Day 164 - Cameron Highlands to Penang

Up, breakfast and check out of our hotel at Cameron Highlands by 7.45am, and at the bus station 5min later.  Nic and I had booked seats on the 8am bus to Penang.  The trip took 5.5 hours.  For the first hour or so it was a very slow trip, winding around the Cameron Highlands roads.  We picked up speed once we hit the highway.  We were warned that there would be a lot of traffic around Malaysia today as school holidays start, Ramadan finishes next week, and there is also Malaysia National Day. 

It was pouring with rain when we arrived at Penang bus station.  We caught a taxi to our hotel that is in Georgetown, the capital of Penang (ps Penang is an island off the west coast of the Malaysian mainland, connected to the mainland via an 8km long bridge).  Although it was wet, Nic and I noticed straight away how much warmer it was in Georgetown, than it was in the Cameron Highlands.

We unpacked, then hit the road straight away so we could explore Georgetown.  It really is quite compact, so we partly followed the guidebook, and partly went where we thought looked interesting.  What we did see was a combination of Chinese, Indian and Malaysian influence, and Penang has one of the greatest concentrations of colonial architecture in Asia.  Check this out!

By about 4pm we were really in need of something to drink and a snack (as we had not had lunch), so stopped in to the Eastern and Oriental Hotel, a famous hotel that people such as Kipling has stayed at in the past.  It is classic colonial architecture, and situated right on the Straight of Melaka.  We some wine and a bit to eat.  It was all really lovely.  We were sitting outside enjoying the sound of the water on the rocky beach but then the rain came down.  At least we were dry in the hotel.

We left the hotel and continued to wander around Georgetown.  It is so easy to loose all sense of time.  At one point we found a bookshop that specialises in Chinese literature, and has an attached cafe.  The staff were lovely so we had a hot drink in the serene environment. 

For dinner we stopped in an Indian cafe that looked pretty basic but had most tables full of predominantly Indian people- sign that it was good.  We ordered a couple of dishes, and enjoyed them emmensely whilst chatting to two friendly guys.  By this stage though, I was getting a really sore throat, and the dry cough I had had for a couple of days was getting worse.  By the time we finished our meal it was pouring with rain, and I really needed to get home to bed.  We found the hotel pretty easily and were happy into our dry hotel room.