We finally caught up with the rally and got to join in one of the dinners.

This is Sasli, he has been our guidance guru through all matters Malaysia. 

Where you find a photo of John, you will see Stuart.

We are now off to Penang and the Straits Quay Marina.

We anchored off an island on our way to Penang, at one point I counted over One Hundred fishing boats around us!

After you pass under the bridge you enter condo land.

Here is our first glimpse of Straights Marina.

There was an air conditioned shopping centre, what more could you want.

It seemed a bit surreal to hear Christmas carols and to see Christmas decorations in Malaysia.

Now tell me can you tell if this is Malaysia or Florida????  The largest town is George Town, we went in one day to play tourist only much to our chagrin we found out that most of the sites we wanted to see had specific times  and unfortunately for us we were fifteen minutes behind every building we wanted to visit, so we have to go back, one to visit all of the places we missed and two just to walk around George Town and drive around the island.

Here are a few shots of George Town...and the sites we nearly got to see.

We visited a hospital and had a great view from the ninth floor.

We also went out to dinner with our fellow travellers of Sail Malaysia at an Indian Restaurant where we ate in the traditional style, food plopped onto a banana leaf and you used your hand to eat, or you could ask for utensils, maybe not the best way we wanted to eat our food...another adventure for us to put in our scrapbooks, or blogs.

These lovely geese were there to welcome us on our tour with our group.

The next day we went off on our own to the Gurney Mall and saw the latest James Bond movie, whilst we were in Singapore we had seen the car that was featured in the movie, so when we found a Cineplex that showed the movie in English, we were there!

Gurney Mall all seven floors of shopping!!!!

We missed seeing the interior of the Blue Mansion,

St. George’s Anglican Church, once again too late.

A class visiting the museum...and looking forward to it,,,,,,

I took a number of photos whilst there and when we got to the second floor, saw a notice about not taking photos!

This is an Opium bed.

The tools to smoke opium and below the fellows who enjoyed the opium

The museum did have a nice garden that you could sit and contemplate.

These drawings are all around the town and each one has a very special meaning.  When we go back to George Town, we will hire a car so we can scour the streets for these wall paintings.

I truly believe there is a China Town in every city around the world!

Next stop Langkawi where we will leave the boat for the next year whilst we travel around Southeast Asia.