Found this very amusing. Here are photos form Penang Jamboree 2007 vs 2009

Race Day breakfast at the flat.

Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendol.

Foot reflexology at Komtar. Exactly the same shop too!

Mannequin Janice at Komtar.

Dim Sum at Restoran Zim Sum.

Nom-ing at Macalister Road

The Fangs

Me and my Chee Cheong Chook!

Still to date the best I’ve tasted. Fried oyster omelette from Jalan Macalister/New Lane. Good amount of fat oysters, and gooey egg omelette.

Fried Oyster Omelette
Macalister Road/New Lane junction
Price: RM7, 10, 13, 16

This is what we all look forward to every time we are back in Penang. Macalister Road Chee Cheong Chook! (hehehe say it out loud, its a bit like the transformer sounds that the autobots make! *geek*)

We first discovered this stall during one of our Penang Jamboree trips, and since then, Chee Cheong Chook has become mandatory on every visit there.

From left: Janice couldn’t contain her excitement! And me taking photos of food again

The pushcart stall is at the corner of Jalan Macalister and New Lane. You can’t miss it! Just look for the stall with hanging pork intestines and char siew above a huge cauldron of congee. They start selling their Chee Cheong Chook from 2pm onwards, but the best time to go is at dusk when the weather isn’t so hot.

What’s in a Chee Cheong Chook?
Congee, pig’s tongue, char siew (barbequed pork), pig intestines (done 2 ways: fried and boiled), pepper and spring onion to garnish.

I know it sounds rank, and I’m the sort of person who is quite adversed to trying new things. But trust me on this, it’s delicious! Especially the crunchy fried intestines, that’s the best part!

Chee Cheong Chook
Corner of Jalan Macalister and New Lane, Penang
Price: RM4, RM4.50, RM5

Other food you can find on Macalister Road

Satay, Carrot Cake, Chicken Wing, Cuttlefish

It was a scorcher of a day in Penang, and when in need of a cool down dessert/drink, first thing that comes to mind is the Penang Road famous Teochew Chendol.

This little pushcart stall has been there for years, steadily churning out bowls after bowls of shaved ice goodness. There’s actually two stalls directly opposite each other, so make sure you go to the correct one.

It’s so popular, people will just STAND and eat at the road side (limited seating available in the coffee shop next to it).

Also available at the coffeeshop are two more Penang specialities: Penang fried kway teow and Penang Laksa.

Teochew Chendol
Address: Lebuh Keng Kwee 10200, Pulau Pinang
Price: RM1.90 – Take Away, RM1.70 – Eat in

Was in Penang last month for the Jamboree, and while I was there, we took Grace and Jo on a culinary tour round the island. First stop was for Dim Sum lunch at Zim Sum Restaurant (点心之家).

Zim Sum Restaurant is located along Jalan Anson, diagonally opposite KDU college. Most taxi drivers would have heard of it, so no trouble getting there. But if you’re driving, here’s a tip for from someone else’s blog:

It is not easy to find a parking lot there. Many customers prefer to take the risk and park on the road side for free. Alternatively, you can pay around RM3 per entry to park safely at Penang Chinese Ladies’s Chin Woo Association.

Here’s a few points to note when you visit Zim Sum:
1. Although there are a few dim sum pushcarts being trolleyed around, customers are actually asked/advised to go to the counter to pick up the dishes instead.
2. The final bill is calculated based on how many plates of food are on your table (similar to how they do it at Sushi conveyor belt restaurants)
3. They don’t serve any other drink except Chinese tea
4. The more people you go with, the more worthwhile in terms of cost and variety
5. MUST try the Chee Cheong Fun, which is made freshly on the spot

Zim Sum Restaurant (点心之家)
35 Jalan Anson 10400 Pulau Pinang
Business hours are from 6.30am to 12.30pm.

Gurney Drive aka Persiaran Gurney aka ‘The New Esplanade’, is one of the more touristy areas in Penang. The place is most well known for its local hawker food stalls. It’s not exactly by the sea as some websites describe it, you can’t really see much from where you’re seated.

Gurney Drive was named after Sir Henry Gurney, a Malayan High Commissioner who was assassinated by the guerrillas of the Malayan Communist Party during the Emergency period in the early 1950s.
Courtesy of wikipedia

The hawker centre only comes alive at night, with a massive selection of local delights for the discerning tourist. Prices are marginally more expensive than other places, but still very cheap!

From left to right
1. Oyster Omelette
2. Indian Rojak *must try*
3. Yong Tau Hu
4. Penang Laksa
5. Kueh pai ti
6. Cuttlefish Kang Kong
7. Popiah
8. Muah Chee *must try*

Address: Persiaran Gurney, next to Plaza Gurney, Penang Malaysia

It’s that time of the year where we make our yearly pilgrimage up Penang Hill for the Kayuh Lasak Penang Jamboree. Last year, the organisers took a break. So we were all pretty psyched when we heard it’d be back this year.

Day 1 was spent doing the necessary such as race registration, breakfast shopping and preparing for the big ride on Sunday. It was Jo & Grace’s first time to Penang, so we made sure to cover the famous makan spots around town on Saturday too. That is a separate blog post all together.

Day 2 – Race Day!
5:45am: Wake up, shower, wiggle into cycling shorts, get water bag out of freezer, breakfast, pump tyres, check bike, spray lube, check I have all supplies in bag: spare tubes, tool kit, hand pump, energy gels, happy food.

And we’re all set to go!

We stayed quite close to race central, so it was a 15min warm up cycle to the start point. Met up with the rest of the crew and before you knew it, start horn begun our several hours of torture.

This is the first year I was doing the Penang Jamboree without Wayne, and I did feel anxious knowing there was no one but myself to rely on. For the past couple of Jamborees, it was always comforting to know that he was just a phone call away. This year, I spent most of the ride solo.

It was Me Vs Penang Hill.

As usual, if you don’t manage to get in the front pack, you quickly get bottle-necked at the climbs. What you will see are hundreds of people pushing their bike up 30 degree tarmac climbs with the hope that every hairpin turn would reveal a flatter gradient or downhill section.

Here’s an elevation map from Ming’s bike computer.

At every checkpoint, marshals will give you a little sticker on your race plate to indicate completion of that section. And only if you complete the whole route do you get to be entitled for the grand lucky draw.

A few picturesque highlights of the ride would be at the top of Tiger Hill. There was one point of the ride I just stopped and watched the fog roll in between the hill peaks, nature’s air-con at work.

I finished the race broken and humbled. Clearly my inactivity was showing at my poor performance especially on the climbs. As usual, the hill claimed many victims; riders with cramped legs were sprawled in pools of mud, scattered on the side of the trails like litter. And every now and then, you can hear screams of pain and agony in the distance. Ah, another cramper!

For me, I went home with chaffed inner thighs – friction from my cycling shorts. It’s not pretty and definitely not comfortable especially in the shower when water touches the raw skin.

Again, as I say every year, I’ll be back Penang!

I’m about to post a Penang Jamboree 2009 entry, and realised….. I HAVEN’T POSTED THE ONE I WROTE IN 2007!!!!

Here it goes…please remember this was written in 2007
It’s been one year since the last Penang Jamboree, and I don’t know what possessed me to do it again!

We booked out a 21 seater coach that left on Friday night from Singapore. I’ve been on these coaches before, so I knew how cold it could get. Thank goodness for the IKEA throw that Wayne and I bought the day before.

10 hours later and I’m back to the motherland!

There’s just too much to write about the Jamboree, best way would be to just describe the trail and include a video below.

On Dec 2nd, the main event, the “Beyond Limits!” challenge will start at 8am from Penang Municipal Park(Youth Park). The first part of the event is the “Pain-nang Hill Challenge”, where riders will race to the top of Penang Hill via the Jeep Track. Top riders will complete the climb in under 40 minutes while the average rider will take 1 to 2 hours.

This is probably the toughest mountain bike hill climb in Malaysia. The reward is not in cash but the pride and bragging rights of winning this event.

At the top, riders be greeted by the cool air and spectacular scenery, weather permitting. From there it’s a wild roller coaster ride down on another hidden Penang State treasure, Woodcutter Trail via Moniot Road(more of this later), back down to Air Itam Dam.

Then it’s a scenic and breathtaking ride back up Penang Hill via Len Chiau Yen/Die-ger Hill trail to Summit Road. Feeding/watering stations will be provided at the Die-ger Hill/Summit Road junction rest stop with cold drinks and snacks courtesy of our sponsors.

Then it’s back to the winding trails via Moniot Road which was constructed over 150 years ago for the use of horse carriages up and down Penang Hill. This surely must be the oldest Mountain Biking Trail in Malaysia.

A second feeding/watering station will be set up at Point 84 to replenish your burnt glycogen and spent legs by then. You will be treated to our famous Penang Hill Chic-Pie and other popular Penang Nyonya snacks.

After that riders will have a hard time holding down their food as they take on the challenging Moon Gate Descent before finally exiting at Taman Perbandaran MPPP via “Staghorn” Trail.

The total ride, lasting from 4 to 6 hours for the average rider, will push him/her beyond his/her limits of endurance.

from the KOTRT site

Here’s a video Ming put together which sums up the whole Jamboree 2007!

Day 1
- Long drive up to Penang in a mini van

- Arrived penang

- Dim Sum breakfast at Lai Lai

- Race registration to collect goodie bag and number tag
- Check-in to hotel
- Walk to nearby lanes for famous Penang Chendol, Laksa, Kueh Pai Ti, Fried Kway Teow, and Sng Bui drink.
- Komtar for foot reflexology
- Evening ride to Gurney Drive for Bak Kut Teh dinner at Zealand
- Ride to race site for briefing
- Ride preparation
- Sleep

Day 2- Breakfast
- Ride registration
- Baaaaab… OFF WE GO
- Climb climb climb
- Down down down





- Shawn was so nice to give me some excellent photos he took that day
- FINISH
- Back to hotel to wash up
- Walked to McCalister street hawker food for late lunch

- Komtar for foot reflexology
- Dinner at ride site
- Sleep

Day 3- Breakfast at Air Itam market
- Chee Cheong Fun, Prawn mee, Herbal chicken, kueh chap.
- Kek Lok Si Temple

- Grandma’s place, where we accidently took a branch off the rambutan tree

- Check-out
- Heading home

- Late lunch, best wanton mee in the world
- Home sweet home

Ride Time: 5hr 18min 49s
Distance: 35.9km
Calories: N/A
Max HR: N/A
Avg HR: N/A
Avg Speed: 8.2 km/h
Max Speed: 36.7 km/h

I managed to put a few videos and pictures together, so if you’ve got the patience download it, i’d suggest the higher resolution one HERE, and download the original file.

If you’re a quick quick chop chop “who-cares-about-cycling” sort, then watch it below.

To look at more pictures, just click HERE