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Hey guys, here's my blog on penang where I was from 22nd till the 29th March 2013. The last time i updated on here I was about to get a train from KL to butterworth, the train was surprisingly comfy, we did book first class though as we booked it at home as a treat it was an 6 hour journey and cost about £12. The seats were really wide and comfy and you had lots of leg room. When we got off the train we had to get the ferry to Penang island. We found the ferry port as there was signs outside but when we were there we didn't know if it was the correct one as we thought more western people from the train would be getting on it and it was just myself dave and locals so we asked about 3 different people if it was going to Penang to check. The ferry ride was only about 15 minutes until we got off at Penang and we started to follow the map I had drew to where we needed to go to get to the hostel, it was so hot and my bag was so heavy I see why people recommend to take 40L backpacks not 55L I was sweating like crazy in the heat and was so tired but following the map and a 20 minute walk we did find the hostel.
The hostel was called Roykon and we booked 2 beds in a six bed dorm, I really couldn't rate this hostel enough it's so clean the rooms are spacious and the bunk beds were big enough for me and dave to stay in the bottom one together so I wasn't on the top bunk yay. The hostel has mainly Chinese/japanese residents as its a Japanese hostel. We were sharing our dorm with 3 Chinese people 2 girls and one boy but they were never in so we only saw them when they came in to go to bed, and after then we had another Chinese boy a Japanese boy a Spanish and holland guy and a smelly English girl (she stunk out the room). We also got free breakfast at the hostel which I didn't know we were going to get which defiantly saved us money I had three bits of toast with jam (the jam was so good) and dave got the same but with eggs aswell but they also had like frankfurters or a selection of cereals.
Around the corner from our hostel is red dragon night market which had all the table and chairs and about 20 different street food stalls to choose from, the first time I went there I took the picture of nan and cheuk with me to take a picture of it with the food as I know she has always wanted to go to Penang, nan you would of loved that chicken clay pot.
We haven't really gone out drinking while we were here as its to expensive to drink in Malaysia with our budget as its like £2 a beer (I know that sounds like nothing but that £2 would get my lunch tomorrow) we will wait for thailand as its so much cheaper or were going to Langkawi next which is a tax free island so it's going to be cheaper so we may treat our self to a few there :)
While we were in Penang we went to Kok Lok Si which is the biggest temple in south east asia it was beautiful we even worked out how to get the bus here so it would only cost us 50p instead of getting ripped off by the taxis. When we were outside the temple and started taking pictures I noticed that m camera said memory full and at that point I realised what we had done, forgot to put the memory card back in the camera after we uploaded them on to my iPad what idiots, so we had to come back two days later to take pictures of it ha. Inside the temple there was a pond with loads of turtles which was quite cool. We also paid to go up the elevator to a section at the top where they had a waterfall and another large one of their god statues, we also paid to walk up the other side of the temple which was up lots of stairs to the top of a tower which had the most amazing views of Penang. On the bus drive home the bus tapped another car on its side, they really don't drive like we do but I'm kind of getting used to it now.
We also went to go the botanical gardens the next day but the bus still hadn't turned up after waiting 50 minutes so we decided to go to this fort that dave wanted to go and see instead, it was interesting there had all the old cannons and a church and the prison etc and i learnt a few things about it all from dave (which unfortunately I've forgot already)
We also went to Penang hill at night but we were rushed there due to wanting o make sure we get the last bus back, you get a ticket from the front for the train up the hill which was £7.50 really not worth the money and you get in the train and it takes you up a very steep hill it was like on a roller coaster I was so scared it was going to drop backwards, I hate stuff like that. From the top we could see the whole of Penang at night lit up it was beautiful and after spending about 10 minutes figuring out how to put my camera on a setting that would do it justice we took some amazing pictures of he view.
We did manage to go to Botanical gardens today when the bus decided to turn up and take us it was a bit like Central Park and had all different directions to go Depending on what you wanted to see, we were looking for a waterfall that was there and climbed up the most steepest steps for what seemed like forever, we had to stop lots of times for a couple of minutes for a rest heir carrying on I had never had such a work out in my life, after about half an hour we find out from a man also walking up that the steps weren't taking us to the waterfall as we thought but were just steps that people walk up to stay fit, I could of cried. We walked all the way down them and my legs were shaking like jelly!! And to make it worse we never did find the water fall.
Also in Penang when we would walk back to our hostel we kept seeing the same ginger cat run past us wit a whole fist in its mouth and hide to eat it. We also kept seeing a big rat run in the drain who we have named Ben. .
I also tried a roti Canai as nan recommended to me which I has here I had a chicken one it was lovely and dave had mutton curry and rice, which he liked which was the first ever Indian he has properly enjoyed yay, we even went back there for dinner in the evening, I think I've cracked dave eating Indian woooo but I know it's completely different to Indian back home so when were back its going to stop :(
I better go and pack now because I'm waffling on, we have to be up at half 6 to get a ferry to our next destination called Langkawi where we staying next to a white sand and clear seas beach on Pantai Ceneng yay I can't wait to lie on a beach for 6 days after being in the city for a couple of weeks it's exactly what I needs. I'm not sure if I will have Wifi there so if I don't I will speak to you all when I'm in Bangkok on the 5th. Love and miss you all Xxxxx
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