10th to 11th March 2008

We arrived at Butterworth in the dark and headed straight for the ferry to Penang Island where we joined the locals going to work. We then took a local bus to our hotel. Later we headed back into Georgetown, the main town in Penang, and visited Fort Cornwallis. Our attempts at following the heritage trail here were not very successful and Georgetown was extremely busy as it is the Malaysian school holidays. This was disappointing so we returned to our hotel for a swim before going to the famous (?) hawker stalls in nearby Gurney Drive for dinner. We enjoyed grilled fish and chicken satay but there were many things being cooked which we didn't find too appealing! Next day we arranged a tour of Penang Island with a guide. John took us to a Burmese and a Thai Temple, we watched the handpainting of batik on silk and visited the northern beaches at Batu Ferringhi and nearby fishing villages that were affected by the Tsunami. We visited a Butterfly Farm where we saw and handled some interesting insects. We learnt about the fruits and spices grown in Penang, sampling some but avoiding the Dorian fruit which is banned from hotels, taxis, buses, trains, etc because it smells so bad! To end the tour we waded out amongst the mangroves which are along the east coast, watching the fishermen bring in their catches of crabs, sea snails and prawns.