Day 12 - Penang

,After an undisturbed night's slumbers the alarm woke me at 08:00, up early to make the most of our full day in Penang. Things started to go slightly awry when we learned that we weren't booked in for breakfast but on a room only basis but undeterred we headed off to the Snake Temple. We knew from our map - akin to somthing drawn by a precocious four year old armed with a new box of Crayola - that the temple was in the general direction of the airport but as we were carried along in streams of morning traffic we saw no signs until finally a U-Turn NOW! sign set wheels to screeching, horns to blaring and family Harris tootling back templewards. Once parked, in the shade of a handy tree, food was the first call and we chose a selection of fresh mango (yum!), pineapple, (double yum!!), coconut milk fresh from the coconut and prepared by a man and his two foot long parang (big curvy knife) (:-s), and assorted chocolate and sugar snacks to even the balance. 

Into the temple we headed, managing to avoid the temptation of buying a roulette set, model of a jumbo jet, hat with horns, rubber chicken or NYPD police set, and were somewhat underwhelmed when we reached the altar to find two cane cake satnds adorned with three absolutley motionless pit vipers. Hmmmm, i thought, hmmmmmm. The thing about Malaysia is that the people seem really disinterested in either you or their attraction - no eye contact, greetings, information - "this is it - what did you expect?". Luckily we walked though an unmarked door and found Snake Temple part two - this time columns with cane hat racks encircled with many more pit vipers and a big snake which was regularly hauled out of its case and draped on tourists - George and Maz amongst them. 

(A sign above the giant tortoise which amused us all somewhat)

the tour finished off with a rather sad snake zoo - to be honest i expected more slithering - but there were a couple of HUGE snakes - reticulated pythons and a king cobra who definitely would cause a girlish scream and a waving of hands Al Jolson style if met in a darkened alley. Snaked up to the max we headed for the airport to return the car - a seemingly innocent task which turned into the low point of the holiday so far so let's skip past that and change scenes to the hotel pool where G, L and I splished and splashed and slept (well, i did) for a couple of hours whilst Maz had a rest in a darkened room. Four o clock arrived, the sun started to sink and the pool started to fill with workers returning from their offices and to be honest i had heard enough from the Australian who had a new tattoo everytime he visited a new city - even the story of how he and his mates got an American lady so drunk they managed to tattoo her chest with Bismarck before she awoke! - so back to the room I tripped. 

Food was pretty high on everyone's agenda so we left the hotel and found a litle restaurant with an international menu. Hardened curry heads M&K went for Char Koay Teow and Nasi Lemak whilst the kids took advantage of having a menu which included things in English to enjoy an omelette and fish and chips - which were none too shabby by the look of the clean plates at meal's end. Thus fortified we headed off for the Clan Jetties, the site of the first Chinese settlement in Penang, by the coast with lots of houses built on stilts either side of a central pier jutting out into the sea. Now UNESCO protected this is a fascinating glimpse of how things once were - and indeed still are for those living here.

Once finished there we started to walk home and headed, when opportunity allowed, for Little India which was filled with colour, LOUD music, mopeds and hundreds of food stalls celebrating Ramadan. So much delicious food, fantastic sights, delicious smells, noise, people, incredible food - so incredible we bought some of almost everything. Some we knew like samosa, pakora and bhaji but others such as the long fried ribbons of dough covered in orange stuff, the green spring rolls which are coconut and sticky rice concoctions for dessert and other bits and bobs were new to all of us. Some Thai chilli sauce to spice things up, a round of Kickapoo to wash things down and now we are back at the hotel ready for an illicit street food feast!

Sitting cross legged on the carpet scoffong illicit goodies reminded us of midnight feasts in dormitories at school or on field trips, waiting for the teacher ( or in this case the hotel manager) to burst in and give us Saturday morning detention. The dahl which came with the lattice breads was lovely, the orange stuff was VERY sweet and the green sweet spring rolls were delicious - coconut, palm syrup and rice in a sweet pastry.....more please! Replete, we made a quick sojourn to the lobby to check in for our flights tomorrow and then - devils that we are - we headed to the revolving restaurant and rooftop bar for some cocktails. of course, the restaurant was on its final revolution when we arrived before being closed for the night (such is the impeccable Harris timing!) but the mojito was cold and the views were a fine sign off to our stay on the Pearl of the Orient. Next stop Langkawi! 

Kent.