E&O - Eastern, Oriental and Fabulous

Our room is the Bay Window top right.

Tonight is our last night at the E&O in Georgetown Penang and we'll be sorry to leave this once-in-a-lifetime hotel. It is sheer indulgence and a long way from the rough and ready of India. And to be honest, when I booked our room I had no idea it would be so good.

The restaurants in this hotel are something to experience and our first night here we indulged in the buffet, complete with fresh lobster, yabbies, prawns and other tasty delights. I overdid it of course and my India bugs are still in residence so I had another "no food" day and just coming good today.


The view from our room

Jan and Alan arrived from KL yesterday and they checked into their digs around the other side of the island at Batu Ferringhi. Apparently they are not impressed ... cold showers, noisy and very basic ... a long way from the 27th floor at Traders in KL. So this morning they moved to the Holiday Inn where we will be staying from tomorrow. It must have been a dive because Jan and Alan are seasoned trekers.

We all met yesterday afternoon and wandered around the back streets of Georgetown, Little India and Chinatown. It's a fascinating place but the description of Penang as "The Pearl of the Orient" is very appropriate. There is a mix of Malays, Chinese, Indians and a host of other Asian races all intermingled and all with their own unique culture. As the time approached 5pm, the street hawkers, for which penang is famous, began opening their mobile kitchens ready to cook up some of the best food in the world. Unforunately my guts were still personna non gratia so we settled for the buffet at the E&O. Maybe we'll do Gurney Drive tonight and sample some of the local food.


The pool area.

Liz has gone of shopping ... yes, again ... and Charlie and I visited the Kek Loc Si Buddhist temple, the largest is South East Asia. An amazing place but we reckon the Nan Tien temple down at Wollongong is better. Still it is a must see for any visitor. This afternoon is rest time, the heat here combined with the humidity is a killer so we'll have a siesta and tackle it again this evening.