Days 53, 54 and 55

After our overnight train from KL we caught the 15 minute ferry from the main land to Penang island. Our guesthouse (Old Penang) was nice enough, we were staying in the 12 bed dorm the first night which was really cheap. We went for a walk around Georgetown which was obviously very different to KL, unfortunatley we had arrived on a Sunday, which meant all the shops and restaurants were closed. We eventually found somewhere for lunch but they didnt understand English too well, which Shell found to her cost after trying to order an egg roti and ending up with a boiled egg that had been deepfried in some spicy oil.... not very nice!. The weather in Malaysia is extremley hot and humid and most days end with a massive thunder storm at around 6.00pm so its best to be undercover before it hits!.

Our dorm beds were pretty comfy but we were woke up early by some idiots phone that went off every 10mins for an hour, which led to heated words from some Londoners in the dorm. After some advice from people at the guesthouse we caught a bus to the Butterfly farm. Ok ok it doesnt sound very exciting but it actually turned out to be pretty good as they had more lizards and big bugs than butterflies. They also had some huge, terrifying and murderous looking FROGS!!! Which I skipped out. That night we also got a chance to try Penang's biggest draw .... the food. Michelle orderd Duck and I had Nasi Lamek (rice cooked in coconut milk) and a Chapati with spicy sauce which was really nice.

For our final full day in Penang we headed to Kek lok si temple which was ok but to be honest we were pretty templed out, and it didn't really compare to the others we had already seen. One unquie feature it did have though was a turtle pond which was literally overflowing with the little ninjas. Apparently the turtle is a symbol for long life and thats why they have them at the temple, although looking at the conditions I doubt whether these turtles will live too long. Later on we again took advantage of the cheap and tasty food options in Penang, and opted for chicken satay and fried white tuna. There was also frog porridge on the menu but for some reason I didnt fancy that!!

Our ferry to Langkawi was booked for 8.00am the next morning and we were both definitely ready for some beach time!!