Hello from Penang!

We arrived in Penang after surviving a bumpy flight and watching lightening in the storm clouds as we approached, which was actually very pretty to watch! When we arrived at the hotel it was like we had stepped back in time 30 years as it was very dated but it was clean. The staff were extremely friendly and even came to show us how to change the channels on the TV (even though it was 1.30am!). We had breakfast at the hotel in the morning and to our delight they had MARMITE!! They also had proper bread so I had two slices and Jamie had five! Penang actually has a Tesco so they probably got the marmite from there....wish we'd brought our club card! For those of you that don't know Penang was once Governed by the Dutch (and us at one point...obviously as we get everywhere) and a lot of the official buildings were built in the colonial style. Many have been maintained but there were a lot that haven't and the jungle is growing through the buildings, it reminded me of the film Interview with a Vampire. It is a shame as the buildings looked like they would be beautiful with a bit of loving care.

Georgetown is the main town in Penang and our first impressions were its dead! Then we discovered it is Ramadan and the majority of the population are Muslim. We wondered around the town but to be honest we were a little disappointed until we stumbled across Little India and Little China where there was more of an atmosphere and of course food stalls!! We stayed in Georgetown two nights before catching the local bus to the beach resort of Batu Ferringhi, which is in the north of Penang. Our first hostel, which was called Baba Guest House (que childish fit of giggles), was literally 20 steps from the beach! The first beach of our travels!! We spent the next few days lounging on the beache and basically not doing very much. The hostel recommended a place called Long Beach Cafe for tea which is a big square food court with plastic tables and chairs surrounding by loads of different food stalls. It was great as it gave you the chance to try all sorts of different food and if we didn't fancy the same thing it didn't matter. The disappointing thing here though is the beer is expensive and its Tiger beer which is so good you can't resist! We are use to paying 50p for a big bottle and here it was £3!

By day Batu Ferrangi was like a rundown seaside resort but by night it came alive with a bustling night market and food stalls. Ricksaw's were decorated with flowers and LED lights and were very colourful and fun to look at. Jamie even saw a wild monkey jumping into a tree! Quite different from China, the most wildlife we saw there was a kid poohing into a plastic bag!

It was my birthday in July and Jamie had booked us 3 nights at a 4 star hotel in the same resort....it was very exciting to have access to a pool!! Again our time here mainly consisted of us lying around in the sun and swimming. On my birthday I treated myself to some red wine and we even ate at the hotel....a proper restaurant! The hotel was lovely and the room was massive with a sea view, perfect.

After my birthday we headed back to Georgetown for one last night before flying to Indonesia.

A few things we learnt about Penang (Malaysia)

• We don't know what a "true" Malaysian looks like as Penang has such a diverse population
• People in Penang are very friendly
• They have wild monkeys!
• Beer is expensive!
• Food courts are the way forward
• You'll never be short of marmite
• Malaysian food is good
• It has a large Muslim population