Ah Goo's Beef Noodle soup

The much anticipated journey to Bukit Metajam (BM for short) for Ah Goo's beef noodles started at 12:45PM. Loon and Lilian came by with their Toyota. Of course, we found time to down a couple of beers, ate some murukka, before venturing out the door.
The trip took us over the Penang Bridge. A third lane has been added to the seven-mile span of the bridge. This is suppose to lighten the traffic on the bridge. Notice in the picture, how this bridge look like the Zeikum Bridge in Boston.
Once over the bridge, we are in the Prai / Butterworth area, and we are promptly lost. We took a few wrong turns, with Loon pointing out the directions, and Lilian at the wheel. "Straight, straight, straight", he would bark the orders. And so, under his capable hands and guidance, we found ourselves at the Terminal Ferri, the complete opposite direction from where we should be heading.
"Take a U-turn here", barked another order. On the road again, we paid the toll again, and soon found ourselves on the road to BM.
The road to BM has not changed in the last 30 years or longer. It is still the one street going into town, and the same one street coming out of town. We must have hit some holiday traffic, for the road was jammed on both sides with cars, trucks, and motor-cycles. Cars and bikes here don't seem to follow the traffic rules; they cut in and out of traffic without signaling. On a two lane road, there are frequently three cars running abreast. Drivers and riders also lack the common courtesy you see in most other countries. On a narrow road, I saw a car on the road side trying desperately to get out of its parking spot. It has the signal on, begging to be let into the traffic, but no car would stop for it to go ahead and get out. With the long lines of traffic jam, it will be a wonder if it ever get out of the parking spot at all.
I noticed this lack of civility when embarking at Kuala Lumpur and Penang from the air planes. In the West, passengers will wait until the forward row has exited, before moving forward. In Malaysia, it is everyone for himself. Passengers just rush forward towards the exit, blocking the way for the forward row passengers to get out. I think this is a shameful trait.

Traffic in town is just as bad as that on the way into town. We have to meander a few roads, and finally arrived at the destination -- Ah Goo's Beef noodle soup store. Ironically, Ah Goo translates to Cow, or Beef, so he is the perfect person to sell beef noodles.

Siew Kai has already arrived, and is already onto his second bowl of big bowl beef noodles soup. We order three big bowls, and one bowl of ingredients-only with soup.
The beef noodles soup, pictured below, comes in a clear broth, with beef and beef tendons, tripe cooked in the soup. This is added to the cooked kuay teow noodles, the white, flat, rice noodles. The soup is very tasty, having cooked with the beef and tripe all day. The beef is a little tough, also because it has been cooking all day in the soup. The beef tendons are very well cooked and soft, the desired effect and tenderness. It was almost worth the one-hour drive to BM to sample this tasty noodle soup, but I think this may be the last time I am willing to do so. The road to BM is not going to change in the next few years, so the traffic congestion can only get worse. I shudder to think what it will be like next year, when I come home for a visit again.
We bought a few bags of the noodles soup to bring back.