After our breakfast visit to the Indian restaurant, we walked just a short way to the bus stop. We caught the local bus, which took us past huge shopping malls, past the airport and over to the far side of Penang island. The bus took around 40 minutes and we arrived at a small town called Balik Palau (which means, otherside of the island.)
We had an area map which had loads of sights marked on it but it recommend hiring a bike as the distances were a little far to walk. Do you think anyone was hiring bikes? Nope! We abandoned the plan and sat down and enjoyed a durian juice and a particular 'cake' the area is famous for.
We walked a little way out of town to see if we could find the Hindu temple marked on the map but it seemed to be a little further than we thought. As the heavens opened for a short tropical downpour, we ran back to a restautant where we tried a local laksa dish from this area. It was really good but spicy! Still feeling peckish, we ordered a special desert called cendol. It was delicious too. While we waited for the rain to stop, we watched 2 cute little kittens playing amongst some crates.
We decided to catch another bus to the Kek Lok Si Buddhist temple. We had to wait a while for the bus but the driver kindly dropped us off right near the temple. It looked impressive standing proudly on top of a hill, next to a pretty pagoda and a huge statue of 'The Goddess of Mercy'. It was a bit of a climb to reach the top but the view over Penang island were spectacular. The temple complex was huge, with gold statues everywhere and 2 monks chanting and banging huge drums.
After taking our time to look around, we waited for a bus to take is back to Georgetown. It was end of school and the his was packed with school kids making their way home. We jumped off at the nearest bus stop to our hotel and tool a short rest before dinner.
Noodles, rice and a sweet desert at a variety of street stalls saw us happily full!
We had an area map which had loads of sights marked on it but it recommend hiring a bike as the distances were a little far to walk. Do you think anyone was hiring bikes? Nope! We abandoned the plan and sat down and enjoyed a durian juice and a particular 'cake' the area is famous for.
We walked a little way out of town to see if we could find the Hindu temple marked on the map but it seemed to be a little further than we thought. As the heavens opened for a short tropical downpour, we ran back to a restautant where we tried a local laksa dish from this area. It was really good but spicy! Still feeling peckish, we ordered a special desert called cendol. It was delicious too. While we waited for the rain to stop, we watched 2 cute little kittens playing amongst some crates.
We decided to catch another bus to the Kek Lok Si Buddhist temple. We had to wait a while for the bus but the driver kindly dropped us off right near the temple. It looked impressive standing proudly on top of a hill, next to a pretty pagoda and a huge statue of 'The Goddess of Mercy'. It was a bit of a climb to reach the top but the view over Penang island were spectacular. The temple complex was huge, with gold statues everywhere and 2 monks chanting and banging huge drums.
After taking our time to look around, we waited for a bus to take is back to Georgetown. It was end of school and the his was packed with school kids making their way home. We jumped off at the nearest bus stop to our hotel and tool a short rest before dinner.
Noodles, rice and a sweet desert at a variety of street stalls saw us happily full!
