Up and Down A Hill In Penang, Malaysia 4th & 5th Feb 2006

The hill in question. Looks more like a hillock. The view at its foot, before we violated gravitational laws. Our initial objective was Kek Lok Si Temple, which was approximately where the statue stood in the picture, perceptibly close to the top of the hill. We didn't reckon on it reclining and spiralling back- and upwards beyond our sight. So began our arduous two-hour ascent to where we thought the Temple (it had earned the capitalisation by virtue of the lengths we went to to locate it) stood - to the top of that hill. The place really was only half-way up. No, not really, less than that.

Ayer Hitam Dam, courtesy of Darren. I was meant to appear contemplative in this picture, and on hindsight, it wouldn't have been so if the shadows had not obscured my expression (I'm not sure I looked contemplative enough, see). If you are of the opinion that this is a good shot (which I am) it is really an mistimed accident of poor lighting. Sorry Darren.

The sight that both redeemed and rewarded what looked like a fruitless climb.

The Goddess of Mercy. Kek Lok Si Temple. She was on leave that day. I'm sure we would have otherwise averted our earlier tribulations.

We lingered around long enough and lo! the lights came on.

Nope, this is the Swissotel Hotel in town. This is KOMTAR(not sure what it stands for, really) - the tallest building in Georgetown and the most distinguishable feature of the skyline. You won't miss it.

That's Georgetown across the Straits. We were on our way to Butterworth to take the 21-hour train to Bangkok. Although I was looking forward to the next leg of our trip, where we would finally step out of the familiarity provided by Darren's relatives, and be on our own, I felt rather sad to be leaving Penang. Not least because of the generosity showed us by Darren's grandparents. His grandfather very kindly sponsored all of the three plates of char kway teow I consumed when I was there. (Our last meal, very predictably, was taken at MacDonald's.)