Penang

Spent a few days north of Kuala Lumpur in an island called Penang. The island is quite large and is split into jungle/forest to the west and a city called Georgetown to the east.

I spent 3 days here but it was one of my favourite places I've been to so far. It is a small city which is well developed but also still has a grungy and bohemian feel to it. It is full of street art and some really nice old buildings, there is also loads of great bars and the food was amamzing and cheap! Was a nice change after Kuala Lumpur which is a modern and cool city with great food but maybe felt a bit lacking in grunge/character/life sometimes. I prefer Georgetown.

I spent one of the days there hiking up Penang Hill which is a group of peaks on the west of the island. There is an option to take a funicular but I oped to hike it instead, was quite challenging as there were hundreds of steps to get through and then a hike through a jungle, all in 30+ degrees. You can see in one of the pictures how sweaty I was at the top... Views at the top were worth it though. Then another day I went to Penang national park to do another jungle hike and see some beaches. driving on the roads leading to here was maybe my favourite part! Really nice and smooth along the coast with sea views all the way.

Jodie caught a virus whilst working
on the island in Cambodia so has had to leave the island early to get checked out at the hospital on the mainland to make sure it wasn't malaria or dengue. Luckily it wasn't but she has been really ill for the past few days and has only now started to recover. She has managed to make it to Malaysia now and I'm also now back in KL so we will see each other in the next couple of hours once she is awake. We will spend a few days in Malaysia just taking it easy whilst she recovers fully and then off to Indonesia!Read more