All templed out!

Urrrrrggggggghhhhhhh!!!! I was having another one of them days! when you wake up and you feel like shit and can't be arsed with getting out of bed. I'm not sure what it is but I think it might be the heat sapping my energy.... Or the beer! Back home you wouldn't bother getting up but when you are traveling and only have a few weeks you have to be bothered. So after an hour of trying and failing, I finally managed to get my arse out of my pit and into a shower, quickly charge my ipod, Camera and phone and get changed. We were meeting Edwin at 9am. So I went to grab everything and go when realised I have lost my wallet! WTF!!!! This was the worst feeling ever. I have lost about six or seven wallets and fifteen phones in seven years so I should be used to it but my bank cards were in in there and that would have been a nightmare thousands of miles from home.

My heart sank for minute or two and I was getting pissed off. The last time I remember having it was in the hard rock hotel and if I lost it around there then it's unlikely I would get it back. I was searching for ages and then I turn on my phone and there was a txt from Edwin last night, saying he had my wallet, and then a minute later Edwin walks in with my wallet,  All that panic for nothing. I had left it in his car but at the same time, it could have been a taxi or a bus. Luckily for me he is a decent guy :)

Anyway, The plan for today was to tour the Island and visit some of the heritage sites in Georgetown. But first, we had to have Breakfast.

Malaysians never seem to skip a meal so we went for some dimsum. This was the first time I had eaten dimsum. It was nice but it was way too early to be eating some of it. I'm more of bowl of cereal or eggs on toast kind of guy! The Chinese tea we had with it was lovely though!!!

So for the tour... The first stop was the Khoo Kangsi temple. It was a really nice temple overlooking cannon square. We wandered around taking few pics and reading about the history and moved on to some of the other heritage sites in Georgetown. We spent the best part of two hours on foot, strolling around the streets. The day was humid and it wasn't the best day for walking but it was worth the effort just to see some of the sights this fantastic city has to offer.

After visiting various mosques and temples (I have forgotten the name of almost all of them) we took a stroll through little India where we had some Indian tea and a well needed rest. We then took the short walk to Fort Cornwallis where we spent the next half an hour acting like children and taking silly pics. It must have been the Indian tea. Who knows what was in it? lol!!!

After Fort Cornwallis, we headed over to a Thai Temple which I can't remember the name of (what a surprise!) It was a really strange temple with some massive statue in the middle of it. I thought I would try my luck at the wheel of fortune. This time, I picked out no.15 which said I would be successful and lucky in life. So just a week ago the chinese temple in KL tells me I have no hope in life and the Thai Temple in Georgetown then tells me I will be successful and Lucky.

I think I will go with the Thai's thank you very much... Although, it's now a year since then and I'm starting to fear the chinese have it spot on, haha!!! After the Thai temple which was gorgeous but a little strange, we checked out the Burmese Temple on the opposite side of the road. This temple was gorgeous and actually one of my favourite temples I have seen so far.

And then on we go to the Kek Lok Si Temple outside of georgetown. I took about 30 minutes to get to but it was a welcome drive with the air con. We had lunch when got to the temple. There are a few small restaurants at the bottom of the hill and we sat down to re-energize for the walk up the hill to the temple! At the end of the meal, just as we were walking away from the table I realise I had left my bag under the table.

What the hell is wrong with me? First the wallet, then my bag. I seriously need to get a grip!

 So the ascent started. Up the steps to the temple. It is huge! The steps and climb up the hill seems to take forever. In this heat it's a killer too. There are various different levels and areas to the temple but eventually you reach a point where you have to get on a small cable car type thing to the top. There is a small garden up the top where we sat overlooking the pond and small water features before taking some pics of the great views over georgetown and the huge Kek Lok Si Statue. This temple is gorgeous and definately my favourite temple I saw on the whole trip but again I just thought it was too touristy. But then again, how can I say this as I'm a tourist? and there were too many shops in the temple too.

I had the same problem with the batu caves although it wasn't so obvious here that there were shops in the temple. But I suppose they have to make their money somehow? I just think it spoils the aura a temple like this should have.

I am now feeling all templed out. So the next stop... Snake temple, lol!!! Everytime I searched things to do in Penang, whether it be in guide books or online they always mentioned snake temple and said it was worth a visit. Believe me, it really isn't. We spent ten minutes there and walked out, they must have had about five snakes which is really disappointing. So swiftly on... The next hour was spent driving the rest of way around the island.

There wasn't much else to do on the west of Penang except look at the scenery. Finally we reached a small fishing village on the north of the island. Apart from the smell, I really enjoyed spending some time here. It was so relaxing. There wasn't many tourists around and it was so nice to get some peace. A slow walk along the pier and a sit down at the end of it was the perfect way to end a hectic but fun day exploring Penang.

We then headed back to georgetown for a bit of grub. We went to Gurney drive. These seems like to the place to be if you want food in Penang. This place was bustling and you can buy almost anything here. Except fried Shrimp. Edwin could not find Fried Shrimp anywhere and we really wanted some, so we had a little bite to eat here and then decided to head off to McAllister drive again for Shrimp! Connie, who didn't hear that we were going off somewhere else to get food suggested that we get Ice Cream which sounded like a great idea.

So after stuffing our face with Ice Cream, Edwin still took us to McAllister drive! Fried Shrimp for starter followed by a plate full of rice and guess what... Yep, Shrimp! Now I'm all shrimped out and so full I could explode. After the a full on day we went back to the hostel where I had a few beers and hit the sack! I was shattered but what an awesome day. I can't thank Edwin and his Friend enough for what they did for us over the last day and a half!