We have decided to check in again as we have managed to upload all of our photos! The internet here in Malaysia is a lot quicker than what we have experienced so far, therefore we have been able to upload approximately 700 photos each!

We last left you in Koh Lanta where we enjoyed 3 days relaxing on the beach. Heather and I headed off in a packed minibus with Christian and Claire at 8.30, our destination, Satun. After an hours wait we finally managed to cross the river by ferry and we eventually set off along the smooth roads. We arrived in Trang (Allegedly the cleanest city in Thailand althoug we could not see much evidence) and waited for 2 hours for our bus to Satun to arrive. After 2 hours of driving past numerous rubber tree plantations we settled in the quiet and slightly eerie town of Satun. This town lies on the South West point of Thailand and is a crossing point between Thailand and Malaysia. It is predominantly muslim with mosques scattered everywhere which kind of gave us an uneasy feeling as we were watched all the time. We had a quick walk around the town, found there was nothing to do, so wandered back to the hotel and found a little restaurant for dinner where we had amazing steak pies. The next day we hopped into a Sawangthaew (a cross between a sort of bus and a tuk tuk where the back has 2 rows of open air seats) and raced to the jetty. We boarded our boat and set off to the Malaysian island of Langkawi.

The beautiful island of Langkawi is also on the West coast and is approximately 2 hours south of Satun. Although we had only travelled South for a couple of hours, there seemed to be an extreme rise in the heat level. We quickly found a taxi and drove off to the Gecko Guesthouse on Pantai Cenang (Pantai meaning beach) where we were welcomed by a lady from Fulham and an eccentric but very sweaty man from Rotterdam. To escape the heat we decided to go to the air-conditioned haven of the Langkawi aquarium which we found out to be the biggest in Malaysia. We passed 2 hours of our time staring at the penguins who were carbon copies of those found in the films Happy Feet and Surfs Up! and the seals who performed a number of tricks during their feeding time. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking along the beach and ended up having a rather odd arabic dinner. Basically we had rice with no flavouring and miniscule amounts of vegetables and meet.

All 4 of us set out the following morning in a Micro-machine car which Christian hired and we made our way to the cable cars found at the foot of the Langkawi mountain. After only a 15 minute trip and a few short walks, we arrived at the top, 710 metres above sea level. The lookout point afforded us with beautiful views over most of the island, albeit through some mist and slight cloud. The sun did eventually come out and it heated us up very quickly so we decided to head back to the cooler cable cars for our trip back down to earth. We spent the rest of the day re-packing our bag and sleeping! The evening ended with a fantastic Indian meal which filled us all up. The only complaint was there was not enough.

The following afternoon we boarded a ferry that took us down to the island of Penang. During this 3 hour trip we played a number of card games and watched the weather change from clear blue sky and tranquil waters to bumpy seas and dark clouds. We arrived in Penang at the start of a tremendous thunderstorm which actually lasted for 2 days. Our hotel, located in Chinatown, (The Blue Diamond) was exactly how the guidebook had described it - an old building with decor that has never changed and dilapidated rooms. Our 3 windows were more holes in the wall with bits of glass and a curtain draped over. Heather managed to get a great picture of the lightning from our balcony as the sheet lightning seemed to strike every 3 seconds or so.

After a poor nights sleep we arose dreary eyed and mosquito bitten from our hotel and set off along the road in search of slightly better accomodation. After choosing the slightly pricier Hotel Continental we met up with 2 friends from Spain who live in Penang, Lawrence and David. They took us out in the car (thankfully as it was raining) to the Kok Lek Si temple. Here, we roamed around for about an hour gazing at the spectacular architecture and Chinese design of each temple and room. The photos (one of which is the picture for this blog entry) show the temple in splendid colour in a way far better than I can describe. The walk up to the temple was however, less wonderous with paths through old buildings the only way. To add to this we were harassed by souvenir sellers all the way to the top. Despite the poor weather, the views we had were excellent, however it did stop us from ascending up the Penang Hill station in the fenicular railway. Instead, we went to the shop plaza to escape the rain and look for some bargains. Unfortunately this was an excellent example of the Western influence in the East as the mall was huge, clean, over-priced and more Western than Cribbs Causeway or any other centre in the UK.

The following day we set out along the streets of Georgetown and saw a vast number of superb temples set amongst hugely Victorian buildings. The best of these was the Kuang Sin temple which is the oldest in Penang and has the most Chinese heritage. We were greeted by huge smoke clouds from all of the burning incense sticks and stall owners trying to sell us tiny birds. We also managed to climb the old lighthouse set within the Fort Cornwalis grounds and stop for some tea in a quaint little tea shop run by a very friendly Malay-Chinese lady. After seeing the sights we hopped on to a local bus and made our way to the North of the island to the town called Batu Ferringhi. Here we found some budget accomodation set on the beach with carpeted floors in the hall - just like a home. Lawrence and David were also very kind to invite us out for a meal, so we headed off to the Penang Swimming Club and dined out in luxurious fashion. They had a strict dress code of no t-shirts, shorts or sandals/flip flops, so I turned up in cotton trousers and my walking boots - the only clothes that I have! The meal was in the end excellent, so we returned to our hotel, well and truly full up.

Today, we hiked around the Penang national park in sweltering conditions for about 3 hours. We saw a vast array of wildlife including huge Monitor lizards, Kingfishers, Long-tailed Macaques and Dusky Leaf Monkeys. The latter surprised us with rsutling in the trees and we were slightly apprehensiove for a while until we saw the most inquisitive looking face staring down at us from the canopy. After 20 minutes of photos we headed back to the park entrance and made our way back to the guesthouse. Tonight we intend to eat the local Prawn soup and prawn wanton before we meander through the bustling night market.

See you in Kuala Lumpur.