And so now Malaysia....

A surprisingly easy journey into Penang in a big minibus, I had visions of the two of us being crammed in with little or no leg room, but as it turned out, for the second half of the journey it was only us two in the whole place. Stupidly we stayed in the first place we got dropped off at as it looked alright, big mistake as it was over a bar which we later found out, never shut! Until three in the morning we could hear every pool ball being potted, not to mention the views of an American (isn't it always), loudly putting the world to rights and giving chapter and verse on his weightloss.

We moved the next day to a nice place with friendly owners, the best of which must be in his sixties and has only one yellow tooth in his whole mouth. Doesn't stop him smiling constantly though. Bless him.

Penang is an island off the northern coast of Malaysia, it was once an important past of the British Empire and a place where we cordinated a lot of trade in the area. Asd a big trading place it attracted settlers from all over the globe although the current inhabitants are dominated by Chinese and Indians. It is supposed to make the island a gormet's dream although so far we haven't found it better or worse than anywhere else.

On our first full day we got the public buses (after a few false starts), to Kek Si Lok Temple, a big old Chinese temple which is good as far as these things go and then onto Penang Hill. It's a cable car ride up to the top and we were there to watch dusk settle over the island and see the darkness approaching and the lights slowly coming on all over the city, which from the peace of the hill is a very relaxing experience.

What else did we do then? Went to the fort, built to keep out the nasty old Dutch and Portugese, visited the Penang museum and got a rickshaw around Georgetown (the capital of the island), from which we were able to wave at the peasants who walked (losers) in the heat. The driver who cycled us around to places such as a floating Chinese village was interesting and gave us a few facts and figures, he looked knackered at the end, not surprising having pushed around our big old butts.

Rhiannon thinks Georgetown is a bit of a sh!thole. I think that's a bit harsh, but it doesn't help that there are no real pavements so you have to walk in the street and the drains run alondside the road so you constantly have to step over them. We did see a rat running along one though and sadly on what was supposed to be our last day there Rhiannon fell down one!

Yes, she did it again, although nowhere near as serious. She didn't see a drain running across the road and stepped right into it and fell over. She has cuts on her leg and her foot swelled up, but she is ok. For a day she couldn't walk and was confined to the hotel, but don't worry she is up and about and is sat right next to me now! Clumsy girl!

That aside Penang is quite good and the people here have been very friendly, glad we saw it but after five days we are glad to be leaving. Next we are going to the Cameron Highlands, up in the hills (obviously) where there are tea plantations and other stuff to do.