Hotel Malaysia Georgetown

... Malaysia, touts definately seem more helpful and accomodating without ulterior motive than in Thailand. Many touts in Malaysia happily helped me or gave me information that in no way benefits them whatsoever, and with a smile. Great people (accept the Indian-Malay taxi men outside the Corus hotel - avoid them unless you are rich). In Thailand the same touts only tend to help because they want to ensnare you into some kind of deal with them. <br>(Whole ...

After another 5 hour bus ride, we reached Penang and went for a short walk around the city. We visitied Fort Conwallis before deciding to go for a beer! In the evening we had a few drinks with the group on the hotel rooftop. <br><br>The following day we visited several temples and were told of the history of Penang and ...

... to to regimented with military precision, with one man seemingly in charge of operations &#8211; telling the prospective customers the cost of their trip, then calling up the next taxi in line and issuing the orders of destination and applicable charge.<br> <br>To say that we were ill-prepared for the reception at our hotel, the Eastern &amp; Oriental, would be the biggest understatement of this blog. As the taxi drew up at the entrance to the ...

... no way of knowing for sure, but it&#8217;s a strong hunch and I&#8217;m sticking with it. Anyway, I was happy and I felt at home, and I was glad to realise that being surrounded by the Chinese brought such a positive response. It somewhat justifies my decision to ditch Indonesia in favour of six more weeks in China. Also excited about Penang now, I&#8217;m aware there is also a strong Indian community here so I look forward to some interracial ...

... place a really eerie, peaceful feeling. The architecture and artwork is beautiful, it must have taken years of patient work to complete. The huge, golden reclining buddhas are always impressive and there are many images of goblins (or something like that) being crushed by the feet of the gods(I didn't ask what it meant). We nearly took the cablecar up to the huge statue of Kuan Yin, goddess of mercy at the top of the hill but thought ...

... guest house for about 7 pound a night, does me perfect! That night the food in Little India was amazing, so i had two dinners from two different restaurants for about 9 quid. One meal back in Pompey in the Blue Cobra in North end costs me around 23 quid. Very full up by now i got a little lost again but after half hour i finally got my bearings and found my way back to my guest house. Spoke to Mum while trying to get on MSN but had no luck.

... in Little India on one side and the gate to Chinatown on the other. Each community has its own distinctive area but these blend together quite happily with Chinese temples/shops ...

... monkeys, changing trains at the middle station. Caught a minibus back down -- different number, different rate. Being short of time we went to KFC for a quick tea, retrieved our bags and lucked out when offered an air-conditioned Mercedes limousine as our taxi from the hotel to the ferry. <br><br>Took the ferry back to Butterworth, and boarded the train to KL which left 30 minutes late. A little larger but older than the other Thai trains, but very comfortable.