Friday 19 October 2007

Penang

For the long weekend last week I headed off with the girlies to Penang for a bit of culture and R&R. Penang has its definite highlights but also a few lowlights too. Even though I had been told in advance that you don't really go to Penang for the beaches I was still hoping for a bit of a dip in sea - but the foam on the water quickly stopped that idea. And as for Batu Feringhi - eeeuuurrrgghhh/shiver/shudder - enough said! Admittedly I am spoilt on the gorgeous beaches front!

However, Georgetown is a veritable gem and I loved wandering round Little India and Chinatown. Cheong Fatt Tze's Mansion was gorgeous and I have already sketched my ideal home based on his for when I find that perfect plot of land by the sea. Aaah let me dream!
We visited plenty of temples, admiring the ornate carvings and lanterns, but I have to admit we got most excited visiting the chocolate museum. Greeted with the 'Healthy Chocoloate' sign we proceeded to devour all the samples there were to taste. Dark chocolate, milk chocolate, chocolate covered coffee beans and a variety of fruit filled chocs. We even found 'Cara' chocolate. We were in heaven until we were presented with Durian flavoured chocolate. Yes they had decided to create a chocolate using that most potently smelling, repulsively tasting fruit. Obviously it needed to be sampled and ..... it tasted as bad as it sounds. But don't worry we washed it down with yet more yummy tasting confectonary.

After exploring the Clan houses on stilts on the coast we moved to the Eastern and Oriental for high tea. Dressed slightly informally in flipflops and vest-tops we created appropriate characters and I had a delightful tea (sandwiches with the crusts cut off, scones and a gorgeous array of cakes) in the presence of Lady Elizabeth, Lady Katherine and Lady Josephine. If you are lucky our conversation will be posted here at a later date!


Finally, our tour ended in Love Lane - could the perfect man be found here? ..... Clearly not - despite lingering obviously beneath the sign I failed once again. Hey ho!








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