We left Cameron Highlands and headed by coach to Penang. It took 5 hours which also included a 30 minute ferry journey. We used our Lonely Planet Guide and selected a hotel which sounded alright. How wrong could we be!

It was set back from the road and looked as if it was about to fall down. There was loads of gawping men and no other backpackers about. There was a dog that looked like it had rabies or something. We thought we'd give it a go though but lasted no more than a couple of hours. The room was filthy, sheets dirty and then to finish things off there was a mouse running around the room. We packed our stuff and headed for the hotel down the road. It didnt cost a lot more, it was only 1.70 per night and was so much better. Why wasnt Banana's Guest House in the Lonely Planet instead of The Swiss Hotel!!

Yesterday, as the guesthouse offered a laundry service, we had to get all our washing done as we hadnt done it since Cairns. As we had to wear baggy mismatch clothes we decided we wouldnt venture far and spent most the day hanging about.

Today (Friday) we hired ourselves our own personal guide/driver to take us to the sights we wanted to go to (3.50 per hour). He was really helpful and took us only to the places we wanted to go. We started at Khoo Kongsi, Chinese Clan House. It was amazing inside and full of gold statues and handcrafted pillars. 2nd stop was Fort Cornwallis where Penang first made a settlement. 3rd stop was the Reclining Budda which featured a massive gold budda inside. It was surrounded by urns. 4th stop was Kek Lok Si Temple which is built at the bottom of Penang Hill. 5th stop was the Snake Temple - this was actually under renovation but they had moved the statues and the snakes into a side building.

As you can see we've been proper tourists today. Tomorrow we are starting to make our way into Thailand. The next couple of days we will be doing a lot of travelling as the trains are meant to be pretty slow!