Have now arrived in rainy Penang. I seem to take the rain with me wherever I go, but only stopping here for 2 nights, to see a coupla temples ( including snake temple!!) and then off to langkawi for hopefully, some sun!!!

So its now 12th December, and I'm still in Penang! Despite the pretty average write up in the Lonely Planet guide, Georgetown and Penang in general is a really nice place and very Asian. It has a much slower pace and is more laid back than KL, but plenty to see and do. We've had sun for the last coupla days too, which has been a bonus! Spent the first night hanging out at the hostel - is a very friendly place, and Mr, Loh, the owner is an absolute elgend - hes even in the lonely planet, but is always laughing and singing, and knows everyones name - a real character! Yesterday I went to explore a bit - I went to Kek Lok Si Temple, with Lil and Luke, an English couple I met in the Highlands. It's the biggest Buddhist temple in Malaysia, and sits on top of a hill - is really colourful, and although its a bit of a hike up tot he top of it, the view is amazing. We also saw a giant lizard in the river near the temple which excited me! Went to eat in Little India in Georgetown last night, and had a full meal for 3.50 Ringitts, which is about 60p, bargain! Today we went up to snake temple, which was a bit dissapointing. The 'temple' isnt really a temple - it used to be, and is quite pretty from the front, but inside is just a load of snakes and lizards in very small glass cages. There was a 'show' of sorts, where a guy showed us a Spitting Cobra and a King Cobra - but he didnt really seem in control of them and was quite scary as they reared up to him - at one point it started to slither off the stage into the audience! There were a few monkeys there as well, so they were fun to watch. Have taken lots of photos, but the computers here are so ridiculously slow that I'll wait til Langkawi to upload them. Off to the night market near to our hostel tonight for some food, and then I get the ferry over to Langkawi tomorrow morning for a couple of nights.