After crossing the border into Malaysia we were only a couple of hours away from our destination of Butterworth, where we then got a ferry over to where we would be staying, the island of Penang.

Penang is an explosion of many cultures, which can be seen in the architecture, the food (which Penang is known for) and of course the people.

The place we were staying in was called The Old Penang Guesthouse in Georgetown (the capital of Penang) located on Love Lane which is in between both Chinatown and Little India. The road is called Love Lane because it is where the British would keep their mistresses (typical, giving us a bad name!). The guesthouse was also our first experiences on this trip of a dorm room, which is a large room filled with bunk beds (in this case the room slept 12 people) that you share with whoever else happens to be staying. Despite Andy being a very light sleeper, it provided him with his best nights sleep so far simply because the room was so dark as there were no windows, and it was air conditioned so it kept the room nice and cool.

As usual after dumping our bags we went for a wander. We headed towards a place called 'Komtar' which is the highest building in Penang. Underneath the tower is an absolutely huge shopping mall. The place was 5 floors of shops and a cinema, but what made it so confusing was that there was a maze of other rows of shops leading away from the centre of the mall to goodness knows where. It was a place very easy to get lost in. We headed up to the cinema (which was just like a UK one) and were quite excited to see that it cost £1.20 per film! We knew what we'd be doing at some point during our stay!

Our first full day contained much of the same, wandering around looking at the various sights (although after waking up quite early we did go to the cinema as it was even cheaper for early showings - very cultural!). Georgetown has a free shuttle bus which loops around the city so we jumped on that to get a small tour. We got off at a place called Fort Cornwallis which is, as the name suggests, a fort that was built hundreds of years ago by the British when they first arrived on the island. It wasn't too spectacular unfortunately, but it was nice to see it and to learn a little more about the history of the place.

That evening our dinner really was cultural! We went to a small Indian restaurant in the heart of Little India that had been recommended to us by a long stayer. We found the restaurant, took our seat and let them know we were vegetarian (which is not a problem as most Indians are brought up as vegetarians). Not knowing what half the stuff on the menu was, Andy asked the guy serving us what he recommended - wrong thing to do! He took this as an invitation to give us anything and before we knew it there was a large banana leaf in front of us (no plates here!) with 3 small piles of different curries and vegetables each, rice, poppadoms, sauces, the works! After double checking it was all definitely veggie, and after Nikki asking if it was very hot (and being told it wasn't!) we started eating. Fortunately he provided us with cutlery though all the locals just use their right hands. Needless to say it was pretty hot, but we persevered and half an hour after eating it our mouths had stopped feeling as though they were on fire! Success! The meal was actually one of the more expensive on the menu, costing us a bank breaking...80p! Unbelievable. The other dishes on their menu averaged around 30p. We almost felt guilty paying so little for so much food.

The following day we jumped on a local bus and headed for Penangs own national park. We actually managed to see more during our couple of hours there than in our couple of days in Khao Sok! The path we walked ran along the coast with the water on one side and the forest on the other. A couple of minutes after we started walking we spotted a monitor lizard sunbathing (the first of 3 we saw that day) but that was beaten by what happened next. We turned a corner and Andy heard a loud rustling in the tree above him. We looked up quickly but saw nothing, however seconds later a shadow passed over our heads. Flying out from the tree above us was an eagle! Watching it swoop out over the sea was beautiful, and whilst watching we then noticed something else. The eagle had clearly been looking for its lunch as hanging out of it's mouth as it flew was quite a large snake! We couldn't believe our eyes! Although we didn't get a photo it is something neither of us will forget seeing in a hurry. It was like having a front row seat to a David Attenborough programme - simply wow. (We found out later that it was a 'white bellied sea eagle').

A little further along we stumbled across a group/family of 'Dusky Leaf Langurs' - a type of monkey. We happened to be in the right place at the right time as they were crossing a small river. Not by swimming or wading through, but by launching themselves out of one tree, dropping a good 15ft where they would grab the branches and twigs from a tree on the other side, landing just above the water. Another 'wow' moment. Also, on the walk back to where we started we stumbled upon another group of monkeys, this time the more common ones we've seen everywhere - Longtail Macaque's. One of then was missing a hand, and he couldn't seem to use his other hand either. He got around using only his back legs (which for a monkey jumping through trees must be tough) and had to pick up berries by leaning down and using his mouth to pick them up off the floor. Andy got quite close, picked some berries and rolled them over to him so he could eat. Very sweet and another cool moment.

That night we met up with a friend we'd made on Koh Tao - Bogdan. He filmed the end of our open water course (which should make for some funny viewing when we get home, our diving is much improved since then!) and was visiting Penang on a visa run. He stayed in the same place as us, so we took him to eat at a restaurant that is quoted as having the best Indian food around - Kopitan, before heading back to get up the next day and be tourists together!

We got up and back on the local bus to head to Kek Lok Si, a Chinese temple which is up on a hill overlooking Georgetown. It consisted of several open plan areas with temples and pagodas scattered throughout which you could walk around freely. We spent the first half an hour exploring, taking photos and admiring the perfect hilltop view over Georgetown before taking their lift up to see the unfinished main Buddha temple. Guarding the temple, standing at 120ft tall was the biggest Buddha we've seen so far, with a very detailed and ornate housing to protect it. After some more photos we headed back down to the main temple where Nikki and Bogdan decided to take the 7 floor climb to the top of the main pagoda. It was quite old with narrow stairs but was interesting to see nonetheless!

After heading back in to town, the 3 of us had a very cultural lunch at Pizza Hut (!) to regain our strength before jumping back on the free shuttle bus. We headed toward the pier area of the city and walked back to our hostel. On the walk back we passed through the colonial area, Little India and briefly Chinatown taking in various sites of the city including a reasonably 'famous' Chinese temple - The Goddess of Mercy, where people go to pray for forgiveness (it's the one with the huge incense sticks outside it in the pics).

Our last night in Penang was completed by one last trip to Kopitan (the best Indian in town!) for the three of us, followed by our third (yes, you read it right) trip to the cinema! Not very cultural but it was great to be able to sit, relax, and watch the films especially as we haven't seen any English TV for months! In total the cost for both of us to see 3 new films was just under £7! It costs £7 for one person to see one film in the UK these days, hence why we took advantage!

So our time in Penang was a huge contrast between being very cultural and not cultural at all! All in all we really enjoyed the city and are already missing the food - now back on a bus for the 4hour trip up into the mountains toward the Cameron Highlands!