The Rainy season does not make for good beach weather

Georgetown
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We knew that it was the rainy season on the west coast of south Thailand and wanted to get to Chang Mai pretty quickly so went instead to Penang to get a cheap flight into Bangkok.  I would say that Penang is not as nice an island as the islands of Langkawi which we are particularly fond of coz we went there on honeymoon, we could see them in the distance.  Walking around Georgetown some of the architecture was quite interesting, but it was never a particularly relaxing affair.  The island is quite big and navigatable by taxi or bus.  Trying to find out about how the new bus system worked proved to be quite arduous as the buses and timetables had just changed and even the locals who understood our questions didn't know!

Enjoying the smells of the tropical spice garden
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Whilst there we went to an evening of 2 monologues but on by an expat theatre group which were pretty good.  We tried to visit the beach but it started to rain after an hour.  We weren't too impressed by the beaches and it was annoying being asked if we wanted jet ski/ paragliding etc as soon as we stepped close to the beach, we had to find the most secluded spot we could.  This review could be a little unfair though as we were there in the off-season coz it was the rainy season.  Instead we went to the Tropical Spice Garden and this is definitely worth a visit.  It was lovely to walk around even in the rain, the smells were marvelous and we learnt about the different plants and what they could be used for.  Unforunately the mosquitos liked it too and we were bitten unmercilessly, despite the industrial levels of insect repellant that we used.  We also spotted some monkeys in the trees!!

we were bitten unmercilessly