Hello Everyone,

Arrived in Penang yesterday (3rd Jan) after only a 4 hour bus journey from Hatt Yai (seemed a breeze compared to our day of travelling the day before).

The weather wasn't great to be honest, drizzling and overcast. Feels as if we have been dropped off in the equivalent of Cemetery junction in Reading! Apparently we are in the backpackers hotspot. We checked into "Red Inn" a hostel we'd researched whilst in Koh Samui. We're currently staying in a dorm - sharing with our 4 friends; feel as if we're at holiday camp in our bunk beds!

Went off and did a bit of exploring once we dumped our bags - Penang seems to be a little bit of everything; China, India and Thailand (although is much cheaper than Koh Samui/other parts of Thailand) it was actually quite difficult to find anywhere to eat other than huts parked up on the road and we were starved once we got here- in the end we ended up in a Malaysian version of TGI Friday's - just with really bad food. Made the decision to stick to authentic Malaysian restaurants aka stinky huts but food really really nice. We had 2 bottles of water, 2 tandori chicken curries and wraps (with veggies,rice etc) for less than 2 pounds each!

Today - after a bad nights sleep (me and Danny shared a bunk as they come with no covers so we had to use one of the bunk's sheet for a blanket) we went to a nice beach today as the weather was nice and hot and have just come to an internet cafe to do some research into Kula Lumpar/Singapore hotels and hostels. Our bus down to KL is booked for 9am tomorrow morning so need an early tonight - off to "Little India" tonight for a curry!

Will update you all soon and love and miss you all lots!

Chow for Now,

Meika and Danny

xxx