Jalan-jalan in Penang Some More

So, on the second day of our family trip in Penang last month, we continued playing tourists as we visited the popular Cheong Fatt Tze mansion after a delicious dim sum breakfast.



We've been to Penang so many times but this was the first time we visited the famous blue mansion.

We were not aware that there was specific tours of the mansion. Luckily, we reached at 10.30am, just half an hour before the tour was scheduled to start. There are 3 tours daily, at 11am, 2pm and 3.30pm, with each tour lasting 45 minutes.

We were the second in queue and soon after, there was quite a long line behind us.

Tickets were priced at RM17 per adult and RM8.50 each for kids below 12 years.

Once we passed through the gate, the blue mansion had everyone taking their cameras out amd started snapping away.

The building was old but very well maintained. The architecture was really a reminiscence of the 1800s.

Waiting for the tour to start....

The tour started at the entrance where the tour guide gave us a brief history on Cheong Fatt Tze.

He came from a poor Hakka family from the Guangdong province in China. When the Second Opium War broke out, he migrated to Java (now known as Jakarta) to seek his fortune. He earned his living as a laborer and worked hard but things did not seem to improve. His luck turned when he married the daughter of a rich landlord. His father-in-law did not want a labourer as a son-in-law, so he gave Cheong Fatt Tze a shop to manage. His fortune then started to change as he worked hard to accumulate his wealth and expand his business.

Cheong Fatt Tze's business was based on agricultural products but he branched out to the financial sector by acquiring a bank. This smart business move made him a wealthy man.

In 1886, Cheong Fatt Tze expanded his business to Penang and started to reside in a mansion in Leith Street.

This mansion is now a protected heritage building and the place looks amazing. It looks like a set from a Chinese period movie.

We then proceeded to the inner courtyard which was beautifully adorned with beautiful carvings and timber lattices. 

Here, we sat around where there used to be a pond. The whole house was built according to Feng Shui and the pond served as one of the main Feng Shui elements that brought great wealth to Cheong Fatt Tze.

Unfortunately, after his death in 1916, none of his 6 sons managed to sustain the wealth in the family and everything was gone in a matter of years. The mansion also fell into disrepair. After the death of his last son, the mansion was sold to a group of Penang conservationists who took to the task of restoring it to its former glory.

Having a look at the items on sale at the souvenir shop.

The day was so hot that I just had to sit down for a drink.

Ethan was obviously not interested in the history of the mansion as he opted to sit out of the tour and played with his phone instead.

My brother-in-law looking very flushed from the heat...

Few more photos of the exterior before we went off....

Next, we went to the 3D Trick Art Museum which was just nearby. I'm not sure how much was the tickets as my sister paid for everyone.

I think everyone has a great time taking photos with the beautiful illustrations. I was surprised that even Ethan wanted to take photos with all the illustrations as I usually had to persuade him to take a photo.

It was late afternoon by the time we were done. After lunch, everyone wanted to go back to the hotel as the weather was simply just too hot to be outside.

I wanted to take a nap but my kids were so excited about  going to the pool and beach despite the extreme heat.

I only managed to negotiate for a 30-min nap and the kids just couldn't wait to wake me up the moment the 30-min deadline was up.

It was out in the hot sun once again... not that the kids any bit of the heat...

Finally, Daddy woke up from his nap and joined the kids on the pool.

Dinner was at the Hard Rock Hotel next door. It was promoted as a seafood buffet and we were looking forward to enjoying delicious, scrumptious array of seafood but it turned out to be such a huge disappointed. The food was insufficient though we reached there at 8pm and the food selection was simply too few. So, I am not even going to bother posting the photos here.

We ended the night with a little shopping at the Hard Rock shop.

The next morning, we had to wake up early as Isabel wanted to go for another swim before we check out. As we were so early, she had the whole pool to herself.

That concluded our family trip to Penang. Short but enjoyable. Can't wait for my sister and her family to come back next year for another family trip.