On to Pulau Penang, the oldest British settlement on the peninsula - major city Georgetown:

Georgetown is basically a huge Chinatown on an island. OK, so there's a Little India too, but that's just a Little India in Chinatown. On an Island. We thought we were in the mood for a big city but my first impression of Georgetown was that it was dirty, noisy, rundown and full of rats. The rats part is true but regardless, Georgetown grew on me.

The backpacker hostels are concentrated in a small area (Chinatown) along with all the necessary amenities like used bookstores, travel agencies, internet cafes and bars but there are also plenty of local shops selling rattan furniture, Chinese herbal medicines, dried fish and lots of other stuff that I have no idea what it could be used for.

Our first full day in Penang was spent trying to get to Penang Hill which is about 800 m above sea level and is supposed to be significantly cooler. Along the way, we stumbled on Kek Lok Si Temple, an impressive Buddhist temple with a tall pagoda from which there are some nice views. A few missteps later we eventually found Penang Hill and took the funicular up to the top. The way up is extremely steep and the funicular takes 30 minutes to climb or descend the hill. At the very top of the hill are some pretty spectacular views of the island and the mainland. Or rather they would have been spectacular views if it hadn't been so cloudy.

Malaysia is hot and humid year round and is a little too close to the equator for my tastes. We've had our share of rain and humidity and it was so hot on our walk around Penang that our faces were continuously dripping sweat and our shirts were not a pretty sight. On the other hand, all that rain produces a lot of greenery and even the major highways in Malaysia are surrounded by forests of lush palm trees and other tropical woods. But still, it's sticky and warm and fairly uncomfortable all the time, even at night. The airconditioner in our small hostel room in Georgetown was brand new though and did cool us down very nicely. Cold showers are also growing on me.

That night, we ventured into Little India to have our 4th Indian dinner in a row. You would think that we'd be tired of Indian food but I really enjoyed each meal and we even had Indian food the next night as well but that time we didn't have to venture outside Chinatown. I'm really enjoying the mango lassis and Pearse has tried Chicken Tikka in just about every place we've been, usually with good results.

On our last full day in Georgetown we visited the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, a huge house built in the 1880s by one of the richest men in Asia - dubbed the Rockefeller of the East. Cheong Fatt Tze came to the Malay peninsula from China, built a fortune and left a dynasty. He had houses in several places in Indonesia, Malyasia, Singapore and China and even started a winery in northern China which is still in operation. His house in Penang was supposed to be his favorite and the most elaborate one and was where he installed his favorite wife - "wife number 7." Unfortunately, before he died he had the brilliant idea of keeping his houses intact by not allowing any of them (or their furnishings) to be sold until his youngest son died. As you can imagine from the phrase "wife number 7" he had many sons and the last was born in 1914 - 2 years before he died. That son died in 1989 and Cheong's many heirs were chomping at the bit to finally get their inheritances 73 years after his death so they immediately put the house and furnishings on sale. After 73 years with only $200 a year left in the will for upkeep, the house was quite dilapidated and a private company bought it and restored it to it's original condition using master craftsmen. The house is a beautiful example of a wealthy "Straits Chinese" style home and obviously used the best quality and most modern material of both Eastern and Western styles of the time. It's quite beautiful and many films (including Indochine) have been filmed here and it graced the pages of Architectural Digest in the 1990s. It's also a bed and breakfast and I fell in love with it. Our Lonely Planet guide (2004) says that rooms start at only $65 but even if that was true, alas, it's outside our budget.

The rest of our stay Georgetown was uneventful. We strolled the waterfront, worked on the blog (great internet in that town), bought our bus tickets to Kuala Lumpur and ate another delicious Indian dinner. I was expecting Penang to be a bit more modern, or maybe just more prettified, but once I got over my expectations and allowed Georgetown to just be what it is - a giant Chinatown with a few mosques - I enjoyed my time there. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I had stayed at the Cheong Fatt Tze bed & breakfast, but a cheap room with airconditioning will just have to suffice this time around.