Goodbye KL, Hello Penang

13/06

Had to say the horrid farewells to these wonderful people as we are off to Penang. Ken Jasmine dropped us at the train station. Oh dear we got lost, we missed the change-over station so had to go back. Eventually we made it onto the bus, which left at 2:30pm. The drive was magnificent. The scenery around Ipoh is out of this world, wild ferns growing on the side of the mountains like a thick luxurious carpet!

Finally arriving in Penang we had to catch another bus to Georgetown, where we met up with our new host.

There was a do at the Chinese Town Hall which we went to. Oh boy trying to eat with chopsticks was hysterical. I could not stop laughing 'cos I couldn't pick the darn things up and of course I had everyone trying to show me how. What a laugh! We went home and crawled into bed at about 12:30am, sleeping in a single bed - head to toe! Haven't done that in a while!

14/06

Had coffee early and then went to find the beach. It was awesome sitting there and just chilling before it got too hot.

Frank had to do running repairs on trolley case. Oh dear it still has a long way to travel!

Later in the day our host, Chin, drove us around a large part of the island. It is very pretty.

Ooooh before I forget, I tasted Durian. Surprisingly it wasn't bad. Like one guy said "It smells like shit but tastes like Heaven!" I won't go so far to quite compare it to heaven but like I say not bad! Frank won't try it he can't get passed the smell which I must admit is pretty horrendous.

15/06

Chin dropped us off at the Botanical Gardens. It was stunning taking a slow amble through. We have some wonderful plants in SA but wow, here they are awesome!

We now went for lunch and had Pineapple Fried Rice which was very tasty, then we were dropped in Little India while our host went back to work. "Little India" is very much like Indian Town in Durban so not much to say in that regard.

We caught a bus home. Chin went out in the evening and we went down the road and had a divine lamb curry. Afterwards we walked through the night market which is always an education. I fell in love with an oil painting which was marked at RM128 (about R260) by the time we had walked away the price had dropped to RM45.

16/06

This morning we walked along the beach. It is so goreous early in the morning before the heat of the day starts. Chin dropped us off at the largest Chinese Temple in Malaysia. It is gigantic!!!! We managed to go maybe half way before our "old" legs decided ENOUGH stairs! Unfortunately I didn't think to count how many stairs we climbed but it was way too many! What a mind blowing spectical.

We now catch a bus into town and meet Anghou who took us to a Chinese Opera. I went backstage as well to watch the actors putting their make-up on which was fascinating! My word the perfection! Their costumes match their make-up.  We didn't understand any of the opera but it's nothing like we know, with soprano singers etc.   We were so glad that we hadn't made an excuse not to go .  Wicked cool!

Chin picked us up around 9:30pm and we went looking for Pork Satay.  Chin says if you haven't had Satay you haven't been to Malaysia - Mission Accomplished!  Very tasty, peanut sauce, interesting!