Penang

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The Blue Diamond is a pretty fun place. They have an outdoor cafe and a jamming stage, though the in-house band is too good, and probably a bit intimidating to any would-be performers. Loads of geckos too, which is cool. The room's not bad at all for the price.

Joss: no sign of Gill. I haven't asked after him, but the most outgoing staff member here seems to be Lake, if you know him. funny guy, sings every night with this fantastic gravelly blues voice. Can't place his ethnicity... maybe Thai or dark-skinned Malay?


First full day was spent checking out more temples. Seen loads now, but they are still quite interesting. There was a chinese one that was very busy and I spent about 15 minutes just watching people worship. you get a good feel for how the religion works that way.

Went out for an Indian that night,

Second full day was spent heading over to the Kek Lok Si Chinese Bhuddist temple complex. When you get close on the bus you can see it built halfway up the hillside, an impressively huge set of towers and pagodas. Looking at it from a distance, you can see that "complex" is a very fitting term for it. The long path up is hemmed in on both sides by tourist stalls with enthusiastic merchants selling trinkets, t-shirts, sarongs etc. You can tell you've reached the temple entrance when you suddenly come upon a pond that is literally heaving with turtles. Apparently they represent eternity, so the monks or whoever runs the place have crammed loads of them into a space that's realy not big enough.

Though whole sections of the temple are held by tourist shops, the place wasn't totally spoiled by them. There was an impressive statue of one Bhuddist god or acolyte or whatever right at the top overlooking the place, surrounded by eight half-built pillars that will eventually hold a poagoda over the top to sheild it from the elements. Great view of the city from up there too, though to be honest Georgetown doesn't look too good from a distance.

MORE temples today - both Bhuddist. We've got some pictures of them which speak for themselves, really. I'm going through my blog trying to catch up on the photos around now. I'll add the last few days' first.

Tonight we take a bus across the Peninsular, then get a boat out to Perhentian Kecil, which the Rough Guide describes as a "textbook island paradise", only mildly spoiled by tourism. There's no internet there, except the one 24RM an hour connection (apparently) so I won't blog again until Friday or Saturday.

Love to all. I'll put some photos up now. See ya!

Sam

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Photos

Kek Lok Si From a Distance
Also: Pepsi!

The Turtle Pond
Poor buggers...

Me, and some guys we met in the Temple.
Can't remember their names.

The Statue (In Sillhouette)
Difficult to get a decent picture against the sky, really.

Pagoda-scape
From the top of the tower.

Waiting for Breakfast
Roti Chanai (Indian Bread) in the restaurant next to the Blue Diamond

Comments

[kev]

ooo
ooo any chance you can get me a pet turtle? Man, this trip must be incredible! The stuff you get to see! Hope you two are well, and having a great time!

[helen]

Great to see some of your photos, and i am sure Joss will be pleased you liked the Blue Diamond. He is in London at the moment, until tomorrow, staying with Gevie. Been trying to get him organised for going to college next weekend but he's not even here! Heave a great time on the islands they really are supposed to be special. I remember Steph and Denis talking about them. Will you be going diving? Or just snorkelling? Think you have tot do that at least Loads of Love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Peewee Herman]

hey those gold guys look badass. Hm the view looks quite good from Pegoda

[Joss]

oooooh memories!
yeh 'lake' is cool as hell (i thought he was called 'leg' though) and i know what u mean out his ethnicity being hard to place cos he sounds mexican! he used to say "mmhhmhmhmjossmdrumhsmhm" which meant "joss is gonna play drums now!". that 24RM internet is true. thats the one i had to use after losing my wallet to cancel my credit card! you see why i couldnt phone them myself? also make sure you take all the cash you'll need, there's no cash machines on either island!! seeya in an age bro XXX

[Sam_W]

[quote]hey those gold guys look badass. Hm the view looks quite good from Pegoda[/quote] Is this Alex? I'd prefer people put their real names down so I know who's posting. Funny comment, though.