Day 11: Penang to Phuket

-Had breakfast at the hotel before taking a taxi to the airport.

-Once we were through security we wandered around looking for food, unfortunately most of it was pre-security.

-Had an hour-long plane ride to Phuket where we took a mini-bus to our hotel. Of course they stopped half-way to 'find out which hotel we were going to' (aka shameless ploy to try and make us by day trips around the island with them).

Flight over Phuket:

-We stayed at the Amari Coral Beach resort which was gorgeous. It was so nice and beautiful. We used a discount hotel website and managed to get a deluxe room overlooking the water. After settling in, and drinking some delicious lemongrass tea, we went to the pool to relax. Had a pina colada in a coconut and then a couple more drinks during happy hour. It was paradise.

Marco at the restaurant with our pina coladas:

The beautiful pool (my camera was a little humid):

-We watched the sun go down from our balcony and then ate a delicious Italian meal.

View from the balcony:

Me on the beach:

-Walked into town after dinner, but it was pretty deserted and touristy so we went back up to the hotel.

Day 8: Kuala Lumpur to Penang (George Town)

-Had breakfast at the hotel before a 9am bus to Penang. It didn't end up leaving until 9:40am since they wanted to fill every seat. The journey took about 4.5 hours. We spent most of the time sleeping and reading.

-Arrived in Penang and took a cab to our hostel, the Red Court Inn. We could already tell Penang wasn't going to be one of our favourite spots. The whole town is a little dirty and we did the whole temple tour in Melaka and KL. Instead we decided to head to the Cameron Highlands. We have to back track 3-4 hours but feel like we might enjoy it more. We're only there for one night so still have plenty of time to explore Penang.

-We spent most of our time figuring out our plans for the rest of our time in Malaysia, bur did venture out to Little India for some mediocre lunch. There was a bit of miscommunication with reception. We thought they recommended to visit the Kek Lok Si Temple at 6pm to watch the sunset, but it turns out the temple closed at 6. Oh well. Instead we went over to Penang Hill where we took a tram to the top. We watched the sunset, grabbed a drink, and chatted with an Australian. There wasn't that much to do.

The closed Kek Lok Si Temple:

Sunset from Penang Hill:

The temple on top of the hill:

The tram tracks on the hill (you don't really get the sense of how steep they are in this pic):

-We took the bus back to the hostel which turned out to be quite the adventure as we had no idea where we were going. Somehow we managed to end up back in old George Town. We grabbed dinner at some of the food stalls on the road. There were lots of foreigners there and the food was cheap and quick.

Marco at the market:

Dishwashing in the market:

-We spent the rest of the night relaxing and watching How I Met Your Mother. We have to be ready to go at 7am tomorrow!