Ok so lets firstly explain the pic. This is Gerogetown in Penang, our next stop after Langkawi. The strange pram/buggy things are called trinshaws. They are bicyles with side cars carrying two people. They are everywhere in Georgetown, but its really funny as it seems that because they are a very traditional thing you seem to have to be at least over 70 to drive one!!!!!! Seriously half of them can hardly walk and they drive these things round in 40 degree heat all day and night!

Anyhooo Penang is a small island just south of Langkawi, but yet again it does not feel like you are on an island at all. There is only one real beach in the north and the rest of the island is like a mini city! We loved the place though! It is famous for the food and we can definately say that that reputation is spot on. We stayed in a place in the centre of China town and had our pick from so many places to eat it was unreal!!! Duck rice everywhere!! The hostel we stayed in was ok. Same old same old really... quite alot of dust and matressess in the hallways, small room with a matress where you could only feel half a dozen springs rather than the whole base of the bed, very basic (but with a sink) however there were surprisingly clean showers. We therefore thought that the place was alright......this was until we discovered that night that the showers were in fact hot!!!!!!! YAY we were so chuffed and the place soon became like a 5 star hotel in our eyes!!!! The only thing we really disliked about where we stayed was the dog that lived next door and was tied up outside. Now he seemed friendly enough so his presence wasnt the issue, what was was his manhood!!! He was obviously very ill and one of his delicate parts was swollen to the size of a football!!!! It was so horrible but impossible to aviod as he lay right on the doorway to our guesthouse!!! poor thing!!!!

The area we stayed in was nice, there was quite alot to see and you could occupy the day with just walking around. By night however there wasnt really anything to do at all. This was until the third night when during more exploring we came across the rich side of town where there were bars galore and everyone watching football on massive screens outside (much to reeces joy!) The second place we found upon exploring was the fantastic little india! It was seriously like stepping from a relatively normal quiet street into a bollywood film!!! it was brilliant, every shop had music blasting from it, saris and brightly coloured clothes everywhere and then the gorgeous smell of the food filling the air!!!!! we loved it there and spent most night eating a lot first (you could get curries, rice, poppodums, a spinach dish and chippattis all for 4.50!) and then spend the rest of the evening just walking up and down looking at everything!!!!

On one of our days when we just wondered the streets we came across a bar called cheers. Now we were really hot and could have done with just a glass of coke or water and as it advertised a beer garden we thought it sounded perfect. So we walked in and saw the strangest, creepiest sight!!! The whole place was pitch black and all the people were sat round the bar, not uttering a word, with just the blue lights from the fish tanks illuminating them! They all just stared at us in a half dead like matter and told us to come in and join them!!!! It really was so wierd, like something out of the league of gentlemen or dawn of the dead!!! We made an excuse and hasty exit!! It was only when we got outside that the whole little lane look dodgy! Everywhere had blacked out windows! (some kind of vampire street or something!!!!) We walked a little further down the road and came across a really old dingy shopping mall, so decided to take a look. This too was a little strange as it was really old, uncared for and market like stalls inside, yet when we walked to the otherside and through two doors we came into a huge, brand new, nice shopping mall! It had just about every type of shop you could think of and even had a huge cinema on the top floor!!!!! That night we decided to make use of the cinema. We had no idea what films were on so just picked the first one we saw. The new Leo Dicaprio film. We hadnt heard of it yet so had no idea what it was going to be about. So we got into the cinema and sat in our 'couples' seat which was like a two man sofa, and waiting for the film to start. Now most of malaysia and especially penang is muslim, it is very stange to see anyone with any skin showing other than their faces as they take religion very seriously! So the film begins and we are surrounded by young muslim couples and what is the film about............Muslim suicide bombers and the americans fight against them!!!!!!! Good film but felt so uncomfortable the whole way through as we were the only white people there!!!!!!

Since being away we have found the best form of transport has been public transport and this was no different in penang. We explored alot of Penang via bus as it was only 2 ringett at most to get around the island (25p). The first trip took us to the other side of the island to batu furrengi, the only real beach resort on the island. We spent a day on the beach which was nice yet suprisingly a little dirty. On the second trip we aimed to go to penang hill where you can board on a tram to the top of the hill and get a view of the whole island, unfortunately it was closed for repairs. Being dissapointed we decided to head back and on the way back to the bus stop we saw a sign for a temple called bats cave, so we decided to check it out so as not to have had a wasted journey. We got there and thought it was just an ordinary temple. This was until a local man told us to follow him to the back and there right behind a huge budda was a low ceiling cave which housed around 70 bats!!! They were everywhere and literaly inches above your head!!!!! It was so scarcy, reece simply acted as a post in which you could hide behind!!!! Bravery stepped in though and we managed to get a few good pics! In the garden outside there was also a pond full of turtles of all sizes! So all in all it turned out to be a really good day!!

Alot of people say that Penang is good to visit for maybe a day or two and is only really good for the food. We in fact loved it! We ended up staying for a week and did so much. If you explore the island it has so much to offer (and of course the food does become addictive)! all in all a great place to visit where we had a lot of fun.

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