Though once at the top you are greeted by some pretty striking views, also note the ridiculously long Penang bridge in the background.
At the top there is a selection of places to eat, ranging from very expensive (though not by UK standards) boutique restaurants to stands selling chickpeas, we went with the latter. There is also a series of walks, a Mosque and Hindu temple and some time to hang out with the wildlife.
Though they don’t seem to be very observant of the rules.
After getting off the train, which I think Jen was probably very relieved to do, we decided to walk (maybe not the brightest idea considering it was blisteringly hot) the short walk to Kek Lok Si- a large Buddhist temple built in 1890.
To get to the temple itself you have to walk through a series of winding alleyways with lots of locals trying to sell you their high quality fakes.
Once you reach the base of the temple, a long ascent with a lot of steps awaits.
Though Jen again in her element, stopped at every small detail and every new and interesting statue, so that she could savour the memories via photograph.
Again that night we ate at Georgetown’s Red Garden food court. This also gave us the chance to have our first experience with Thai (ironic I know) mango sticky rice, which is basically as it sounds. Rice cooked in coconut milk- hence the sticky and a mango thrown on the side, it may be simple but words cannot describe how good it tastes.
Day six in Penang was our first ‘expensive’ day, I use the term loosely because in comparison to a similar day in the UK it was not. We started our day with a series of events that resulted in us getting lost, two buses and taxi later we ended up at our destination- the butterfly park. The world’s first and largest butterfly sanctuary and free roaming aviary.
It’s a relatively expensive attraction and a fraction out of the way but definitely worth a visit. Beyond butterflies the aviary is home to turtles, scorpions, millipedes, praying mantises and they also have several insect/reptile shows throughout the day, which gave me the chance to hold a few of them and Jen to be very disturbed- I think she was much happier behind the camera in this instance.
We made a much easier return to Batu Feringhi on the way back, our first stop: a cold beer or a couple- I seem to have turned Jen into a lager drinker. After our few beers we took a stroll along Batu beach to watch the sunset.
Back to Batu food court for what would be our last dinner on this side of the island- yet again ridiculously good food at ridiculously good prices, just for those of you who aren’t familiar with a food court setup, this will give you a brief (though not very good) idea:
After our food we strolled the night markets; when I said we would be back with our money I wasn’t lying in fact we bought quite a few items, or I should probably say Jen bought quite a few- we seemed to go with the idea of buying for our home, probably forgetting that we don’t live together yet. We also had a successful stint at bartering.
After our exciting night we headed back to Georgetown - it seemed the buses to our destination had stopped so we had to get a slightly overpriced taxi back.
Day seven and our final full day in Penang and what an awful day it was, it rained from the moment we woke to the moment we went back to bed and it was oddly cold- I say cold it was 27 degrees which is still the equivalent of a British summer. Anyway not feeling in the mood to really challenge the weather we had a rather sedate day, where our only real events were based around food.
Penang island gave us a great experience- the food, the people, the general vibe of the place has given us great memories and from my personal perspective it was amazing to be able to share something I had previously seen with a girl who never thought she’d see this side of the world.
Hopping on board our luxurious executive coach, we began our journey through the heart of Malaysia to the capital, Kuala Lumpur.
nice pics!
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