Penang

After hot footing it out of the hill we managed to jump on a train to Butterworth in Northern Malaysia. also the gateway to the islands of Penang and Langkawi. Imagine our disappointment when we got to the train station and asked for a ticket and he said, 'Sorry the train is full...you can only travel by first class!!!' Hooray!!!
We got to Butterworth late and took the ferry to Georgetown in Penang. Georgetown is one of the most colonial places in Malaysia. We walked through the town and admired the architecture again. It's also a place with very diverse races and cultures mixed in together. Muslim, Chinese and British expats all under one roof. The result of this is - lots of tasty and delicious food! Again imagine our disappointment!
We visited restaurants, hawker stalls and food courts and I think my stomach has grown to twice the size!

You can visit places like these as the only Western faces and...

eat delicious food like this!...Chicken foot broth anyone?? (John's lunch I hasten to add!)

 We hired a moped for two days to explore the island and yes mum, this time we both had helmets! On the first day we travelled further South, visited a temple with the hugest statue, the snake temple with its resident snake farm and the war museum.

The 4m angry cobra which the Chinese handler kept hitting!!! Aaaghh!

The war museum was based at the fortress that was built by the British in the 1930's and was taken over by the Japanese in 1941. They then used it as a POW camp and tortured and murdered many people there. It was really interesting and the bunker systems and gun emplacements were almost identical to those in Jersey.

John emerging from the escape shaft.

A pitch black tunnel within a tunnel complex in case of air attack.
John had to go round first to make sure there were no bats!

Gun emplacement similar to Jersey.

On the second day we headed North towards the beach, visited the Spice farm and then relaxed on the beach.