Penang Day 3

The day started with a small hitch – we were going to have breakfast in the canteen here at RECSAM, however it turns out to be not only a public holiday, but they are holding a wedding there as well, so the canteen was shut! We went to Gelugor, just down the road, instead. No picture of breakfast due to the sudden change of plans.

After breakfast, we caught a bus to Penang Hill. This involves a bus to the Komtar bus exchange, where we change and catch another bus. Penang Hill was beautiful, and we were very spoilt, as not only were we able to catch the funicular railway, but we were high enough up that it was cool. Can I say that again? It was COOL. We looked out over Penang, and we were able to see the bridge that joins Penang Island to mainland Malaysia. It felt strange to me to be able to see where the island ends, and see the mainland on the other side. Can’t do that in Australia! As well as the amazing views,

One of the view from Penang Hill. You can see the bridge and the Mainland.

we saw an Indian Temple;

Apparently this has a meaning that I was not privy to - a couple walked around to see this, and cracked up laughing!

an aviary that mostly contained birds rescued from traffickers (the spruiker from the aviary wins quote of the day “G’day mate! Every day is mating day!”); ate lunch;

Nasi Goreng Ikan Masin - Fried rice with dried, salted fish.

and had a Devonshire tea at David Brown’s at Strawberry Hill – served in beautiful English style gardens, outside a colonial style house. Oh, did I mention – the temperature was cool!

The lily pond in the English Gardens.

On the way back, we passed a sign for the Bats' Cave Temple. I couldn’t resist, so three of us broke from the main group, and headed into a few back streets to find the temple. The front is a brightly coloured and decorated temple, with a small cave at the back, which did indeed contain bats hanging from the ceiling. Unfortunately we were unable to take photographs (we imagined what a flash would do to the bats), but it was worth the detour.

Look at the models of bats on the roof!

We then made our way back, and caught the bus back to Komtar. Komtar is a very tall tower in Penang, that was once the pinnacle of shopping. We, however, were unable to find our way to it! We could see it from the outside, but actually getting in appeared to be impossible. This was disappointing, in that we managed to find a bat cave (insert batman theme tune here), but were unable to find the tallest building in Penang! Well, it turns out we weren’t quite so hopeless. We were there already, we just didn’t know it. They are doing so much renovating that we didn’t recognise it for what it really was.

Komtar Tower - the tallest building in Penang.

Dinner was walking to Island Glades, a popular local eating place. I had Claypot Chicken and Egg, along with an iced watermelon juice.

Left: As it looked when delivered. Right: As it looked after I got to it!

I also saw the following can, and simply couldn’t resist. Enjoy!