Malaysia. Penang.

We had a very long day of travelling ahead of us. We left for the ferry at 5:45 and caught the 7:00am ferry to the mainland. From there we got a mini bus to the boarder. As we were queueing to exit Thailand the heavens opened and it was torrential! Great timing!! We huddled undercover and got stamped out and walked over to the Malaysian side for a new stamp in the passport! We then got in another mini his for the long ride to Penang. 

We arrived in Georgetown Penang in the evening and the Mingood hotel, pretty minging! We crossed the longest bridge  in the world to get to Penang, it was 23km long! But it was in a good location. We took a walk around the city and then went for dinner at a food court. These food courts are great, but so hard to decide what to have! There was some love music which was funny, especially when this old Malay lady started yodelling! 

Georgetown was an old English town and still had a lot of the old English settlers buildings. It was a really pretty town and looked great by night. They are very keen to keep their buildings painted white and they look great. 

In the morning we had a tour of the city my rickshaw. It was two to a bike but the seats were so small! Not quite big enough for two westerns! We were such a struggle for our old guy to cycling with that he had to keep getting off and push us. I've really piled on the pounds!

We cycled around the city and were showed lots of street art, both paintings and these iron animation sculptures. 

We stopped off at a Chinese clan building which was used as a meeting place for a particular clan. It was beautiful and very ornate. They had a stage which was used for opera, but this opera looked a bit more like a pantomime. 

We then went to the harbour side where lots if the Chinese clans set up home on the water. They lived there as they did not have to pay for the land. It is still inhabited but many of the new generations don't want to live there. I can see why, it's pretty basic. 

After a bit more sight seeing we were dropped off at the Blue Mansion which was the home of a wealthy Chinese business man and was supposed to be the finest example of a traditional Chinese mansion outside of China. I had high hopes and was expecting something like Jim Thompsons house in Bangkok, but it was not so amazing. Pretty but not awesome. 

We got ready to leave Georgetown and head up to the cool hills of the Cameron Highlands. Looking forwards to some less hot weather!