Penang

Rex1
Fri 29 Nov 2013 06:07
The next day we organised a driver to take us to the Thai consulate to apply for 2 month tourist visas – this was done very efficiently and we returned later in the day to pick up our passports with visas intact. There were certainly some interesting people applying for visas - the man in front of me had make up on, stubble, dressed in a tie with shorts, had a pink ladies fan in 1 hand and a kids umbrella in the other and was applying for a visa to work as a school teacher! Maybe a taste of what’s to come in Thailand.
Our driver Ravi was a terrific host and took us on a tour of the major sights of Penang with the highlight being Kek Lok Si Temple (Temple of Supreme Bliss). It is hailed as the finest and largest Buddhist Temple complex in South East Asia. Its main pagoda, comprises 7 tiers and the beautifully crafted temple took more than 20 years to build and continues to expand.
Penang is a wonderful mix of Chinese, Malay and Indian and the street food (or hawker food) is tasty – local favourites are Nasi Kandar, Hokkien Mee and Char Koay Teow.
Unfortunately we had to leave George Town on Tuesday morning to catch the fast ferry back to Langkawi – we would have quite happily spent a few more days exploring the sights of Penang.
Just a quick note about the “super fast ferry” – we were lucky to make the trip back –it was incredibly old, in our eyes not seaworthy, over crowded and proceeded to break down in the ocean – the trip took over 5 hours. We will never get on a vessel like that again!