Hello We've been pretty busy the last few days- the weather has been so lovely and hot so we've been out and about trying to see as much as we can! We're on an Island off the west coast called Penang. Our hostel has been brilliant, its in China town which can be a bit dodgey at night with lots of prostitutes and unsavoury characters, but its so lovely and the owner hand drew a map and listed buses and things to do and see- and it is 2.44 a night!!! They also have 2 movies showing every night- and brand new releases too, so we've been having a film night every night and eating the most yummy food for 60p!!! Brilliant So we have been non stop during the day so we can get round to everything! The first day in Penang, we went for a wander round the main part of the city and visited the various mosques adn temples- all were very brightly coloured with lots of ornate statues and carvings! We also went to Fort Cornwallis which was the first fort built in Penang when it was founded bla bla bla it wasn't overly thrilling but at least we know how the island came about!! ha ha The following day we headed to Batu Ferrenghi, which is the beach just outside of the main town. The weather had been so good so we were eager to have some relaxing sunbathing time- typically it poured with rain the moment we stepped off the bus! It did manage to clear up though so we got a couple of hours of sun worshipping in! Then we stayed around to check out "batu Bazarre" the night market, which had the usual fake designer bags and watches etc- but we still had to check it- can't miss a market!! Then we had the most horrendous bus journey home- a 20min drive took us 2hours! Nightmare- the driver kept stopping to make phone calls and buy some fags and water and then there were so many people getting on and off....we nearly missed the second movie showing hee hee......tragic! On our final day we headed to Penang Hill which we were told was an absolute must- you get 2 of the slowest trains up the side of the mountain to about 500m above sea level, and you get the most spectacular views over Penang- it was worth the sweaty journey- although Claire got some wandering hands from the smelly men crammed into our cabin on the way back down! I think that would be the one thing that has been a real pain in Malaysia- the hassle we get from the men, it really is beginning to drive us insane and for the first time since we were in Sao Paulo in Brazil we both did begin to feel a bit unsafe out and about! There was also a bit of trouble with bag snatchers on our street while we were staying there but our hostel man was so great- he actually got up at 4.30am to sit with us until our bus came because it was too unsafe to wait outside the hostel! So we made our way from Penang to Thailand in the most scary journey of our lives- i'm not being dramatic either! We had this little mini van to take us over the boarder, then we changed to another one, and this driver was insane!! He went so fast the car would begin to make some alarm noise so he would have to slam on the brakes to get it to stop, and he would carve up other cars and drive on the opposite side of the road to over take- really scary and then he began to fall asleep at the wheel- head bobbing and everything! Fortunately we made it in ones piece- another 3 bus changes and a ferry later .............we arrived to Koh Phi Phi in Thailand! And its been bliss ever since!!!!