Penang :-)

we boarded the ferry in Langkawi over to Penang a place that has had mixed reviews.On the ferry me and Amy sat next to the Chinesse WI  they wrote there own rules and sat where they liked to the annoyance of a american guy "get out of my seat......please" they just laughed at him it was excellent.

on arrival Amy showed a true British stiff upper lip and we trudged in the rain looking for a guesthouse. after 7 refusals and still no room at the inn we would of settle for the stable( see what ive done). but we luckily found salvation at the Travellers lodge which works out at 8 pound a night good times. So the travellers lodge in George town is a clean basic place with lost of interesting charectors there was a lovely guy who knew everything about Penang, joking Jimmy  a grumpy tennager and a political man. Now as for the other travellers there seems to be a over 50s mans single club. which included a drunken Aussie, a groupie for REM who is dealing with the break up. And an american who was a cross between a fat moby and a monk, each to there own.
So Penang is a cosmopiltan place which was colonised by the British back in the day.  its an amazing mix of Maylas Chinesse and India with old Georgian houses. In George town you could be walking down a street and its chinesse architecture and food then the next turn you could be in Little India music playing lots of colours great vibes. For 3 days we walked round taking a sample of all the cultures truly fantastic considering there are 3 religions primarily in Penang, History tells the story of all these people living in Harmony and its still visible to this day  truly remarkable and a real advert for how a cosmopolitan community can function.

halfway through our stay we went to .... drum roll please...... the CHINGAY championship 2011!!!! ......you i know we were excited too, What you aint heard of it.... ok il tell you. Chingay is a 10 metre pole and er well you kinda kick it up in the air and a team mate trys to balance on head or mouth  and then er hangon il copy and paste the rules:-
Among the regulations, Law said were that each Chingay team should comprise of 15 members, the teams should finish their three basic and dangerous acts within eight minutes, participants must wear uniforms, the bamboo pole must be 9.8m to 10.7m and the shape of the flag must be triangular with a length of 7.6m and a width of 5.5m.

LOOK IT UP ON YOUTUBE its better than the xfactor

on our last day we got the cable car up Penang hill which was very steep and a tad expensive. But the view was immense and the best view of a place we admire so much.on the way back down everyone was in fits of laughter at Mr bean on TV. On route we met a nice English couple and shared experiences of our travels so far, we were lucky to bump into the couple again that eve  in the red garden food court were we had some good chat and enjoyed the Maylasian daniel o donnell. there stories of North india were incredible my personal fav was the one about a "dildo hand"

So today we said goodbye to Penang and with it comes a recomendation to everyone "its fookin rioght gud"
one of our favourite places so far. But cant stay for long just turn around and were gone again this time high   up to the Cameron Highlands. Ed if your reading it was like the road to Cairns, and for everyone else a winding road which kept climbing with lots of trees and mountains.

we got to the top and was greeted by some tudor houses, and OMG the cold it was freezing first my hoodie came back into my life then i had to wear jeans and everything honestly it was so cold it must have been at least 20 degrees...

so Cameron highlands is the place we will spend christmas we shall be opening up our bottle of red wine to toast it, we will be at Daniels lodge for 6 days. the owners seem nice he is doing a free bbq on christmas eve for guests and we got a tour around Daniels by his his little girl she speaks better English than me. There is tea, strawberry, apples starbucks and with the cold weather we are having its just like being at home. But the main reason we are here is to finally do some proper trekking and use our boots. Kelvin and Sue you would be in your element. it looks amazing we cant wait to go into the jungle   tomorrow.

so all that is left to say is Merry Christmas to all and to all a .... sorry just enjoy getting in a warm pub have fun spending time with loved ones and try not to fall out.

have a good one Adam and Amy