Our last few days in Penang were uneventful as we were both quite tired and looking forward to getting to a beach. The main items of note were the food which we were having which remained excellent. On Monday night, we went to a food court near to our hostel and both had the same Thai dish with me having chicken and Beth having seafood. It was hot and spicy and we both loved it. The next night, we went back to Little India and I had a chilli chicken curry whilst Beth had a biryani. Mine was excellent even though it tasted more Chinese than Indian but Beth's wasn't so good as it wasn't hot and the waiter tried to pass off a bowl of rice as a biryani! Not sure what that was about. On our final night in Penang, we again went back to Little India and to the same restaurant where we had been for my birthday and each had a tandoori chicken set which is some tandoori chicken, a naan bread an some dips. We would highly recommend it.

We really enjoyed Penang and particularly the food. There are so many different cultures within Georgetown and its really interesting to visit the different areas and see the mosques and temples and to try the street food. Kek Lok Si Temple is also great and really easy to get to on public transport. We probably stayed a couple of days too long in Penang but this just gave us the chance to slow down and enjoy the food that it has to offer.

Thursday saw us leave Penang for the island of Langkawi. We caught the 8.30am ferry which goes direct from Penang to Kuah which is where the ferry terminal is located on Langkawi. The ferry was about 3 hours and a bit choppy in places but it wasn't too bad. We managed to get our bags safely off the boat and catch a taxi outside unlike one poor passenger who's bag was accidentally thrown in the water when they were unloading!! The taxi ride took us about half an hour and we were dropped off at our hostel, Zackry's Guesthouse, which is about a 5 minute walk to Pantai Cengah beach. We've got a private room again with our own bathroom although the pressure on the shower is pretty bad which makes getting clean a bit difficult.

Langkawi is what Beth expected the whole of Asia to be like; a beach resort. So before I had even looked around the hostel, she was standing with her bikini on ready for the beach. We went down to the beach and managed to see a few monkeys on the way. We aren't sure what type they are but will try to get some pictures at some point. After a few hours on the beautiful beach, we made our way back up the room where I went for a quick jog before we went out for a meal.

After walking into the town, we eventually settled on a Chinese restaurant for tea where the food was good. Just as we were paying the bill, we felt raindrops and as we retreated inside it started to rain quite heavily. Unperturbed, we decided to walk back to the hostel in the rain as it wasn't too bad. How wrong we were. We kept walking as the rain got heavier until it was absolutely lashing down and we had to take shelter. Here we stayed for 20 minutes until it eventually slowed down a bit and we hurriedly walked back to the hostel. It rained quite a lot through the night as we could here the rain pounding down on the roof. We were also woken in the middle of the night by a scratching and crying noise at the door. It was about 4 o clock in the morning and I thought I was dreaming until I heard the noise again and wondered whether they had wolves around here. Then I remembered that thy have about 4 dogs in the hostel and it turns out that it was the puppy they have which is scared of monkeys!!

We woke up this morning to cloudy skies and I actually thought thy Beth was going to cry. Luckily the sun came out and we were able to spend a good few hours at the beach again. The beach is great but there is one slight drawback as there are loads of tiny jellyfish in the sea. We have both been stung a few times an it doesn't really hurt (its a bit like being nipped) but it makes me in particular nervous of going in the sea as you are just waiting to be stung!! Another drawback of the beach is some of the male inhabitants of some of the posh hotels next to the beach. This is particularly aimed at the 50 odd year old man wearing the tiny thong on the beach. WHY!!! And then there was another bloke who, when coming out the sea, decided to roll his trunks down so he could get tanned pretty much everywhere front and back. People must be really desperate for a tan. Anyways, apart from that Langkawi is great and we've got a full week here where we plan to lie on the beach, eat good food and maybe have a good few drinks.