How to describe Penang...I'm not so sure. It did not feel like I was in Asia as it's much more modern and developed here; no tuktuks (just ....), no people trying to sell you fruit or insects on the side of the road, hardly any scooters about, no wooden huts on stilts where the locals lived, no kids running around the streets...I could go on. The place was very developed with big European looking buildings, parks, a botanical garden and very posh hotels (even our guesthouse/hotel was very sophisticated). We went out for some dinner at about 10pm as we only had lunch at about 5pm, but realised that almost everything was closed, so we found a street food restaurant and had some rice and chicken curry which was rather tasty. On our way back from dinner we walked past a bar called 'Reggae Mansion'. It had a sign saying free drinks for girls which we obviously couldn't resist (especially Cassie) that offer so spent the night at the bar listening to the live band and chatting to the manager who also owned several other hostels in Asia. I also got chatting to a 'film director/producer' who offered to take us around the island the next day, so in the morning we decided to take a walk around Georgetown where we were staying and then grabbed a lift with him in the afternoon. He took us to a shopping centre, botanical gardens and to his parents' big house to flick through a couple of films he had produced and acted in! He was about 50 years old and still lived with his parents. He was also a TERRIBLE actor and director...and as a witness I can say that! He even said himself that he was criticised a lot in the films, but he didn't seem to care too much. He then took us to the north of the island to have dinner and watch the sunset on the beach. We took a stroll around the night market and then he took us back to the hostel. He was a nice enough man, but he bored the hell out of us. He was constantly talking about himself and his movies we were so ready to escape his company by dinner time. We could tell all he wanted out of us that day was a bit of company, so I did feel sorry for him. I finished the rest of my book ("First they killed my father") whilst sipping on a nice cup of free tea and then went to sleepy.

Thursday morning, 7th March, was an early start for me. I went for a jog around the town and was on a mission to buy us a bus ticket to Cameron Highlands that day. I managed to get it 15 ringgits cheaper than the hostel price and at a decent time too. I woke Cassie up and we walked around Georgetown to the main tourist buildings and then headed to the bus stop for 2pm. The bus journey was great - there were 6 people on the bus so we had all the space in the world to relax...until we had to change bus half way there. I slept 90% of the way anyway, so that was cool and it only took 5ish hours anyway (which I must say feels like nothing now! 5 hours is a quick journey for me, it goes by in a flash!)...

ps. the picture is Cassie and I with our new hats in the Botanical Gardens! Photographer was film director :)