Pearl View Hotel Pulau Penang

... about as big as the lizard that some dude tried to sell me, but more on that in a bit :) The temple is very nice, it is said to be one of the biggest in Southeast Asia. It has a number of levels, the highest housing a giant statue of Quan Yin. The statue is under construction right now so it's completely surrounded by scaffolding, once it's finished i assume it will be worth visiting. There is a large pagoda in which we climbed to the top of, a great view of the ...

... on his way. I just caught the last glimpse of him disappearing under some bushes, it was a wild boar. Good job we hadn't got up 30 seconds earlier, otherwise he would have run across our feet! The road from Banding to Baling was undulating, but it seemed like it was more down than up. I didn't think we had climbed that high but clearly we had. There are a couple of scenic, sweeping descents on this section, the kind where you feel energised and completely at one with the world ...

... the butterfly farm, with a host of non-butterfly attractions also (like the huge iguana, massive catfish and live tarantulas), walked the beach at Batu Feringgi resort area (where I got bitten by a blood-sucking sea bug), rode the funicular railway to Penang Hill (which was lighting up at dusk, and was very lovely till we came across the massive golden orb spiders and Andy had a small meltdown - they were ...

... jotka matkan jalkoihin jaivat. Poika teki jo ennen matkan alkua etukateen ko. paivien aikana koulussa todennakoisesti annettavat laksyt. Lisaksi Antti on yrittanyt parhaansa mukaan selvittaa kaikkien matkan aikana eteen tulleiden paikkojen, asioiden ja ilmioiden taustoja. Ainakin Aasian maantietoa ja historiaa (mm. siirtomaajuttuja), kulttuurien ja uskontojen moninaisuutta, poliittisten jarjestelmien eroja ja jotain talousmaantieteeseen liittyvia pointteja ...

... and a mushroom farmer (Mi), who surprisingly knew a lot about the plants and animals around us and were on holiday from KL. We decided to walk down the hill rather than take the cable car - this was something of a mistake in my leather soled Warehouse flip flops - only 5 km but at times what felt like a 45 degree angle! It was well worth it though, monkeys, snakes, six inch wide spiders and a labrador! There was one family of ...

... were not distracted watching them there were plenty of stalls selling food or a whole range of things to keep us entertained. At the waterfall ...

... plenty of entertainment and lots of free food to be had. They closed off a couple of blocks in ...

... with information. Jenn did her share in discussing politics & religion - me? Nope, really wanted to know some numbers. So here they are: Penang has 1.2 million people. Colonized by the Brits in the later 1700's, early 1800's. Started to be a tourist destination in the 50's. Malaysia basically has 3 groups. The Muslims who make up about 60%, who mainly immigrated from Indonesia. The rest is made up of Hindu's, East ...

... syysta, ettei taas ollu mitaan kasitysta minne ollan menossa yoks. Lonlyplanetissa oli onneks kaupungin kartta niin lahdettiin suunnistamaan chinatownia kohti, missa suurin osa hostelleista naytti olevan. Eihan me kayty taas kun kymmenessa kysymassa. Kyl ne kovaa hintaa kehtaa nain high seasonina pyytaa. 25 ringittii saatiin ilmastoitu huone lopulta, eli tosi halpa. Syomaan ja nukkumaan.

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