We're back in Penang! The River Inn Guesthouse is really beginning to feel like home. It's the perfect place to meet people, chill out with a book, get info on the sites and even get drunk on the courtyard area! The owner, Walter, and KK are the nicest people. They were chuffed to see us arrive back, this turned out to be a bonus for us as we got blankets and towels. I know this doesn't sound much but having a nice soft fluffy towel instead of the usual travel towel feels soooo good!

The ferry from Langkawi was all going fine until I had to use the loo. A tiny squat toilet at the back of the boat. I've only had to endure using a squat toilet 3 or 4 times and I'm hoping that number doesn't rise dramatically when we get to Thailand. They normally smell pretty funky! So I do what I have to do and try and open the door, great it's been locked from the outside!! Why would someone do such a thing?! I seriously thought I was going to be in there for a long time, or definitely until Dean came looking for me. He said he would have started looking after 10 mins but I'm not so sure! I only had to bang and knock on the door a few times and a guy opened it for me. It was obviously him who locked it so he didn't get a thanks!! We arrived in Penang just after 5pm, the weather looks ok, but after 5 mins the heavens opened! There were no taxis so the rain covers got put on our backpacks and we took off for our Guesthouse. We got 3/4's of the way there and were getting pretty drenched when a lovely little Chinese couple stopped and asked us if we wanted a lift. We didn't hesitate in taking them up in the offer! That wouldn't have happened in KL thats for sure!!

Our few days here have been pretty chilled out, our nights here have been pretty boozy! Our first night had us out partying with half of the guesthouse until about 3am. It was a Dutch girl Joyce's birthday so we had cake and vodka. Far too much vodka as we had to get a tri-shaw home as walking would have taken a very long time!! We went to the Cinema yesterday (this is the third time we've been in Penang, twice on our last trip here due to my cold), and we're going to see Harry Potter tomorrow. Geeks I know! I also found a Topshop for the second time in our trip, although I can't afford to buy anything it makes me feel normal having a look around!! We Hired a scooter today, visited the Snake Temple, it was pretty cool. There are snakes slithering free within the Temple grounds, hence the name Snake Temple. We didn't come across too many, they were all pretty much asleep or wrapped around trees. Within the grounds they have a Snake Farm and Dean went into a cage with a 10 metre Python! He was the only one to do it so he got a big cheer from all the Chinese tourists!! We had a scoot about Little India, it's definitely the cleanest Little India we've came across. The smells of spices and bright colours were beautiful! I suprised myself thinking that as normally we're normally moaning about how dirty Little India's are!

We're now back at the Guesthouse chilling out in our room, this is a luxury as we're in a 3 bed dorm and the last two nights we've had a buddy. We're hoping nobody appears tonight so we have the place to ourselves. We've just been to Kapitan, the nicest Indian we think we've ever tasted! I had tandoori chicken and Dean had vindaloo, all for the much cheapness price of just over 3 pound! We're already thinking about going back tomorrow. Yummy!

Lots of Love

Chelle & Dean