penang 11_7_2001: Today we left the Cameron Highlands and went to Penang. I was very tired, probably from the active day before and so I was not to keen on driving all the way to Penang. But ok, we had to and we did. The first part was the same as the way up, only now downward :) It all went fine and we quickly reached the highway. About halfway to Penang we were stopped by some police agents. Supposing because I had speeded. I really find that doubtful but I just told the officer that if he says so it must be true. At first we had to pay RM300,_ but we ended with paying RM100,_. Still more than the RM50,_ advised by the Malaysians we met last week but I did not feel to argue too much. An experience richer we continued our way and we soon reached the 8km Penang Island Bridge (, ) from the mainland to the island of Penang. The Golden Sands Resort is west of Batu Ferringhi and on the way there we got shortly lost in Georgetown what resulted in that we found the Botanic Gardens where we immediately saw some of the macaques (, ). But after this small mistake we reached the hotel soon. I inquired for a room with a view on the see because we were on the list for as soon as one came available. She had multiple free rooms with a see view but she also said that our room might be good enough as well. She showed the room and indeed this room 'without' a see view was very good, especially the view to the see was very good () for a non see view room :) We had a very big balcony (, ). After viewing the very nice room we went to the swimming pool where I had a nice swim and Martijn fell asleep after only a couple of minutes. As soon as I laid down on the available stretgers I also fell asleep. This is paradise! Martijn got a hold of the camera and immediately made a close_up of himself ()...

12_7_2001: Today we plan to have a lacy day. Even though, we had to get out of bed early to be able to have breakfast before 10:00hr. I woke up by going for a refreshing swim. The breakfast was just as good as the buffet of yesterday. This is really a superb hotel with very good places to relax (, , ). At the beach there are a lot of activities possible like horseback riding () and jet skiing to name just two of them. And of course the usual sunset... (, )

In the morning the sun was not very clear but it was still extremely warm. We manage our way through the morning by laying on a stretcher and some swimming. Around 13:00hr we go for a walk along the boulevard to drink and possibly eat something. At around 16:00hr we get back at the hotel and continue our day at the pool. Hard work this holidaying...

Martijn manages to get his Shell dial_in account working from the hotel room and so we now have our own Internet connection. I checked the rate and even that is very good, so we intend to use it some more.

13_7_2001: Today we went to Georgetown. The first drop off with the taxi was at KOMTAR Centre close to the most interesting parts of Georgetown. The shopping mall was a bit old and dirty. When we came back later on the day we discovered that the mall consisted of two parts, one old and one very new. The new part was much more interesting with lots of computer stores for me and sunglasses stores for Martijn. After the first visit to the mall we took a taxi to the Botanical gardens we saw on the way from Cameron Highlands to the Golden Sands Resort a couple of days ago. Today was a very hot day and so was it at the Botanical Gardens, at least 40 centigrade. As expected there were a lot of monkeys (, , , , ) in the gardens. Most looked friendly but some chased us after we bought an ice cream. They probably like ice cream :) After having seen enough of the plants (, , ) we went back to the centre and this time our drop off was in China Town (). We are getting a bit more used to the rush and noises (, ) in these places but I still find it very interesting with all those small shops. I saw a small shop where a guy sells chickens from very small cages (). I wonder how Nicole feels about this. Funny to see how many temples () they build in the middle of the city. We walked from China Town (, ) to Little India and from there back to KOMTAR centre and this time the new part () of it. I tried to buy a T_shirt but they did not have my XXL size... Only the really small Asian sizes. I also went for a nice dress for Nicole but after looking at the sizes they have over here I doubt if she would fit in one, the girls here have what we call children sizes. Because the dresses are not cheap I decided not to buy one. After getting bored with the mall we went back to the hotel and viewed the VCD called Final Fantasy I bought the day before. Martijn fell asleep and I kept n watching till the end. It wasn't a very good movie... Now it was about 21:30hr and so we left the hotel to eat at the Last Drop on the opposite site off the road. Nice place with nice food, nice drinks and nice people... All very nice indeed. Martijn drank a whole jug of beer and I again stuck to my Indian Lassies and Diet_Coke.

When we came back in the hotel I discovered that Martijn has secretly taken a picture while I was asleep () between breakfast and departure to Georgetown.

14_7_2001: We finally discovered why some of the Arab women are dressed like a Ninja. Many of the Asians and Middle Eastern people eat with their mouth open. Probably the Arab man don't like to look into the mouths of his four women and so he covers it up... We still have to check this theory with an Arab man but the theory sounds promising...

Today we did not do very much. At 12:00 we had to checkout and after that I stayed at the pool the rest of the day until we were picked up for the ride to the airport on Penang. Martijn had something to eat at the Last Drop where we ate very nice dinners the last two nights. Yesterday when we also ate there two older couples joined us at the table. The men were a bit drunk and the women seemed not too happy about that. For us it was quite amusing.