The second part of our weekend took us to the island of Penang in Malaysia. Aside from Indonesia's Lombok, this has been one of my favorite places in Southeast Asia! Being that Indonesia is currently in the middle of rainy season, three days of uninterrupted sunshine was bliss. Penang was settled by the British once upon a time and because of that, many colonial buildings still exist to this day in various, beautiful states of decomposition. A wide variety of cultures have meshed to make Penang into what it is today. We explored a plethora of temples, witnessed a few festivals, and even tresspassed in an abandoned house to get a better angle on the Burmese temple!
We rented motorbikes, our preferred method of transportation and circled the island. On the west side of the island, there is far less development. We hired a boat and went to Monkey beach, which is only accessible by water or an extreemly long hike. For those of you who think that monkeys are cute and cuddly, like a stuffed animal, think again. These little guys were willing to attack at the slightest advance. I had trouble getting pictures with my 135mm lens. They greatly enjoyed the trash left behind by tourists; I even caught one fella drinking a cup of leftover tobacco juice! Blech. The beach itself was gorgeous and lined with several food stalls, rope swings and hammocks.
