We flew from Bali to KL in 3hrs and took the bus to Sentral. Got a great room at Sentral Hotel with wifi and all the bells. Grabbed a longed for Indian veg. meal and 3 drinks for under £4. Then a lovely sleep. Up early and grabbed canai rotis (banana) with dahl and curry for breakfast .. aaaah ..memories of SriLanka again (with sweet tea) for less than £2. We had a wash and brush up (I had a £2 haircut with massage and neck shave) then bus from Sentral to KL L...

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 ...