On to Malaysia...

After our time spent recuperating from our scooter crash (and exploring the Krabi region) we made our way to the island of Penang off the west coast of Malaysia. The island is one of the first areas where Europeans settled/invaded and as such has really cool colonial architecture. It is also home to some of the best food in Malaysia.


We got in to Georgetown (also called Penang City or just Penang) in the late afternoon. We booked into a hotel and decided that we would spend the next day exploring Penang before taking an overnight bus to the Perhentian Islands on the east coast of Malaysia. We spent the evening at a giant open air food court that served so many different kinds of food from little stalls. It also provided us with endless entertainment in the form of line dancing Chinese tourists and a huge projection screen showing WWE wrestling... both of which are good for a laugh.


In the morning we walked around Georgetown in the sweltering heat. We saw a few of the old colonial buildings and explored Fort Cornwallis- a mildly impressive fort that was historically significant in that is was a very important British base of power during the colonial period. We also wandered into Little India and had samosas from a stall. Later we wandered back into the Indian quarter, down streets bright with colourful saris, incense sellers and shrines. We sat down for a meal of Tandoori chicken (eaten with our fingers and naan bread) and eventually foud our way to the bus station in time for our overnight bus to the Perhentians.

Colonial architecture in Georgetown.

Enjoying the exquisite amusements available at Fort Cornwallis

Tandoori chicken dinner (note the handsanitizer and lack of cutlery... they are related)

Just before boarding the bus, Paul decided that it was time to acquire some sort of camera in order to have some photo documentation of the rest of the trip. We picked up a cheap digital (just under $100 for a Nikon with a 4 gb memory card included) and so we have our own pictures from the rest of the trip!

The bus ride took almost 7.5 hours over the central spine of Malaysia's highlands, and it dropped us off before sunrise in a little town called Kuala Besut. There we were able to catch the first boat to the Perhentian Islands.

Sleeping at the jetty waiting for the sunrise and a boat to Palau Perhentian