Bus trip round the Penang Island

27 Dec 2007 - I started off the round-Penang bus trip from the bus terminal at Komtar. I took the Jetty-Teluk Pahang bus which travelled along a small stretch of busy Penang Road to Burmah Road. It would then travel to Pulau Tikus to Tanjung Bungah, a fishing village. The road after TB is very windy and soon I found myself in Batu Ferringgi, another fishing village with many private apartments and four and five-star hotels by the beach. In the evenings, there is a thriving night market catering for tourists.

The bus would proceed along the coast road to Teluk Pahang, another fishing village, where I disembarked. I would take a leisurely stroll and I had my late breakfast of a local favourite soup, the Koay Teow Th'ng or flat rice noodle soup with a cup of local coffee at the roadside shed which also houses the Coffee-on-wheel stall (shown in my previous post).

The next stage of the round trip would see me on the Teluk Pahang-Parit Pulau mini bus. This hourly bus service was only recently restored by a govt-owned tourist company. The previous private operator had to cease operation because of poor business. As it turned out I was the only passenger. So I sat up front next to the Malay driver. On the way, we struck up a conversation. He is a trained electronics technician who used to work in a foreign MNC as a shopfloor foreman. He was bored with the job and decided to work as a bus driver as he preferred an out-door job. He has four young children. To supplement the family income, his wife sells nasi lemak or coconut flavoured rice which she cooks and prepares in the morning. The family lives near in one of the tiny Malay villages near Parit Pulau.

From Parit Pulau, I caught the Parit Pulau-Jetty bus. I arrived back at the Komtar bus terminal just after 1.30pm and proceeded to my favourite Penang Beef noodle soup at the bottom of Chulia Street near the Beach Road intersection for lunch.

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