Dang, Penang!

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Hello, guys and gals! While Caz and I relax at our hostel during our last night in Penang, I thought I'd catch you up. It took four buses, a ferry, and about 8 hours to get to Georgetown, Penang Island's main town, so we weren't up to much our first night. We wandered around and got some delicious food from an outdoor food court: asam laksa for me and chicken satay for Caz, topped up by some delicious banana and ice cream desserts from a cafe just down the lane from our hostel. That was enough to put me to sleep, though Caz stayed up to watch a movie.

We were up and hopping the next day. After some hostel-supplied breakfast (gotta love the free toast, jam, and coffee!), we got on a bus to the Penang National Park. We started our hike at the same time as a school group of teenage boys, which resulted in us being stalked for the first ten minutes with calls of "Wait!" "I love you!" "Justin Beiber!" Supposedly, they hate him. Luckily we took the right fork when they took the left, and the rest of the hike was a bit more peaceful. The walk took us through a few beaches and viney, shady rainforests. The heat and humidity caused quite a sweat, but we made it all the way to the end of the trail: a lighthouse on the top of a cliff head. We were very proud of our athleticism, but we did opt to take a boat ride back instead of repeating the 2 hour hike.

While waiting for the bus back to town, we had some protha at a little kiosk. It's a lot like naan, but with fillings cooked right inside it. Caz had an egg one, and we both had ones filled with banana and chocolate. We finished just in time to catch our bus. Once back in town, we stopped only long enough to cool down; then it was back on another bus to Kek Lok Si Temple. This huge Buddhist temple was comprised of many different, colorful buildings stacked up a hill and topped with a gigantic wooden statue of Kuan Yin, a Bodhisattva of mercy. Unfortunately there was no way to get to it besides climb up the hill, so we apologized to our tired legs and made one more effort. At least we managed to arrive in time to take a lift up the last part of the hill to the statue. It was a really amazing complex, and the Bodhisattva was beautiful. There were some statues of the Chinese zodiac as well, and we dutifully found our corresponding animals. Then we trekked back down and picked up a couple delicious pastries before getting the bus back again to Georgetown.

 We were pretty hungry by then, so we decided to get some Penang delicacies straight off the street. We took a seat at a metal table right on the road and got some Wan Tan Mee (noodle broth with pork and wontons) from a nearby cart. A very pushy salesman also got us to take some fresh squeezed apple juice. No harm there, really. Another man joined our table as we were finishing. He turned out to be the owner of a bar on the main strip called Reggae Bar. I was still hungry, so I got a second dinner in the form of Char Keow Teoy, a stir-fry of noodles, prawns, cockles, egg, and chilies. Caz got herself a cendol, and then we had a nightcap at Reggae Club. I guess it's pretty obviously that food was a big highlight of our time in Penang, as well as Melaka!

Next up on the schedule is an early ferry ride to Langkawi Island. Beach, diving, and lots of good times ahead!