It is almost divali and Little India is packed with stalls selling amazing saris, garlands and food. The smell is gorgeous! Treated ourselves to the best samosas we've ever eaten.
Yesterday we rode on the funicular railway up Penang Hill, it's very steep and was full of Australian backpackers convinced we were all going to die! At the top there is a temple, mosque, a couple of hotels and spectacular views of Penang. 100 people get off the railway every half an hour but I have no idea where they go! We found a footpath, one of many trails which wrapped around the hill, and set off for a walk, it was as if we were the only people in the world. As we walked we nonchalantly passed a snake climbing up a tree......! Then, we looked up and a massive black and ginger squirrel was running along a wire. We hadn't gone more than 50m further and we found ourselves in amongst a family of gorgeous black and white gibbons.
Amazing - and where was everyone else? After about an hour we got back to the top again and there they were, queueing to go back down! We felt very smug, didn't they know what they were missing?! Or probably they've seen it all before and it's just us who are like kids in a sweet shop.
We had a superb meal on Monday night, at a restaurant which brags, 'If it swims, we cook it.'
There is every sea creature you can imagine- you cringe, you look, you pick - they cook!
We picked giant prawns and a red snapper. We ate:
Baby pak choi stir fried with garlic
Battered garlic prawns with sweet chilli dip
Lemon rice
Red snapper in a lime, garlic and chilli sauce
It was sublime and we were stuffed, we're going back there tonight... In a place which generally costs us £5 tops for our dinner, it's an expensive meal, about £30 including beers but oh wow, it's certainly worth it. We had to keep ourselves to ourselves on Tuesday morning - all that garlic!
Forgive me if I have a moan now. Because our faces clearly stand out in this part of the world, 20 times a day we are asked, 'Where are you from?' After answering honestly, 'England,' then being engaged in a conversation about Manchester United or Liverpool we're now inventing places we come from. I know everyone is really friendly and just want to shake hands with the Englishman but it gets a bit wearing. Plus who wants to stand around discussing Man Utd, oh yes I remember, everyone who doesn't live in Manchester!!
Thanks again for all e-mails, it's great to hear from home. Some of you correspond much more regularly than our sons, we have to Skype them, they don't answer, then feel guilty and Skype us back, usually without any regard for the massive time difference! Thanks for that Alex, who needs sleep anyway?
We're catching a ferry tomorrow to an island called Langkawi, it's meant to be very beautiful, about 2 hours on the ferry. Oh dear, makes me gip just thinking about it! Speak soon.
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