Penang is known as the 'Pearl of the Orient,' so we expected trishaws pedalling past Chinese shophouses and ornate temples, blue joss smoke, and a stink of chilli in the air. In reality, it hasn't disappointed us… only it threw in a few white mosques, colourful Hindu temples, and some colonial architecture for good measure too.

Historically, this island off the north western coast of Malaysia was the waterway between Asia's two halves and the outlet to the markets of Europe and the Middle East. Now, the culture of the region - forged by decades of colonialism, commercial activity and hosting tourists - is said to be one of Malaysia's most cosmopolitan and exciting…. especially when it comes to food (which we're not ashamed to admit was the main reason we arrived here!)

We based ourselves in Georgetown, which is the only real town/city on the island. We jumped in a taxi once we came off the ferry and settled into our hostel. It was nice enough, with welcoming staff, our own room and a shared bathroom which was perfectly clean enough for us.

After a good night's sleep, we were up nice and early to figure out how to book a bus to Cameron Highlands (our next stop) before getting stuck into sightseeing. Surprise surprise, these things are never as easy as they should be thanks to confusing guidebooks, and even more confusing locals - but this must be repetitive reading now so we'll just say this… we gave up on the idea of a bus and booked ourselves onto a minivan, which would pick us up from our hostel in a few days time, and take us straight to the one we'd booked in Cameron Highlands… easy.

With that sorted, we headed to Pinang Paeranakan Mansion. It's a typical home of an affluent Baba (basically the Penang mafia leader who sold opium to make his fortune!) a century ago. Babas and Nyonyas are a community of Chinese people unique to this part of the world, having settled along the British settlements. They adopted local Malay ways and the British colonial lifestyle - and they're still evident in Penang today. A visit to a lovely little jewellery exhibition at the mansion gave us a better understanding of how they like to live… man they love their gold!

After that Bret had us hunting down the wall paintings that crop up across the town, thanks to the Malaysian Banksy. They were quite cool, and it was hilarious watching the Asian tourists take photos of themselves in strange positions alongside the art work…. The most popular pose is standing on one leg in a stationary running position (we've seen them do this just about everywhere we've travelled!)

Then it was the moment we were waiting for… lunch time. With our tummies grumbling, we headed to a place called the Sky Restaurant. It was a typical Penang restaurant. Imagine a school hall on the side of the street with plastic tables and chairs, but fill it with a vibrant mix of people from all over Asia. Most of them only serve one dish, and this one dished up spicy pork and rice. Of course the dish had a more Malaysian sounding name than that, but we've now forgotten what it was. Anyway, the main thing is it was absolutely delicious and cost less then a Sunday newspaper. We could have happily ordered seconds, but we were back out into the steaming heat to walk to a chocolate shop… We can't even be bothered to write about this place, it was that bad. (We should have ordered seconds at lunch after all).

As the sky was starting to turn from bright blue to overcast, we kept our fingers crossed for a thunderstorm to clear the humid air as we went to Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion (otherwise known as The Blue Mansion). The bright blue house was built in the 1880's by Mr Fatt Tze himself - who was a bit of an entrepreneur working as the middle man within trades between the West and East. It was a nice place, but the best thing about it was the mental Chinese lady who showed us around. She had that stereotypical Chinese accent which is really high pitched and shouty - sounds silly, but it amused us and most of the people on the tour.

By the time we were outside, the so-called storm had fizzled out after a few pathetic rumbles and a puddle of rain, so we wandered on to the Penang Museum for some much-needed air-conditioning. (It was just one Ringgit (21p) to enter, which has got to be the cheapest air conditioning in Asia…) Inside there were some interesting exhibits on the history of Penang - particularly during the colonial period.

On the way, we bumped into a fellow traveller. Or rather, he bumped into us. He cycled by, and stopped us to ask if we spoke English. Once he realised we could, he asked, completely straight-faced: "what town is this?"

Incredibly, the guy had cycled to Malaysia all the way from his home in Sweden! We weren't sure if he was messing around, but he seemed serious when he said he'd travelled through Europe; the Middle East (including Iran); India; Nepal and then from Bangkok to Penang. He'd been working his way down mainland Malaysia to Singapore when he saw the ferry to Penang and just got on it - with no idea where it was heading! He needed a place to stay, so we pointed him in the direction of our hostel and off he went!

For dinner we headed to a popular place called Red Garden. It's like an outdoor beer garden, only it's surrounded by street food stalls. The atmosphere is amazing as a nice mix of locals and tourists gather to eat here every night. We enjoyed Malaysian duck and rice, and prawn and pork hokkien nee (which is like a noodle broth). It was soo yummy, and sooo cheap. The chopsticks took some getting used to though…

Back at the hostel the crazy Swedish guy was sat on the porch, so we stayed up to listen to his amazing stories of sleeping in mosques in India, and cycling into Iran before we went to bed feeling very full!

The following morning we were very pleased to hear that familiar sound of India - the call for prayer at the local mosque. After mostly experiencing the Chinese influence on Penang the day before, it reminded us what a great mix of Asians live here on the island.

On our way out to explore more of the city, we found ourselves in the Sunday market. It was a great local market, with fresh fish and bizarre kitchen gadget demonstrations (which kept Bret entertained!). We then popped into Kapitan Keling Mosque, which was as welcoming as any other mosque we've visited, so we spent some time reading about Islam inside. The mosque was named after Captain Kling, the headman of the South Indian community, who was appointed by the British administration in the early 1800's.

We also stopped by the Goddess of Mercy Temple, which is a Chinese Buddhist temple with those big blue joss sticks outside. We met some little Chinese bloke sipping tea outside. He could barely speak English, but we did manage to work out that Bret was born in the year of the bull… something he never knew.

So having visited an Ismalic mosque, a Chinese Buddhist temple… now it was time for an Indian Hindu temple… the Sri Mariamman Temple. It's hard to describe how cosmopolitan the city is, but perhaps you'll get the idea from the fact that all these places of worship are within a few minutes' walk from each other. The Hindu temple was on a street called 'Little India' which had Nat pretty excited, and it didn't disappoint. With the incense burning and Indian music playing loudly from sari shops, the only thing missing was the free-roaming cows (and lots of sewage!). It was so nice to be there and reminisce on India, so we stuck around and ate at an Indian restaurant there too. We did the usual - asked for anything that wasn't too spicy - and still ended up ordering litres of water to cool down afterwards. It was delicious though, and great to eat with our hands again. At least it was certainly easier than chopsticks!

The rain finally came in the afternoon so we took some shelter at an Indian sweet stall and bought some jelebi - a very sweet, fried candy… it wasn't the same as India, but it did the job!

We also popped into a place called Cheah Kongsi, which is a Chinese clan house. There were some Chinese students rehearsing for a performance, complete with Chinese dragon, which was nice to see.

By dinnertime, we were starving again, so we headed back to Red Garden where we ordered Tiger beer, and some traditional chicken satays and an odd mix of Asian sausages… delicious! We'd been craving bangers and mash for ages, and although it wasn't quite the same, it certainly was tasty.

Now we're ready to move on tomorrow, but we could easily stay here longer - and not just for the food. We've agreed it's one of the nicest towns we've been to - probably because it's so safe and easy to walk around, and there is so much to see and learn along the way. The architecture is like nothing we've seen before, and the Chinese influence has us wondering if we can make a detour on route to Australia…