Day 4: Penang - Penang Hill, Kek Lok Si

Today we had an early start. We woke up at 6:00am from the heat because our AC was not on. Oops.

I saw a couple lizards (anoles, I think) on the hotel walls and sitting area.

While it was raining and more convenient to just join a day tour, we decided against it, in favor of spending as much time as we wanted at places, and opting out of seeing bees at a farm as mentioned on the tour schedule.

Our first stop was Prangin Mall and Komtar. We just walked 15min from the hotel. The Komtar building is 60 stories, with government offices on floors 4 through 50-something. The top floor is a viewpoint, where you can see 180 degrees of Penang. The weather was a bit hazy at the time.

View of Penang from Komtar

At Prangin mall, we discovered that we cannot unlock our cell phones as wanted because they are too old. Boo.

It was on the way to Prangin and Komtar that I saw the first stray cats of Malaysia. They are all so skinny and short-furred.

We purchased bus tickets to Ipoh for 9:30am tomorrow. Since we were already at a popular bus hub, we decided to take local bus 204 to Penang Hill (Bukit Bendera). The attraction offers a view from 2700+ feet above sea level. To get to the top, a tram provides service every 30 min. It was fun going up/down. At the top, the view was great, although there are some spots with trees blocking your view.

Hey!  Bellevue!

View from top of Penang Hill.  A bit hazy...

We had lunch at the top, where I also had a delicious lychee drink! There was also a bird sanctuary, but I did not want to pay to see a peacock when I had seen so many recently.

After Penang Hill, we took the bus to the Kek Lok Si temple. It is the largest Buddhist temple in SE Asia. There were beautiful flowers and green trees on the hills. And hundreds of turtles.

Colorful Kek Lok Si

TURTLES

We were so exhausted from the heat, but had to walk to the bus stop about 10 min away. We bought durian cake and wife cookies from some bakeries for the trip tomorrow.

After the bus ride, we stopped by a large convenience store called Mydin. I saw a tiny stray kitten under a motorcycle, eating a fish.

But I don't want to pay

For dinner, we walked along Chulia St to some street food stalls. I was surprised how busy the street was for a Monday night. It was much busier than yesterday, and there were many tourists walking about. We were drawn to a stall that had loud wok noises, and I had some delicious fish meat mee hun.

I did some people watching as I ate fruit in front of the hotel, and saw so many backpackers around.

Time to rest up for the travels tomorrow...