Travelled 11 hrs yesterday from krabi to Penang In a pimped out mini van.. Accompanied by the film Avatar. About three of those hours was trying to get through passport control and customs.. Absolute nightmare! Thankfully we weren't missing out, as the rain was pouring down heavily.

We went to a food oasis last night.. Cheap tasty food, Live entertainment, and great atmosphere. We then found a pretty decent place called The Soho Bar...and all the staff were dressed up for Halloween! Penang is definitely nicer than Bangkok, and there is less poverty to be seen on a whole.

Been on a very interesting tour today. Payed about £16 to basically be driven around to various sights and farms.. And had to pay all the entrance fees separately! So Lina, the tour driver, was quids in on petrol money! We visited a spice garden, batik factory, butterfly farm, fruit farm, fishing village and a chocolate shop, although it was advertised as a chocolate factory!

The spice garden was like a large secret garden, layered by terraces, windy pathways and little wooden bridges. There was some very interesting lotions and potions such as the citronella plant which is used as a mosquito repellent.

The batik factory was amazing to see. We saw all the processes from start to finish of how they take a plain White sheet of material and dye, stencil and wax it until they form a magnificent pattern on the fabric. They also manufacture uniforms for hotels and restaurants at the clients request.

The butterfly farm,as you can well, imagine was filled with an array of colour. As well as butterflies they had iguanas, scorpios, tarantulas, lizards and an enormous alligator snapping turtle!

We were taken high up the mountains to the fruit farm. Where we was given a tour of all the different fruits they grow. We also had a lunch consisting of fruit and fruit shakes.

The fishing village wasn't much to write home about, it was basically an old wooden jetty with some boats.

We were looking forward to the prospect of the chocolate visit due to the samples. But they weren't very generous with the portions.. What a let down! So on the way back we managed to get Lina to drive us to an ATM machine, as we had all ran out of money due to paying entrance fees, and then to Mc'dees! I'm afraid the fruit lunch wasn't filling enough!

Lina kindly told us on the way back that the locals are expecting a tsunami tomorrow... I hope not! She didn't appear to be too bothered at the prospect either!

The rain has started again too...

Lauren x