Penang, hot like curry!

Selamat Petang! We find ourselves on the lovely island of Penang sitting in one of the finest hotels in SE Asia - The E&O. We were only going to stay one night, but opted for two when working through the rest of our plans. We are glad we did!

We arrived here in Penang after a 3 hour ferry ride from Langkawi. The trip was relatively uneventful, but I must comment that I fear that the very worst features of our American "culture" have reached the far east... Ally and I were sitting at a Malay fast food venue eating some noodles and rice and waiting for our ferry when we heard "Hit me baby one more time". I have to say I'm really disappointed that I am halfway around the world and can't escape that train wreck who calls herself a singer? We next heard a few songs from the Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas album. No lie. Christmas songs, in March in a country that is predominantly Muslim, Buddhist or Hindu. Hmm....

Anyways, the ferry brought us to the town of Georgetown here on the island of Penang and we promptly grabbed a taxi to our hotel where we were given welcome drinks and cold towels because it is so hot and humid here. Our room is somewhat like a palace. I should say rooms bcause we have an entire suite that overlooks the sea all for the cost of a cheap Super 8 in the USA. Great, isn't it?

So last night, we got cleaned up and then decided to head out and check out Georgetown. We first stopped at an internet cafe to firm up a plane ticket to KL - more on that later. Upon leaving the internet cafe, we were greeted by torrential downpour and of course we had no umbrella (brilliant). We got soaked but finally got a taxi and headed back to the hotel where we ate dinner in the bar with really bad music...

Today we slept in and then had our delicious breakfast buffet here at the E&O - Anything you could ever want, including make your own sushi! It was crazy! From there we set out into Georgetown. We looked for the bus stop to no avail and then grabbed a taxi to the Kek Lok Si Temple - a very large and beautiful Buddhist temple on the hill overlooking Georgetown. It was pretty hot and humid but we had a great time climbing to the top and taking in the view. From there we found the bus and headed back to Georgetown to the Little India area where we went shopping and got a few beautiful tops. Then we were spent from the heat so we returned to the hotel and lounged by the pool with a mojito.

Tonight we headed back to Little India to a fantastic restaurant called Madras New Woodlands - It's a vegetarian Indian restaurant and we were not disappointed. I am full of lots of yummy Indian treats including real versions of all of my favorites (i.e. palak paneer). Ally and I were both inclined to remember (and thus to mention here) the delicious Indian dish that Cam and Erika made for us camping in Sequoia National Park last year (BTW - Happy Birthday (on Saturday) to Cameron!) Anyways, stuffed and happy we headed back to the hotel just in time to miss the incoming rainstorm.

Tomorrow morning we have opted to fly to Kuala Lumpur. We had originally thought of renting a car and driving to the Cameron Highlands and Teman Negara, but given our observation of driving (safer than Vietnam, but still very scary), we think it safer to stick to the sky. So instead, we will fly to Kuala Lumpur and take the bus to Teman Negara for some jungle trekking. We plan to stay away from civilization until Wednesday when we return to Kuala Lumpur so stay tuned after that. Bye for now!