Rainy Day at the Chew Jetty and an Icy Dessert

Ching, Hub's sister, is a huge photography enthusiast so I sweet talked her into taking a family portrait at the Chew Jetty.

There are a handful of century-old clan jetties left in Penang on stilts in the sea. The pier, jetty and houses are all primarily made from wood, forming tiny clusters on narrow, well weathered walkways. On the outside, the houses remain untouched by time but look a little closer and you'll spot modern amenities like LCD TVs, Astro satellite dishes, fridges and air conditioning.

I was terrified that, Bubs who's a whirlwind on two chubby little legs, might fall into the muddy sea.

Me: "What if he falls in?"
Hubs: "You jump in and save him."
Me: "But I'm a poor swimmer. I only know how to swim in a pool, not the open sea!"
Hubs: "Same wan, it's all water right?"
Someone remind me again why did I marry the useless fella?

We only took a couple of photos before it started pouring down so heavily that we decided it'd be better to stay put under the awning and wait for the rain to stop. Bubs had a blast - it was like an adventure for him. Playing in the rain with an umbrella, reaching out to touch the rain drops, strong wind blowing in his face, thunder and lightning crackling above us. Glad that at least one of us had fun that day!

After that wet and muddy ordeal - pot holes, rain and cars splashing are never a good combination, I figured we all deserved a sweet treat at Tong Pak Fu, Gurney Plaza. Asian dessert bars are mushrooming all over in Penang which the sweet tooth in me is rejoicing.

We had a plate of black sesame sticky rice balls. Not a huge fan of this as it tasted slightly bitter to my uncultured taste buds (to me, lots of sugar = GOOD) and it was served steaming hot. We left this to Hubs who polished this off.

The durian icy desserts are touted as the must have and subject to availability. There were two types offered: D24 and some other durian type which they ran out of so we had the D24 durian snowy ice something. I was fascinated by the shaved ice which was served in intricate lacy folds - sooo pretty! The snowy ice thingy was nice for durian lovers (Ching, Bubs and me) but a turn off for Hubs who took one mouth, scrunched up his face and pushed the plate away.