Thursday October 23rd

Most people went to an island north of Penang, Lankawi, for a few days and let early this morning on a three hour ferry ride. Penang is an island that is attached to one of the two main islands of Malaysia. Penang is connected to the "mainland" by the third longest bridge in the world. Of the other students left who did not go to Lankawi, the others went to Kuala Lumpur. My immediate group of friends were all doing FDP's today too so I didn't really have anyone to do anything with, but this was okay in my opinion. I left the ship on the 9am tender and my plans were to go to Penang Hill which is a small mountain that over looks Penang and you can get some great pictures of it. I never made it to Penang Hill however and I just walked around Penang for about 6 hours before heading back to the ship. It was great to walk all over the city. I didn't do anything special, just walked and took it all in. I was able to sneak to the top for of a hotel and got some great pictures of over looking the city. There are different parts of Penang that are very vibrant such as little India and then others that are business buildings and hotels which did not have much to see and do. I walked past all of the sights that we saw yesterday on my walking tour and walked to the opposite end of Penang. There is really not much to write about today and I'm not sure if I said this before or not, but Malaysia is a melting pot of Asia with Indians, Muslims and Chinese everywhere. It didn't rain at all today, but my nose got really really burnt! There are a lot of "food courts" all over the place which are a pavilion with stands set up underneath them selling foods. There were no distinct smells other than here around the food places or in little India. Of course there were tons of motorcycles just like India, and I'm sure Vietnam will be.

I met my group back at the ship around 6 for dinner and John, Slap Shot and I decided to go to the night market again because Slap Shot did not have a chance to go yet. We burned another few hours there and we actually found a bar right on the beach that was quiet and we could relax and have a few drinks. We didn't stay long because we had to get back to catch the 1am tender, but the best part about the spot other than the tiki huts and torches were that there were no SAS people there! After you get out into port it is very difficult to find a place without SAS kids but it is a real treat when you don't. Tomorrow morning we leave for Kuala Lumpur.