asked if PAS was also offered the position of Selangor menteri besar, Abdullah replied: “What are you talking about? (This has) nothing to do with what I’ve been talking about.”"Maybe at the early stages when it was undecided on who would form the government at that time because Umno had the highest number of seats in Selangor,” he added.Abdullah explained that Umno did not discuss the matter with Pakatan Rakyat as the latter was not a single entity.”Of course, in our case we represent the Barisan Nasional but for their parties, although they are the opposition there was nobody that had surfaced as a formally registered political party that has the three component parties, the way we have in BN.”So, at that time Umno felt that it has a right to seek the opportunity to form the government and to negotiate with any party to form the government,” he told reporters after the Academicians Award ceremony in Putrajaya.

Nothing wrong about it

The prime minister also said there was nothing wrong about the process as the state government had not been formed yet.

“Umno felt that as the party with the highest number of seats, it had the right to seek cooperation or alliance or coalition with any political party.

“If they (Umno and Pas) had enough seats, they would have been able to present the Sultan of Selangor with a proposal to form the next state government. But it never happened.”

However, Abdullah did not elaborate on whether this cooperation was extended to DAP or PKR, who together with PAS form Pakatan Rakyat.

Previously, Umno leaders said the talks were limited to the subject of Malay unity and Islamic matters and not political cooperation.

This is the first time that Abdullah, who is also Umno president, had admitted to the possibility of a political alliance with PAS on the subject of Selangor.

Former Selangor MB Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo was the first Umno politician to admit that the offer was made shortly after the March 8 polls.

Here is another lie. First, they said that the dialogue was about Malay unity and Islam issue. Now they admit that it was with a political agenda. How can we ever trust what they say! Just like DPM. First he said he had never met Saiful, but then after a few days he admitted that he met Saiful in his residence. I guess he must have amnesia at that time.

Of course there is nothing wrong when you do it. But let Pakatan Rakyat do it and hell will break lose. There is nothing wrong, it’s just like sleeping with the enemy. Or committing khawat. So desperate that they have to negotiate with PAS and the best part was that PAS rejected the proposal. Malu lah! Read the rest of this entry »

 

Leaders should lead by example. Badawi should lead the way. After all he was the one telling us to”change our lifestyle!”

So we suggest that Badawi and gang should car pool when going to work. Try our new Proton Saga, it’s economical and save on petrol. Reminder: Back seats’ passengers should buckle up!

Fly Air Asia or Firefly when on domestic business. Overseas no problem, we have Air Asia too, and MAS low fare deals. Visit the Matta fair more often to get good deals. This will help saves the tax-payers’ hard-earned money.

As for us, well - we will get horses or cows to pull our cars.  Just need to feed them grass, cheaper mah!

 

(Above photos taken at exactly 11.58pm at Shell Station along Jalan Mesjid “Green Lane” Penang)

It’s like waking up into a nightmare, One minute you are struggling with the high cost of living and the next you are choked with it. We expected fuel to rise maybe in a couple of months but this has caught us by surprise. If the price has gone up by, say 10 or 20 sen - well, we can manage it, but 78sen! That’s humongous! And the worst part is that it came too fast too soon. We were caught off handed.

And like a typical Malaysian, especially from Penang, I tried to fill up my tank after hearing the news. But then every petrol station I drove by, there are like thousand of cars queuing to do the same. The “Kiasu arise” So I thought I’ll forget about it. So I went for dinner with a friend. And after dinner, on my way home - thats around 11.30 we saw this petrol station with a very short queue. So we drove and joined the queue. As we slowly eased into the petrol station, there was this guy telling us, sorry, the petrol was all sold out.

So we drove on and was about to head home when we saw another station with just a few cars on the other side of the road. We quickly made a U-turn, and by the time we got there there were like another 20 cars that went ahead of us. But then it didn’t take us that long for our turn. And half the pumps were closed - emptied! Yep, so I managed to pump RM50 into my tank. In another 30mins I would have to pay another RM20 more! Yep, 40% more. This is crazy!

Anyway, on my way home, I saw a couple of stations which normally operate 24hrs were closed. Sold out! Wiped out! Cleaned up! Then, I saw this Shell station along Green Lane and there were still along queue of cars waiting. The time 11.58pm! I managed to take some pictures with my phone camera. Yes, these are the last group of cars that get to fill up their tanks for RM1.92! History makers!

What a gloomy day for all motorists. Tomorrow many will be rushing to the bicycle shops. Yes, back to the good old push-bike! Down up  paddle, down up we go!

Related Articles:

Fuel hike: 78 sen more to RM2.70 per litre - Malaysiakini

Electricity tariffs to raise by up to 20% - Malaysiakini

PM takes major political risk in slashing subsidies - Malaysiakini