Colonial Georgetown

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Our first stop in malaysia was the pleasant Georgetown. It is a large mixing pot of numerous people and religions. They all live and work side by side in what appears harmnious conditions. We walked around town all day through the old colonial district with its european architecture (some buildings in a sorry state), little india with bollywood music blaring out pungeant street vendors (not the people) and colourful hindu temples. Chinatown alive with small shops selling antiques, chinese medicines and every kind of curiosity. Also the main budget accomadation area (so we were there too). Then superimposed upon the whole town is islamic culture and mosques. Geoergetown is proud of its history and promotes it throughout the town. It was the first european outpost in mainland malaysia and quickly became a wealthy commercial dock. Sprinkled throughout town is evidence of the towns wealth, large mansions both european and chinese in style. We spent the whole of the first day trekking the town learning about its history - great. In the evening we had a look around the giant shopping mall - over 1000 shops spread over seven floors.
on the second day we set off on bikes towards penang hill. we travelled up the cliff railway which took 30 minutes to complete. at the top we could see the whole eastern side of the island. we then cycled down the steep zigzag track to the bottom which emptied out into the botanical gardens. We strolled around the gardens trying to save our ice ceam from the thieving monkeys. We then cycled back along the waterfront back to our hotel. In the evening we chilled out at a local bar watching the bustling town around us.

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