Penang- another chinatown and there's bugs everywhere in my room!

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First day in Penang was nothing major...just checked in and then wondered around.

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Today my roomie and I went w/our tour leader for sunday morning dim sum! It was delish! It was totally authentic in our restaurant. Dishes clanking, unknown languages, and steaming food whizzing by you. After that we did a city tour of the historical sites and saw a few more temples. Blah....only good thing that came out of it was finding some cute bracelets at the temple. It's red thread knotted with a piece of jade. No one has comment on how cute it is because it isn't, but I heart it. I have a penchant for red thread bracelets with jade....I have a bazillion already, but this one i liked because for 5 ringgit the proceeds go back to the temple. There were too many buddahs and stairs to keep up with and it was HOT! That's all I have to say about that. After the city tour my roommie and I jumped on the local bus to go find the butterfly farm. After an hour later and walking 2 miles later we found it! SO AMAZING! I totally hated Penang until we went there. SO much cleaner and more of a resort area. The butterflies were gorgeous, bright, and everywhere. We just wondered around for an hour taking pictures and watching them flutter around. After that we tried to unsuccessfully find the beach. Ended up in the fisherman area...bunch of guys in hammocks. So then we took the beach and ended up at ferengi beach. It started to rain so we could hang out at the beach so we went to the bar instead for happy hour. After that we stumbled on an indian restuarant. Splurged on shrimp tikka masala...YUM!
There are bugs everywhere in my room. In the drawers, on the walls, and in my bed!!! YUCK! There is also a gecko in here chirping at me. Wish it would do it's job and eat the bugs.

Here's the website for the butterfly farm...definitely worth checking out. Also the national park is nearby if you make this a day trip. http://www.butterfly-insect.com/

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Ok, so the bug I caught and put in the glass jar is gone! I thought it was dead...but apparently not. Ew.
Then horror of all horrors, I found BLOOD on my bath towel! It was not mine! I thought maybe it was an old stain but it smeared when I wet it. Oh that's so gross! This hotel is horrible. DO NOT STAY AT HONG PING HOTEL!!! Avoid this like H1N1. Also, instead of giving you the standard 2 sealed bottled of water, this place gives you 2 unsealed filtered water. I didn't want to chance it to even brush my teeth with it so I went to the 7/11 down the street to load up on water. The bathroom also had pink mold everywhere= totally unsanitary. This is the dirtiest hotel ever. I was glad to leave.

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Photos

nice pilings to hold up the buildings
look closer at the plastic buckets used to stabilize the building.