Terima kasih Malaysia

I am writing this on my final day in Malaysia. I've chosen to spend this day relaxing at the Red Palm in Kuala Lumpur, the hostel I first stayed in which is the perfect place to kick back.

After 5 days in Penang I'd pretty much done it all. The hostel (despite reviews saying you do not meet other travellers there) was full of people at various stages of travel. The dorm rooms meant I met a lot of people, and after Tom and Neil left, plenty more people showed up to pass time with.

I did explore George Town on foot by myself; it didn't take long at all and the whole town felt very sleepy for a supposedly big tourist destination. There's a lot of colonial history and buildings here, so there were some interesting things to photograph - but a tour of George Town takes a maximum of 2 hours (and that's if you're walking really slowly). After this I was a little bamboozled about what to do next, so headed back to the hostel to gather my thoughts.

Phil, I guy I had met the previous evening, had been taken out on the compulsory "Thai visa run tour" that comes with the service offered by a Malay-Chinese gent called Steven. He is part of the furniture in this place and seems to be whisking off many a traveller for a motorcycle tour of the Island. Five hours after Phil had left, he was still nowhere to be seen: I had to assume the tour was very comprehensive.

When Phil finally returned, a group of other travellers arrived and we soon decided to all go out to dinner together. Steven offered his services once more by means of a stream-of-consciousness power walk through George town, and we ended up in Little India for the cheapest food I'd had in Malaysia so far - and it didn't make me sick like the food in the real India. Bonus!

After dinner and thinking on the (perhaps limited) options of Penang, it was decided that a trip to Feringgi beach would be in order the following day. At lunchtime we jumped on a bus outside the 7/11 bound for the coast. The buses in Penang are pretty good, it cost RM1.50 each one way. Just over an hour later, we spied the beach. Luckily, we were with Phil who knew where we should get off, otherwise we may just have ended up at the 7/11 again. The beach was nice enough and it was sweltering. The downside was that it wasn't much good for swimming; after walking a couple of meters out it gets so deep that soon you're out of your depth.

A couple of beers, a bit of sunburn and some fried rice later and we were off back to get the bus. The other thing to mention about the buses is that it isn't always completely clear where the bus stops are: this can prove a little confusing. Still, we made the bus and another hour and a half later we were back in George Town.

I managed to convince everyone we should go to the restaurant with the amazing dim sum, but this didn't really work out for Jennifer (who is veggie) as the staff don't speak much English and vegetarian in Malaysia means vegetables with fish. She had to have a rather unsatisfactory "egg with onions" which doesn't even sound delectable in its very description. However, the deserts made up for it: sweet been curd, custard tarts (amazing) and other sweet and sticky things covered in sesame seeds. Bloody excellent. We left feeling utterly stuffed.

My final day in Penang saw a trip to the Kek Lok Si temple. I had initially thought I'd seen my fair share of temples but this one was pretty cool. Firstly, the whole place was decked out in red and yellow lanterns in preparation for Chinese New Year and also for RM2 you could climb to the top of a five tiered pagoda and take in a panoramic view of the whole temple.

I was glad for the first part of the day at the temple, as Alison (a fellow travelling companion) and I had decided to check out the old fishing village with traditional Malay houses called Balik Pulau. The bus to this part of Penang was slightly smaller and didn't run as regularly. I think we must have missed something, because it wasn't near any water and seemed simply to be a road with nothing much remarkable about it. After wandering around desperately trying to figure out what the recommendation could be referring to exactly, we decided to give up and find a bus back to George Town.

The final evening consisted of: the most amazing chocolate cake (check out the Rainforest bakery - so good); rum; beer; great food; elderly Malay couples dancing the salsa and some seriously cheesy music. All in all, a good way to end Penang, so terima kasih.