Hello from Malaysia!

This is now the last 'new' country on my trip through Asia. Well, it is sort of new as I have spent three weeks in Borneo already and from what I have seen so far, it is very similar.

Malaysia is totally different from any other country in Asia that I have been to, much more civilised and westernised to some extent. When you come into a city like Georgetown (on the island of Penang), the skyline of the buildings is pleasant to look at, not such a chaos as in Thailand. Everybody seems to obey the traffic rules, stop at traffic lights and buses go exactly where it says that they are going. It just is very nice and easy to travel around.

Yesterday, we arrived here in Georgetown late in the afternoon and it was absolutely bucketing it down with rain. I haven't seen any rain for a long time but especially not as much as it rained yesterday! But we were lucky, by the time that we checked into our hotel and got changed, the rain had stopped and we made our way to Little India where we had dinner. Most of us had a Tandoori set, which consisted of the best part of a chicken (Tandoori style), a naan bread, some side salad and three different sauces. I must say, it was the best Tandoori I ever had! Absolutely delicious. And you know what the best bit was? It cost me 6MR, less than 1pound!!!!!

Today, I did a bit of sight (nearly spelled this as 'site', I hope this doesn't mean that I am missing work....) seeing and saw some amazing temples. After lunch I couldn't resist temptation and went shopping. For the first time in months I spent money on clothes. Well, I needed to as most of my T-shirts had shrunk in the wash. That's my point of view anyway and I am sticking to it! No but I just sort of got bored with wearing the same T-shirts over and over again and not having anything 'nice' to wear. So I ended up buying 5 new T-shirts and one pair of trousers, which altogether cost me 200MR, the equivalent of about 35pounds. Bargain! For dinner, we went to a night market where you just wonder along the different food stalls and order anywhere you like, from as many different stalls as you fancy. It was great, everything was freshly prepared and so tasty. I even fancied something quite western, so I treated myself to a corn on the cob for 2MR, about 30pence. Delicious!

We're off into the Cameron Highlands tomorrow where we can enjoy afternoon tea (and scones!!!!) before heading to Kuala Lumpur the day after.

I hope you all had a good weekend and the weather isn't too bad (or at least not as bad as the BBC forecasts).

Keep smiling,
Yvonne
x