Friday 24th August
The big first day launch of the Samsung Tab 9 at the Queensbay Mall in Penang.
We had made plans to go to Queensbay Mall today and decided soon after breakfast to do just that. We organised a Grab taxi and made our way to there in about 30 to 40 minutes. It is right around the other side of the island near the airport. Once there we came across immediately the massive presentation of the new Samsung Tab 9. There were people queuing for some distance trying to get into this area where they were selling the product on it's first day of release. From there we wandered around the beautiful shopping centre that it is. Grant bought three T-shirts and Philippa bought t shirts for the kids. We also bought puffer jackets for us both. We managed to have a cuppa and a biscuit before looking around a few more shops and asking Starbucks for a password to use their internet (which is an issue when you have no SIM card in your phone) to call the grab again to take us back home. This was some hours later and we were both pretty tired and nodding off in the car when the car in front did a silly move and our driver had to break heavily, waking us up suddenly. He was very apologetic and everything was fine. These grab cars are so much better than the rubbish red and white cabs that have prevailed in Penang for so long. What we have also noticed is the massive amount of reconstruction going on around Georgetown especially. Then and there is also an even bigger reclamation project that will include a brand new overseas terminal for the cruise ships. The improvements in living standards of accommodation in Penang is phenomenal although it is sadly not very prevalent in our resort's immediate area of batu Ferringhi, but it is happening. A little rest later for we popped downstairs to have a cocktail during the happy hour. We needed to make a final decision on what to do for dinner. As the restaurant was right alongside where we were drinking we decided to have a look at what the fare was tonight in there because Friday and Saturday nights are something a bit more special than usual. Both of us considered that the range of beautiful looking food, mainly seafood was probably worth the extra money that you had to pay on these two nights. We decided to do that after going back to the room for a freshener and then enjoy our dinner and the rest of our red wine had to finish still. The meal sadly was not as good as it originally looked it might be. The restaurant was not very busy at the time we were there and some of the food was not being kept as warm as it could be. There was also quite a bit of shelling that needed to be done to get crabs and other crustaceans from their shells. The oysters that Grant was looking forward to so much were cooked in their shell with so much flavouring, topping and spices on them that there was no taste of oyster left, so that was a little sad. Philippa got particularly hot as well, so all in all the food was ok but probably not worth almost 3 times what we pay for the 2 for 1 offer on the last couple of occasions.