An early morning, sleep filled bus ride later Lucy and I jumped off our bus and landed on Penang soil. The air was fresh, excluding the bus fumes, and we hunted a bus to our hostel. After quite a bit of hunting, and being sent in the wrong direction we arrived at our humble abode! Lucy was already considering whether the bed sheets had been washed and whether it was safe to sleep directly on them, I was enjoying the luxuary of a window and the bug spray was out killing the pesky flying creatures!
With no dawdling we were out on the street of Little India celebrating the end of Rammadan with the locals. The streets were lined with food stalls serving hundres of varieties of curries, samosas, onion bargiess. Needless to say we decided it would only be appropriate to truely welcome the celebrations by feasting! One extreamlyyyy spicy and swetty curry or 2 later I had my first cup of cooling Chai tea since India. I was in heaven.
We followed the lonely planets suggested walking tour around the area to ensure we saw all of the main sites. Including a very interesting Mansion filled with traditional funature, vases, shoes, jewlerly and hundres of other gems. Before we knew it we had lapped Georgetown and decided we most certinally deserved a beer.
A quick refresh at the hotel where we met our very own house elf the spit of Dobbie (Harry Potter referance) who when we said his food looked good responded with .... "oh thankkkyoou Ma'am you are so kind". For all questions and tips on the area he responded with.... "oh yes ma'am, very good ma'am, I do think you would love it there ma'am....". Ahhh me and lucy was flattered and rather giggly at his kind, polite nature!
Dinner of 2 traditional dishes; Hokkian Chan and Tai Lok Mee, both noodly based which were very tasty, if not only a little too similar, both with prawns and chicken. The main difference was the dark and light sause and the size of the noodles - but we enjoyed it and washed it down with a couple of rather large beers.....
Our second day in Penang was, without a doubt, a beach day. Lucy was craving and I'm not going to lie, I was enjoying the idea of a day relaxing! The pace has been continuously fast and actioned packed, and I crave resting days, but don't want to miss out on sites! So they are rare and few between.
I can't lie the beach was nothing in comparison to Koh Phi Phi and the other islands.... but its filled our needs. We were approached by a man called Terry on the beach, a so called "magical healer" who could find out your problems by touching your hand / foot and cure them. He quickly identified lucy's rather swolen ancles (although it was kinda hard to miss them!!) and gave her a nifty massage - claiming he could save her and this way her feet wouldn't drop off at the age of 80. He then progressed to me and informed me about my 'toilet problems'! I howled with laughter and he went on to tell me he wished he didn't have to, but the gods told him he had to as it was his job... but I will form a thyroid problem if he doesn't treat me and if I get sick one more time that could be it.... BLOODY HELL! Talk about heavy for an afternoon on the beach! Due to time constraints we worked out we couldn't be treated by him.... so I pray that this, what I have been calling food poisining, which has lasted for nearly 2 months now... won't progress onto, well, death!! haha
A visit to the Hard Rock Cafe later we were dining and all set on the night bus to Meleka by 11pm. The busses here in Malaysia are great! The seats are so wide, cushy and recline! They even have like a foot plate which pops up so you can rest your calves! Lucy and I were of course, asleep in seconds!