On Monday we were picked up at 8.45am by a mini bus and taken all over the Cameron Highlands. We visited a rose farm built into the side of a hill, a (pretty boring) bee farm, a strawberry farm where we drank the most amazing strawberry milkshakes and bought yummy dried strawberries, a market, a Buddhist temple AND a tea plantation. Phew. And the trip only cost £5. The tea plantation was what we really wanted to see as it's what the area is most famous for and it was impressive: rolling hills covered in row after row of bright green hedges as far as the eye can see. It just looked so foreign and so, well, green and lush. It was cool to think that they were planted almost a century ago.

The next day we caught an 8am bus to the island of Penang. There's a bridge that connects the island to the mainland and we assumed the bus would be driving across that but instead we were unceremoniously dumped at the side of the road in Butterworth and told to make our own way across on the ferry. We were a bit narked but the ferry crossing was simple and we reached our hostel just before 2pm. The hostel we are staying in is lovely. The room is big and airy and clean and the breakfast is good but the showers are the main attraction: massive hot power showers with additional nozzles on the wall that spray you from all directions. After our last hostel, which didn't even provide toilet paper and had sinks that flowed directly onto the floor rather than through pipes, it felt like luxury. We were starving but shushed our stomachs and jumped straight into the showers.

Afterwards we wandered through town, almost getting run over several times by crazed people on mopeds, and checked out the local eateries and shopping. The place we're staying in, Georgetown, seems to be a place that is resisting Western influences, perhaps because it has been designated a World Heritage Site, so things like McDonalds were largely missing. Eventually we found a solitary Subway and had a late lunch there. Rather disturbingly, the wifi network for Subway was called 'subway-whitesaway'. I'm sure that's not a standard part of the franchise agreement... That night we watched 'Avatar' and ate out.

Yesterday we visited the Penang State Museum because it was 1 ringitt (20p) and we thought why not? We didn't expect much but it was actually quite good and well presented. It had information on the history of Penang and the different cultures that have made their mark on the island over the years. There were lots of references to the British, and to Francis Light in particular, which was interesting to read. There were also lots of historic clothes, furniture and paintings to look at. Afterwards we watched another film, 'Couples' Retreat', and then went out for dinner and a drink at a reggae bar down the road from our hostel.

We're both feeling very lazy today, for no real reason. We had some things to sort out, like laundry, which we did this morning, but other than that and eating we have just not done anything :-O Tomorrow we move on to Langkawi and have a very early start so we keep telling ourselves that we are just conserving energy rather than being bone-idle...