Hanging in Penang!

This weekend was really fun! Penang is beautiful, cultural, and all around amazing! It was exciting for a lot of us, because this weekends trip was one we planned on our own, as opposed to the trips that have been organized for us through the work study.

The weekend started with quite the commute to the airport... LRT, Speed Train, Bus... then once we found everyone (some people went to the airport straight from work) we had an hour and a bit to kill at the airport. Turns out planes here also run on Malaysian time, so we ended up waiting for about 2 hours to get on the plane and be on our way!

The flight was about 45 minutes, and once we landed at around 11pm and got our bags the 9 of us all staying at the same hostel (Stef, Breann, Jill, Sefel, Dylan, Thomas, Dean, Justin and me) got into the van we'd arranged to pick us up to start our weekend adventure! The hostel was really nice, just under $10/night and the people running it were so nice! Stef, Breann, Jill and I were all sharing a room and we had a great, big balcony where everyone came to hang out before we went to find the bars on Penang Road (where all the backpackers go). We caught up with the other girls from our group who were staying at a different hostel, and had a few fun hours out before realizing it was 4:30am and we should probably go to sleep! So we all went back to the hostel and hung out for a little bit before calling it a night and making a plan for the morning! Great start to the weekend!

There's bars for about 2 blocks on this street, all filled with backpackers and awesome people to talk to

Saturday morning came VERY fast, and we were all up for 9:30 to head to Batu Ferrenghi, the best beach on the island! The beach was gorgeous, there were tons of water activities and beautiful scenery! The 35 degree heat got to us pretty fast and we were all hanging out in the water instead of laying on the beach because it was too hot to stand! A snake charmer came by and did a snake show for us with his little snake pipe/whistle thing! It was pretty interesting!

beautiful beach!

Next stop was the Fruit Farms, located up in the jungle hills of Penang, We paid $5 for a tour of the farm, we got to see how all the local fruits grow, which was neat, and also hear interesting facts about the fruit. Followed by an all you can eat fruit buffet and a fruit juice made from fruits you pick! It was so delicious!! Definitely the healthiest meal we'd had since arriving in Malaysia! Did you know this is how pineapples grow?

And did you know that it takes 11-12 months for a pineapple plant to grow a pineapple, and once one pineapple has been produced the plant wont produce anymore!? AND to grow your own pineapple plant all you have to do it plant the top of the pineapple in a pot and in 11 months you'll have your own home grown pineapple?! I thought it was all very interesting! 

fruit buffet! YUMMY!

my fruit plate!

After the Fruit Farm, we headed back to the hostel for a quick little nap and then showers before Breann, Dean, Justin, Thomas and I went out for  dinner at a place down the street! It was delicious, Penang is known for its food, so eating was definitely a highlight of the weekend! On our way back to the hostel we noticed a little wine bar, so we stopped in there for a glass of wine, and felt sophisticated for the first time in about a month! haha It was so classy, and the people who owned it were british and so polite, and the service was amazing...which is very unlike the rest of Malaysia! 

our moment of sophistication!

After wine, we all hung out for a bit, and then ventured back to Penang road for some party time. We ran into one of the owners of the wine place and his friends and hung out with them for a while before finding a sports bar that was playing the soccer game (didn't really care about the game, but the locals are super into it, so it was fun to be in the excitement!).Time flies here, and after a quick bite that some locals bought us it was 4:30 in the morning again and we needed to head home to bed!

Once again, Sunday morning came WAY too fast, we all slept in until about 11, then got up to pack our bags and head out for a day of adventures! We started with an hour and half bus ride to Penang Hill... which is supposed to be one of the top things to do in Penang, but by the time we got there the line was way too long, and we only had until 7pm to travel around, so we skipped the hill and went to Kek Lok Si, the biggest Buddist Temple in Southeast Asia. It was so beautiful, and every aspect of it was so finely detailed. I took so many pictures because everything we saw was more beautiful than the one before it! Breann and I bought some wish ribbons to put on the wish tree, which was neat to be a part of at least one aspect of the Buddhist experience!

Kek Lok Si Temple

Wish Tree

After the temple we headed back to the area where our hostel was to do a few more temples around there and then met up with everyone for the bus back to the airport... we had a long wait at the airport, but all slept while we waited, on the plane, on the bus and in the cab to our house before we finally got home at 2am... Needless to say, this morning came a little too quickly, and I'm excited to sleep tonight, then start planning out next weekend adventure tomorrow night!