Georgetown, Penang

Georgetown was our last stop before hitting the beaches of Langkawi. The weather was blistering hot and the pace was slow.

We checked into Wassup Hostel, ready for our first night of sharing one room... it was cosy. I thought Sophie would be thrilled at the prospect of spending the night with 4 strapping lads, but she confided that this was not the case, with her concerns being based on smells and Rich's sleep walking tendencies.

After we'd settled in, we headed out, decided to get some food and so we took them to the Eastern and Oriental Hotel where we'd enjoyed a nice meal with mum a few weeks ago. It was all very civilised... although not the best food of our trip the tiffin was pretty good again.

Next up we recommended a visit to the Blue Mansion. We hoped that they would get the same tour guy we did, who was excellent. Instead they reported getting a Ting Tong from Little Britain lookalike and they could only understand 50% of what she said. It was nice and handy for the cocktail bar afterwards anyway... The pedant in one may highlight an issue with the "happy hour" at this place; it actually spans 5 hours... We made the most of things and for Sophie four margarita's seemed to have taken effect (Sophie claims to have only had 3...). We went in search of food but got distracted by various bits of Chinese new year celebrations and called in at a temple, at which point Sophie began fluttering around the courtyard like an oversized and somewhat dazed butterfly. She was a hit with some costumed Chinese men with weapons, being plucked ahead of the queue for a photo.

Eventually we found a curry house for a much needed feed. As you can see from the picture, it was all a little too late to rescue Sophie and after a few laps of the nearby streets, we left the boys to a few more cocktails. Soph was apologetic, but she'd provided plenty of entertainment for the evening!

We ventured out for brunch after a lie in and stumbled upon an excellent little place: (Jawi House Cafe & Gallery). Tom and Sam spent the rest of the day arguing about how good their respective dishes were and why each was the best. Naturally, neither conceded, but it was definitely a sign of a good meal. There was even a good pudding selection, which is pretty unheard of in Asia. The pineapple and coconut tart was good and there was an incredibly bouncy chocolate cake, but the prize went to a type of set rice pudding with a coconut and palm sugar sauce. It's hard to explain, but it was a taste and texture sensation!

After a long lie in and an extended feeding session, it was time to see George Town's historic centre. Well, after a bit of shopping... Sophie got herself a ribena ice on a stick, Tom deliberated for a few hours and then bought Catherine a photo, Rich and Sam treated themselves to a vintage poster (Rich opting for the vintage beer one).

So, Georgetown... I'd found most of the art (or rather Sophie had given a cracking guided tour) on our last trip, so I gave a whistle stop tour of the big names. The highlights being Sam and Rich's attempts at a Bruce Lee flying kick, Tom and Sam on a swing and Tom and Sam pretending to be part of the basketball scene.

Next up, we decided to take a trishaw though an area, so far unseen and get dropped off at the cocktail bar to start our evening. Unfortunately we chose a couple of bandits! We agreed that 30mins would be enough as we'd seen a lot on foot already. After a little over 10 mins (I knew this as I checked when we set off and it was 6pm give or take a minute) they announced that time was up. We had a stand off, I told them that we'd be reporting them to the tourist police and took a mugshot. Mine and Sam's driver looked a little sheepish, with the other guy the apparent ring leader. We ended up paying something like £4 instead of £5, which I hoped would not lead to having a trishaw Mafia after us, but would mean they hadn't completely won!

We kept Sophie in check on the cocktail front, ordered some food to be washed down and put the world to rights for a few hours. Being Chinese new year, there was a big celebration on the Esplanade. It was an assault on the senses (mainly the ears)! Sam described as "machine gun fire of words", endless, repeated, high pitched, screaches of words! The lion dancing was impressive and it was certainly an authentic experience. We were glad of a little quiet once it was all over.

Our time in Georgetown was short, but on the day of our leaving, we had time for one last meal at Jawi house. It didn't dissapoint and we left for our flight feeling pretty content with our time (I think?).