Penang (Malaysia)

Huge temple in Penang
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We took a bus from the little visited Kuala Kangsar to Butterworth, and caught a ferry across to Georgetown, Penang. We stayed in the Chinatown part of Georgetown on the island of Penang, and to be honest it felt quite seedy in the area, especially at night. It's pretty cramped and chaotic in Georgetown, with open sewers in the streets and crazy traffic. Georgetown does have some colonial charm though from its British past, even though most of the colonial buildings are a little run down nowadays.

We visited the Kek Lok Si Temple, which is the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia, which is situated on a hill top at Air Itam near Penang HIll. The temple's design is Burmese at the top, Chinese at the bottom and Thai in between, so a real fusion!

We then hit the beach at Batu Ferringhi at the north of the island for some relaxation, although we decided to pay to use a posh hotel's pool and facilities, as you just get hassled so much on the beach, as Malaysia is a Muslim country and they're not used to seeing the western style swimsuits or bikinis! The Malays seem to swim fully clothed, men and women, although not many women swim. We even saw a woman on the back of a jet ski in a full Burqa outfit, with just a slit for her to see out of!

From Penang onto the Thai border.