With a bit of grumbling from me, we set off today for Penang Island Taman Negara (National Park) and a trek along a coastal path through the rainforest. The rainforest is on the north western part of the island (a part hit during the 2004 Tsunami). The rainforest and its lake are inhabited by eagles, otters, wild boar, monkeys and monitor and other lizards. And as Jan would hate, lots of insects, plenty of ant trails. The internet investigation revealed that flip...

Well last night we visited an Indian restaurant and Paul had a Roti Canai (small thin pancake style patty with dahl and curry) - then went to Maharaj for a full-blown feast of curries, naans, rice, beers and lassis - it was very popular with visitors and was full- it was the hottest curries we've had yet! Despite our talk of the weather yesterday ... Overnight there was a violent thunderstorm with very heavy rain, lightning and the loudest thunder we had ever hea...

Beautiful day in Pulau Pinang. We headed to the beach using the usual cheap air-conditioned public transport system. After some research on the internet we discovered that the Park Royal hotel in Batu Feringghi (Feringgi Beach on the north coast of the island) has a day pass available. It was 40.60 ringgits (weekdays) per person to have use of the pool and beach, sunbeds, beach towels, use of private showers plus a 23 ringgit discount each off their menus. It wor...

Today we planned to go to the Beach, but during breakfast (at a new place - Sunday most are closed!) decided to take a bus to Kek Lok Si Temple. It is around 8km out of town near Pekan Air Itam. We walked the 400m to Lebuh Chulia and as luck would have it a bus came within minutes. We paid 2 Ringgit each (40p) and sat in the air conditioned luxury (of a public bus). It took around 35 mins and the bus driver generously informed us of our stop. It was steaming hot ...

We have now settled into our hotel - the Star Lodge, I got to inspect the room first before we took it. My checklist includes a/c, wifi, cleanliness, a western toilet and somewhere to plug my hairdryer next to a mirror. I asked the dour Chinese hotel owner if any of the rooms had a mirror and he wearily said "No, this is a budget hotel". Well...what do I want for £9 a night? As Chris said on the message board, we could turn this into a book - if we did...