On Monday, 30 January I was whisked around Penang to see the sites and enjoy some of the local cuisine.

My day started off with me meeting my friend's father, who took us around town for a bit of a whirlwind site-seeing trip, briefly stopping off at the ... Mall ever so briefly to view a couple of digital cameras before heading off again to meet more of my friends' family.

However, before we met the family, we headed back to my friends' Grandfather's house to pack our belongings and to have a quick bite to eat.

I was treated to a taste of Durian, which is a hard, spiky shelled fruit. Once opened they have a pungent gas-like smell. The actual fruit cannot be eaten as one would a watermelon or orange, instead one eats the fleshy surrounds of the pips.

I gave it a try, but didn't get very far, partly because of the pungent smell and also because of the similarly strong taste the flesh that surrounds the pips have.

After trying this and a couple of other delicacies we bought at the corner restaran, we packed the car and headed back out to meet my friends's aunt and daughter for lunch.

We were treated to a smorgasbord of food, ranging from spicy vegetables to fish, mussels in a sweet chilli sauce and deep-fried battered shrimp, amongst other things.

I gave everything a try and surprisingly, I really enjoyed the mussels, however, the sweet chilli sauce they were in was extremely overpowering and knocked my tastes buds for a loop.

After, we headed back to Kuala Lumpur to meet up with friends. The journey took about 5 hours and I slept most of the way due to the fact that we had gone to bed around 3am that morning!

We arrived in Kuala Lumpur shortly before 12am and met with friends. We sat at a rather eclectic restaurant for a while before heading back home.

Once home, we sat up laughing and chatting and eventually crawled into bed around 5am!

The way that people live here in Malaysia is a massive contrast to the UK and I'm slowly, but surely, getting my body clock in sync with it.

My palette is also becoming accustomed to the local delicacies, albeit it really slowly! ... But at least I am trying a few things and can say I actually had it ;-)

I'll be in Kuala Lumpur the next couple of days and it looks like I'm heading out to a night market in the City and to see the Petronas Towers by night!

I will also be going to a huge family gathering and will be taken to the City by day to wander around before jetting off to Bangkok on Saturday!

Well, best be going ... Have a load more sights to see, food to try and people to meet!

'Til next time ....

Ciao,
Michael