It's Cloud 8, not cloud 9!

Prologue: Lingering around like a ghost of a unglorified past, that's me! Still caring about the whatabout of campus despite the fact that postgraduate exist and doesn't exist at the same time!

There are so many new things around Penang these days. Most of them are so new, you could smell it...fresh paint and leftover over sawdust and cement and such. Great times ahead for all of us indeed! So what are you waiting for! Let's take a quick spin around on all things new around!

First and foremost, the latest selection of malls in Penang, an upmarket mall comparable to Queensbay and Gurney Plaza and as a part of the attempt to revive the prolonged depression that beleaguered KOMTAR and turning it into a vibrant, wholesome shopping district. That's right, we're talking about 1stAvenue Mall and yours truly has finally visited it.

Will you look at that gleaming panel. I tried to capture the full title but using a dummy point and shot digital camera's impossible. Oh well.

The side entrance and the winding parking ramp going all the way to the top to Prangin Mall's parking lot. It's the dizziest climb.

Brand new sidewalk lining the street while facing the rows of shophouses of colonial era.

Central Atrium of 1stAvenue Mall, now adorned in holiday decoration. The pink ribbons and such are for wedding shows going on in the mall.

As it's only opened not too long ago, there are many shoplots still waiting for it's prospective tenants.

But there are many shops sprucing up with famous chains such as Kim Gary HK Restaurant.

The board is waiting to be filled! As you can see from here, there are about six floors of shopping area in which Parkson is the flagship tenants in 1st Avenue.

The most interesting part of 1st Avenue however is the 8th floor Entertainment Zone.

Connecting the top floor Entertainment Zone from the top shopping floor is a long series of escalator scaling the side of the building, brightly lit by sunlight being let in by the tall glass window.

Going all the way up passing level 5,6 and 7 which are all parking lots...

Here comes Cloud 8. It's not cloud 9. It's Cloud 8.

Looking all the way down from Cloud 8.

As Cloud 8 is the Entertainment Hub, Karaoke is indeed a must! In fact, a new branch of RedBox has opened here! Woohoo no more waiting for the dreadful 304 RapidPenang bus to go all the way down to Gurney Plaza! This branch of Redbox will certainly pose a threat to Neway over Queensbay in a scramble to grab uni student customer who have loads of time, extra money and all too many friends to hang out with!

Besides that, they have an 8 or 10 screens cinema too! I think this is the first TGV here on Penang Island. I think Cathay over Prangin Mall can really just die now.

The best thing about being the top floor is that it offer a spectacular vantage point looking towards Georgetown and beyond. Georgetown is quite build-up as it is one of the earliest British colonial outpost around here in South East Asia.

Will you look at this! Glass elevators! The shaft, the elevators are made of transparent glass looking out to the road? One downside though: in a hot evening like this one, you will be exposed to the element. One way to discourage lift usage?

I went for lunch over this neat little cafe over at the lower ground floor called Yu Cafe. It's offering is mostly fusion of Chinese Japanese Western food just like any other trying to be upmarket cafe outside. Not that I mind anyway.

As a avid Japanese foodie, I ordered Chicken Teriyaki Set which comes with watermelon and orange juice. The orange juice is obviously a product of cordial. Hmm.

Here comes the bento. It comes with a bowl of Miso soup, oddly served in the western type soup bowl, a chawanmushi (steamed egg in cup) salad and kelp which I don't really understand it's purpose there. But nevermind about that as long as I am full! Price tag: RM18.00 and then plus 5% tax.

Another very important indicator of a well managed shopping mall has to be its washroom and after my sit-in test, I am thoroughly satisfied. The curvy entrance that effectively separate the washroom from the corridor is groovy too.

Epilogue: Will wrote more post in the future talking about other new stuff around! Look forward to new post focusing all the new stuff in my beloved Alma, Universiti Sains Malaysia!