After Hong Kong we headed out to Malaysia, the first stop we made in Malaysia was in Penang were we stayed for 5 day.
After arriving at the airport we headed out to collect our rental car and set off to our hotel. Since the car was a auto and they drive on the other side of the road there Erica took the wheel.
Traffic rules seem to be virtually not existing in Malaysia and it was really crazy driving there. Not only did the cars ignore just about every rule they are also a lot of bikes racing around. And they even care less about rules, they just fly past on every side and have 2 or 3 people on them. After making it to our hotel safely we decided to head out again for dinner. We drove up the coast looking for a nice beach, but there is no such thing in Penang, the beaches there are really filty. After walking around on one of the beaches for a while we headed back to the road and looked for a place where we could grab a bite to eat before heading back to the hotel and a nice sleep :)

After a nice sleep and breakfast we decided to head out again. After checking out the maps and planning what we needed to do we set foot outside the hotel and I was already sweating within minutes. The heat was like I never felt before. We first walked over to the esplanade which looks out over the ocean. We then headed to Fort Cornwallis and old fort left behind by the British. After the fort we headed out to see the marina and on the way there we swung by the old Clock tower and stopped at one of the hawker stores for lunch. It was my first experience eating something out of a hawker store and while it was a little too spicy for me it was still very nice :). Next on the list was one of the many temples there are in Penang, I don't remember which one it was, but all of the temples are amazing to see, definitely worth it. After seeing some more temples and a mosque we couldn't take the heat anymore and headed back to the hotel. We enjoyed a couple of hours at the pool and jacuzzi and then headed back to our airconned room :) After some more relaxing we decided to head out to the Kek Lok Si temple. It was the biggest Temple I have ever seen, and I'm sure it is among the biggest in the world. It was really impressive to see and walk around. Sadly we couldn't make it all the way around before closing time.

The 3rd day we headed out a little further away to the Tropical Spice garden. Sadly there weren't a lot of spices or flowers that were blooming, but we still saw some really cool things :) After the spices it was time for some fruits so we headed out to the Tropical Fruit farm we decided against a tour around the farm itself and just went and had a fruit platter. The fruit really was amazing I had my first ever of a few fruits, but the one that impressed me the most was the yellow watermelon, it was so sweet and juicy mmmmmmmmm my mouth still waters when I think back to it :) Next we headed to the national park were we wanted to head out to Monkey Beach. As the name suggests, the beach is a place with a lot of monkeys. But we didn't make it up to the beach, after walking for about 1:30h and only making it halfway, we decided that it was way too hot for us and headed back to the car. Back at the hotel we decided to go for dinner in the rooftop revolving restaurant. They had a buffet dinner on so we enjoyed a lot of food, especially the desserts :p.

The following morning we headed out to the botanical gardens. Again since we didn't really go at the right time of the year there weren't a lot of flowers and plants that were blooming, but we did get to see some nice flowers. The botanical gardens was also home to some monkeys :) They were really funny to see, and we even got a rare glimpse of some baby monkeys playing :) After the botanical gardens we headed out to the Snake temple. During the festival held for the deity the temple was build for, the temple is visited by lots of snakes. Sadly we weren't there during that period of the year :( But we still got to hold a baby python :) Erica needed some convincing to do it :p Next to the temple they had a snake farm with lots of different snakes. They also had a golden python which according to legend will bring you luck if you stroke it from head to tail. I stroke it, but not from head to tail :p

On the last day we visited another temple and had a walk around in one of the new shopping centers they had build, it was still very empty though. This was the first day I got to use the new camera I bought :) I had to get a new one cause my old one was starting to act up a bit. I guess all the traveling and partying took it's toll. I stuck with Sony as I was very happy with my old one and they had a special release deal on for this camera :)