Gurney Hotel – Page 2 – Peter Tan

Gurney Getaway – Day 1 (December 27, 2004)

Gurney Hotel, Penang.

The suite at Gurney Hotel had been booked well in advance. We were apprehensive initially. The staggering number of deaths reported in Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India were daunting enough. We had heard and read that Gurney Drive was pounded by the tsunami. We were not sure if any life was lost but the fatality elsewhere in Penang had us worried. The thought of Penang being hit by aftershocks and another tsunami weighed heavily in our minds. Yet, we were curious, wanting to see for ourselves the real situation there. Wuan and I checked with the hotel several times and were assured that the hotel was still operating.

View from the hotel’s pool deck – crawling traffic below.

Like babies, we took small cautious steps when we reached the hotel with Peter’s family whom Wuan had invited to join us. We looked around. The sea was calm. The road was clean. Evening strollers wandered leisurely at the promenade. There were no hints of anything unusual except the traffic. Crawling vehicles snaked the length of the road as far as our eyes could see. We guessed a lot of them came to see the gravity of damage the tsunami wreaked. We Malaysians are a curious lot. We slow down to watch motor accidents but seldom stopped to offer help. And now we visit disaster areas for the same purpose.

Shadow of Gurney Hotel cast on the surface of the sea at Gurney Drive

Shadow of the hotel against the calm sea.

The view from the hotel’s pool deck on the seventh floor was breathtaking. Small boats bobbed in the distance. Tankers and cargo ships anchored in the middle of the channel. The sun was setting. Birds were returning to roost. The strong cool breeze that was blowing in ruffled my hair. Indeed, it was the Gurney Drive I had always known. I had come to get away from the grim footages of destruction and death continuously being broadcasted by CNN. Still, I could not shake off that feeling of gloom and doom. Those images distressed me greatly, as was the death toll that continued to rise by the hour. We retired early that evening, exhausted by the macabre events of the past two days.

Gurney Drive Escapade – Day 3

It was about five in the morning. My coughing woke us both up. We could not sleep anymore and lazed in bed for a while. The room window looked out to the east and we hoped to catch the sunrise that we missed the morning before. Unfortunately, the sky was cloudy. The rising sun was hidden from view. We got up to get ready for breakfast. After getting all dressed up, we looked out the window to find the sea was bathed in a shimmering reflection of the sun that had risen about thirty degrees from the horizon, still partially obscured by the clouds.

The Evergreen Laurel Hotel is located just beside the Gurney Hotel. We dropped in to check on the breakfast menu and decided that RM29 per person for a buffet breakfast was a tad too expensive. Our next choice was Khaleel Nasi Kandar which was further up the road. There is only one nasi kandar shop in the entire stretch of Gurney Drive. Half-boiled eggs and toasts are not a Mamak’s speciality. It was a mistake ordering those. We would have had a heartier breakfast had we ordered roti canai or thosai instead.

We did not linger at the seafront although the weather was just right. We wanted to go back and pack up and then rest a while before checking-out. Wuan is always on the lookout for photo opportunities of pretty flowers. At the driveway to the Evergreen Laurel Hotel, some vines hanging down from the wall were blooming. Although it was not the prettiest of flowers, the morning sun gave it an unusual glow that made it an interesting subject.

Checking-out was simple. Wuan just returned the keycards and retrieved the credit card slip from the receptionist. The slip was printed out when she was requested to pay for room for the first night. We had booked a taxi to come fetch us. While waiting, Wuan went out and took more images. We did not enjoy this mini-vacation much due to my relentless coughing, food that was below par and irretrievably spoilt by the messed-up room reservation.

Gurney Drive Escapade – Day 1

When I was a kid, every trip to Gurney Drive with my parents was a treat. Dad would park his car at the stretch where the casuarina trees were. We would then look for the ice cream man, either on his bicycle or cart. We would order ice cream on wafer cones which would either be vanilla, chocolate or corn. We would sit on the sea wall, licking on the ice cream as it began to melt in the sea breeze. Afterwards, we would play around on the white sandy beach, digging for siputs that we took back to fry with soy sauce and chilli.

Wuan, through her office, had booked a two-room suite for two nights at The Gurney Hotel beginning last Sunday. The hotel overlooks the stretch of casuarina trees where I used to frantically lick the ice cream as it dripped down the cone onto my hand and clothes. The ice cream man is no longer there. The beach is no longer there too, being replaced with huge rocks that were dumped there to prevent further erosion of the beach.

The hotel messed up the booking and we were left without a room. Since it was a Sunday, Wuan could not get her office to sort out the mix-up. After much arguing the hotel refused to budge and suggested that we pay for the first night for a studio suite at RM150 nett and then get Wuan’s office to clear up the booking on Monday. All flustered and hungry, we went looking for lunch first before deciding on the next course of action.

The hotel’s coffee house was serving Sunday buffet brunch for RM38 per person. We thought it was rather expensive for the limited amount that was on the buffet train. The waiter there offered to give us a 50% discount. Being the bargain suckers that we were, we decided to eat there. Still, I have tasted better buffet at much cheaper prices and serving more food that I care to eat.

View of Northam Road from Gurney Hotel Penang

Having come all the way already, Wuan decided to stay one night at her own expense and then get her office to sort it out the next day. As usual, we asked for higher floors. Surprisingly, we were given the highest floor which is the thirty sixth floor. The room window overlooked the Penang harbour, the entire old city and the Penang Bridge. The room had all the usual amenities one would find in other hotel rooms with the exception of a Jacuzzi. We rested a while and then decided to have our dinner at Gurney Plaza, which is at the other extreme end of Gurney Drive.

The casuarina trees provided some shade from the sun which was still shinning brightly. I remember that fishermen and fishmongers used to sell their freshly caught fishes, prawns and crabs by the promenade. Now, there are mostly loafers and courting couples, people exercising and some who were fishing by the rocks just beside where the waves gently lapped. The view is still remarkable despite the changes but all this will soon change again when sea is reclaimed for commercial intents. When Gurney Drive is no longer there, I still will have these images to remind me when it was such a popular spot among the locals and tourists alike. Among others, Gurney Drive is synonymous with Penang. I cannot imagine a Penang without a Gurney Drive as it is today.

As we neared Gurney Plaza, we could see cars being parked haphazardly. This is a usual sight, especially during weekends. The unique building style of the Loke Villa caught Wuan’s attention and she took a few quick shots from outside the fence. When we reached Gurney Plaza, it was crowded. There was an auto exhibition outside and at the main atrium of the complex. We skirted around the exhibition area and checked out some of the clothes that were on sale at Parkson.

After buying bottled water and some buns from Cold Storage, we surveyed the food outlets that lined the walkway of the complex called the Gurney Place. We settled on La Manila for a wedge of chocolate cake and a grilled salmon set meal with mushroom soup, tea and ice cream. After dinner, it was a leisurely walk back to the hotel as a slight breeze was blowing and the night sight of Gurney Drive was a total transformation from the day with all the fairy lights strung across the road and the many food shops decking out their outlets with dainty lights to attract customers. We did not sleep that well that evening as I was consistently coughing throughout the night which woke Wuan up.