We arrived in Kuala Lumpur around 9am and the flight we thought we had booked to Penang wasnt until 1.40 so we thought we were fine. Had plenty time to have a nosey around etc. After having some breakfast I had a horrible feeling about the flights and thought Id best check things were ok. Anyway I am so glad I did as the payment had not gone through for our flight. I lest Danni with the bags and queued for over an hour to get the flight booked. Luckily there was availability. Once we finally got checked in and through customs our flight to Penang was fab. The plane wasnt that busy which meant we had a row each. We took full advantage and lay down to try and get some sleep after our early start.

The views as we flew north to Penang were stunning, beautiful beaches and aqua blue waters.

Once we arrived we thought we would save some money and catch the local bus into Geaorgetown, which is the capital of Penang and the place we thought we would settle for a few nights. The bus was quite busy and I ended up next to a Malaysian guy from Langkawi which is around a 30 minute flight from Penang. He was tellig us all about Penang and what we should see and do. We got off at the main bus terminal and just began walking in search of somewhere to stay. Just to add this was quite difficult with a bag with one wheel in the 40+ degrees heat.

Penang was inscribed together with another area within Malaysia as a World Heritage Site. The place was fantastic, there was a mixture of cultures (Malaysian, Chinese and Indian) and the place had such character. Everyone was friendly and a few people spoke to us as they witnessed us struggle with our bags up the street, catching some shade where we could. We finally reached the Hotel Continental and were well chuffed at the good rates available so decided to book a few nights there.

Once we were settled I went out to explore. It was amazing the different smells and sounds. This was more under developed than any other place we had been and was great to be part of what seemed like a proper little community. There wasnt any big restaurants like lots of other mor commercialised areas in some countries there was simply stalls where locals made their living selling local foods. The smells that lingered were amazing, I thought it would be a shame to be there and not experience the foods they eat. A bit dubious at first just due to cleanliness etc but went for it and was glad I did as some of the foods were yummy!!

I saw the famous Eastern & Oriental Hotel which is ownded by the brothers who own Raffles in Singapore and took a few pics before heading back to the hotel to get Danni. Danni wanted to go to McD's so we headed there and had a look around one of the shopping centres and booked a tour for the following day before heading to bed for our early start in the morning. We were in our element being in a nice hotel with air con and hot water! The small things eh?? :-)

We were picked up from the hotel by our guide Alan who was Chinese. We were the only two on the tour and had the minibus to ourself. Alan was fab, he was full of enthusiasm and knowledge, we learnt so much about the history of Penang and the sights we visited from him. We drove through Litte India and stopped at Pinang Peranakan Mansion where the guide explained its history. Although we have to admit it was fab to see but we were a bit bored so decided to do a bunk and get on with the rest of our tour. We drove through the streets and past lots of different and fascinating temples and villages, we even passed a street named Scotland Road. We seen the reclining buddha which was 33metres long and the Godess of Mercy which was 120ft high and the tallest in Asia. Alan told us all about our zodiac signs; Danni was born in the year of the horse and me year of the goat. We had pics taken with the relevant buddhas etc. We attached money to the money tree which is said to grow and make you richer and richer, you can only hope eh? At the reclining buddha you were able to buy candles and leave a message so I lit one for my fabby Gran & Grandad and left them a wee note. We visited the Botanical Gardens which was so natural unlike many other manmade ones I had viisted previously. There was people exercising everywhere ,we watched a Tai Chi class, and you could see so much wildlife and smell the different flowers and plants and not forgetting see the monkeys in the trees. Before our lovely lunch at the Chinese we hit the chocolate boutique and tried lots of lovely chocolate, was a shame we couldnt bring any home, just too long in the old suitcase itd have never made the journey haha. After lunch we then visited the Batik factory and seen how they made sarongs and various prints for paintings etc and were encouraged to purchase from the shop, ofcourse we gave it a miss, werent our cuppa tea!

We said our farewells to the lovely Alan and gave him a big hug and a tip and headed to a fortune teller called Auntie Sim which we had read about in one of the Georgetown guides. It was hilarious. Palm and cards done for a few pounds. The lady who did it though couldnt speak any english so what seemed ike her husband acted as translator, was all a bit weird but she did get some things right in both our readings although funny there was also a lot of similarities too. Oh well was a laugh I spose and im sure we wont be having a reading done with someone translating anytime soon.

We were dying to chill at the hotel pool so headed back via the shop, got a few beers and headed there. We had literally been sat down 5 minutes when the sky became very grey and it poured down. I stayed lay there like a proper Scot on tour in the rain with my ipod in under the cover. Once it stopped raining Danni had a wee rest while I decided to go out and explore more. I jumped on the free shuttle bus around town and headed to the pier to get information on ferries to Langkawi where the guy from the bus was from and where loads of people we had spoken to said was nice to visit. I also tried out more hawker food (street food). We decided we were going to hire a Trishaw and driver that night. A guy called Stanley had been dead friendly outside the hotel so we decided to barter with him and got a good deal. He was 62 bless him cycling along with us pair in front like ladies of leisure. He took us to the esplanade where there was lots of food stalls (it sounds like thats all I ever do eh?) we sampled some Indian cuisine then Stanners took us around the streets of Georgetown onto Chinatown where we decided to eventually get off. We had spotter a Reggae bar and heard Bob Marley tunes pumping out (I know Reggae bar in Chinatown!!). We thought we would sit and have a few quiet drinks but ended up there half the night having been bought drinks by various people and meeting a few groups of other travellers. One girl was from Scotland and she was fab, I had missed that Scottish accent and was fab speaking to her. Everyone else was so lovely too and we spent ages chatting about our travels so far. The owner of the bar studies Feng Shui and was telling us about what we needed more and less of in our lives!! Seemingly as a goat I am better to be in relationships with Horses and Pigs as well as other Goats. So people born in 1975 and 1983!! So either an oldie or a toyboy for moi!!

We had planned to head north to Batu Feringgi the following day which was a beach resort with luxurious hotels and a few of the guys we met said it would be good to tag along. We met at 10 and headed on the 40 minute bus ride. We spet some time on the beach being bombarded by the locals to use the watersports facilities. I had a ride along the beach on a horse but was mortified at the way they were treating them so decided to get off and walk back to the others lol.

We had heard about a night market which started at 7.30 so waited until then and hit the stalls. There was allsorts from the usual tack to fake designer bags. We bartered out hearts away and came away with a few bargains. We had been approached by a Chinese guy named Terry on the beach who said he did herbal massage. He did a little test on each of us and was able to tell us straight away about issues we had. Believe me I had a few lol. Danni was told she had circulation issues as did I along with the thousand other things. So we both decided to head to his shop later and have a massage. They both lasted 90 minutes and it was money well spent. I looked like a zombie when he had finished and was in a wee bit pain but he assured me it would be worth it. While Dan was having hers done me and Vanessa headed to the hawkers market and were spoilt for choice with the food stalls. In the end we opted for Chinese and the chop stick pro got to work again.

We got so wrapped up in bartering that we missed the last bus and ended up getting a taxi back to Georgetown. The taxi driver made paying out the extra money so worth it. He was an indian guy and we found ourselves yet again being educated on what our date of births meant!!

We had originally planned to only stay in Penang a few days but we werent sure of our plans and couldnt get any transport off the island so we had to stay put. It was an advantage that we really like the place. The following day we decided we should head to Bangkok and travel from there to Koh Chang where we had planned to visit while in Thailand so booked flights. Our last day in Penang was a chilled one. I went to have another massage as Terry recommended I needed about another 2 weeks worth to sort me out so thought atleast another one would be a wee bit closer to top form. On the way back, when all I wanted to do was have a nice swim and sit by the pool the heavens opened again and the storms came. Lightning was splitting the skies, so no swim for moi. There is a famous bar in Georgetown called the HongKong bar where the owner has taken a picture or had every visitor write in her visitors books so I had to pay it a visit and leave my very o0wn message. I sat chatting to the Chinese lady who was lovely over a diet coke and became part of history lol. We had just noticed earlier that day that there was a massive food market at the side of our hotel so I went to check it out that night. It was totally bustling. Although I thought I was becoming a pro and managing to eat all the street food I was genuinely struggling to find something even close to edible! Headed back to the hotel and we got organised for leaving the following day and another early start as we were flying at 8.

Goodbye Penang, what a place.