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Penang, Malaysia, December 10


Penang is a small tropical island of the west coast of the Malaysian Peninsular.  Being a former British colony English is widely spoken and there is definitely a feel of colonialism even just walking from the port. Penang has a population of just over 700,000 people with the majority living in Georgetown. 60% of the inhabitants are Chinese, 32% Malays and 7% Indian.  With the mix of all these cultures the food is touted to be the best in all of south-east Asia (but then guess that’s debatable)! 

Our tour was ‘The grand Tour of  Penang’ - first stop was at Chung Keng Kooi Mansion, an architectural treasure with an unusual history, as the head of the Hai San secret society once lived there.  This mansion was amazing, the Chinese furniture and architecture ornate and definitely over the top but nice to see. We then stopped for a visit to the Kek Lol Si Temple  and from there to lunch at the Golden Sands Resort.  

Back on the bus to the Butterfly and wildlife enclosure which was really nice. 

So then we drove around the mountains for two hours, seemingly never ending!  Stopped at a roadside stall to taste nutmeg - locally grown and processed - and the candied nutmeg was delicious.  Have never seen that before.  Also stopped to take a picture of a typical Malay house built on sticks.  From then on it was traffic chaos trying to get back to the ship, and of course we were all over it by then. The countryside is certainly very lush and lovely, with all kinds of fruits like bananas, papaya, coconuts, durian, mangoes etc all prolific in the area.  

A long day, over 8 hours and very tired! Raced around to get to the crew show at six before dinner with English friends who are leaving to fly home from Singapore.  


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