Durian season has started!

Durians, durians!

The thorny fruits smell bad, but taste like heaven... or so said most European tourists to Malaysia. But for us Malaysians who savor all the exotic fruits and great spicy delicacies, taste come first, and we can forget the rest!

When two friends came to visit us in Penang, we just got to take 'em to Balik Pulau (instead of letting them wander cluelessly elsewhere!)...

A quick check at www.durian.com.my, a site run by/for Bao Sheng Farm in Sungai Pinang (midway between Balik Pulau and Teluk Bahang) since 2000 (or earlier) shows that the open-for-business season had just started a day earlier, from 15 MAY 2009.


All agreed, we set the time: 11 am on Sunday - time to eat all Durians we can, for just RM25 per person for the buffet option.

It was raining that morning though, so we waited for almost an hour beginning the originally planned time, before departing from Taman Sri Indah. I called the phone number off Bao Sheng's website, and Mrs Chang answered to welcome us, and confirm our arrival time so they may prepare whatever necessary... :)

Asuad & Fina were coming all the way from Tanjung Bungah. The rest of us were coming from Balik Pulau, and Ija wasn't going to let her two boys missing from the Durian savoring adventure - the first time for all of us indeed to set foot at this farm!

The five of us from 'Lik Lau' arrived at the site around 12:30 pm, and found the couple locked in their brand new white car. The dogs that the Chang family kept at the house must have scared them away from the hillside house with a nice observatory wooden veranda.

After a brief sightseeing around, and small introductory chats, Mr Chang get to business - explained us the 'deal', but we all knew what we came there for: definitely all-you-can-eat deal, or 'buffet' as the house owner termed it. It's good to know that kids eat free there, or at least for our small party that day, not for the whole 'kindergarten group' as we had kid the Chang husband & wife couple.


The rest of the durian feast story, we left it in the following slideshow... enjoy:

We ended the two hour feast with a brief tour to grab some fresh nutmegs (as a another friend from Sungai Petani called me that very morning asking for one, for medicinal purpose), where I also dropped my precious N95 (of which these pics and videos get extracted from) and scarred the entire front cover of it. ;( - oh well, at least, the little all-in-one wonder machine still is fully functional...

To complete the Penang's tour, a visit to peak of Bukit Bendera ("Penang Hill", by train) is a must which we indeed took afterwards, after a short stop at the other Penang's famous Anjung Indah observatory area (at the peak of Bukit Relau at the midway of Relau and Kongsi Town).

George Town & Penang Bridge from top of Penang Hill

Masjid Bukit Bendera during Sunset (Maghrib prayer time)

And a visit to Ayer Itam must also include a stop at world's famous Nasi Kandar outlet at Lorong Kampung Melayu near Sunshine Hypermarket at Jalan Thean Teik (Farlim), for that other Penang's favorite: spicy, Indian/Mamak food...



More photos are on author's Facebook album: Durian & Buah Pala @ Balik Pulau, Penang - and here's another movie-in-a-slideshow-movie (song "Berdua Lebih Baik" borrowed from Acha Septriasa - Heart the Movie):

Bao Sheng Durian Farm is run by Bao Sheng Agriculture Sdn Bhd (mostly by Mr Chang and family who also live there) and located at 150 Mk.2, Sungai Pinang, 11010 Balik Pulau, Penang, Malaysia.

For more information, contact: 012-411 0600 / 012-401 0800 (Fax: +60 4-829 9000) or email to bsfarm@durian.com.my - More pictures and information from the farm's official website: durian.com.my

The New Balik Pulau (Part II?)

No names like "Bandar Baru Balik Pulau (3BP)" (New Balik Pulau Town) have been thrown in yet, but Balik Pulau has clearly been embracing massive development all these years (read the first blog post on this site dated 7apr07), and to top these development, this month beginning 1 DEC 2007, BP folks get to flock every morning at a brand new RM17M public market complex -- the largest of its kind in the Malaysian state of Penang (after several postponements dated since Sept 2007, perhaps due to refusal by the traders at the old market to move after a very short notice). The new market complex and vicinity hosts a new wet market, MPPP district office, bill payment centre, food & drink stalls, bazaar shops (I managed to get a haircut at Khairi's, the only barber in the complex so far), Pasar Tani site (every Sunday), bus hub, shoplots (to be opened in early 2008), new low-cost housing flat (to open soon) and terrace houses (pending final construction works).

I first spotted the news about the new market in mid this year, hence a blog post on 3may07. Not too long afterwards, on 12may07 to be exact, we started hearing about the new Rapid Penang (a cousin to RapidKL, wholly owned by the Ministry of Finance Malaysia) bus hub coming to Balik Pulau at the same spot as the new market. After passing the heavy-in-construction zone for so many times, I finally had the chance to capture the view of the new amenities for Penang on 15jun07, including having an aerial view of the zone from a hill peak near Relau Hill Forest Reserve, which had been renovated during mid this year and named "Anjung Indah". Not long afterwards, by end of June applications are being accepted for the stalls in the Balik Pulau complex.

Soon later, by end of July, the long awaited Rapid Penang bus service and one of its major hubs that is to be located next the new Balik Pulau market, is all ready for launch for the first week of Aug 2007 when an MP from Balik Pulau, Dato Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya was spotted on 29 Aug '07 in Kongsi Town distributing the Rapid Penang flyers. The next day, NCER officially arrives in four northern states of Malaysia including Penang and the northern half of Perak. Two weeks later, Dato Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was back in Penang (in addition to his occasional trips for Umno and Eid events, as hosted by Dr Hilmi) to officiate the two-year KKTM, the RM152-million higher learning institute for skills and talent training located at Simpang Empat/Genting, near MARA and Umno district office.

Today, I finally had a chance to check out the new market complex in operation, together with Pasar Tani on its new site situated next to the market complex/Rapid Penang bus terminal. If my prior trip got me the photos of the empty buidings, today, my new set of photos capture the buildings and surrounding areas filled with people, although not many enough yet I suppose (many of these low-rental stalls are even yet to open three weeks since the complex started operating). Check 'em out here:



And it's not over... So far, we've welcome a new police HQ (IPDBD), mosque (al-Mokhtar), colleges (KKTM, ICT etc.), schools (Teknik etc.), bus terminal (Rapid Penang), market complex, sports complex and soon we'll welcome a tourism university (yes, the big U!), more IPTA & IPTS (higher learning institutions, private and public), national/global brand shops (we only have ONE, not including banks: 7-eleven!), better roads via Genting (to Batu Maung/Bayan Lepas -- it's just too long to reach the airport or the upcoming Second Penang Bridge now!), more broadband (wi-fi) hotspots, more industrious workplaces, among others...

Better economy and social development for the town? I'd be just fine with if 3.5G/HSDPA would reach this part of the island, and the good eateries for tomyam, nasi kandar, and ais kacang stay... Perhaps, better e-commerce in Malaysia too, or I'd have to keep dreaming to see a Tesco/Carrefour/Walmart hypermarket on this part of the island.

Permandangan Indah Balik Pulau

Permandangan Indah Balik Pulau
Originally uploaded by fizi_isma

Wah! We didn't know there's a huge settlement of people at the back of the island.... ;) [you should have seen the lights of the new Balik Pulau on evenings/nights -- it's like Los Angeles, hehe...]

Fizi Izma photo blogged some of the sceneries of Balik Pulau at a flickr album documenting family trip to Anjung Indah (peak of Bukit Penara/Hutan Simpan Bukit Relau and nearby attractions...