A Reunion in Penang: Part 1

For Angela and me, Penang will always hold a special place in our hearts as the place where I asked her to marry me. But we'll also remember it as the place where we met up with our two Canadian friends, Matt and Kimmi, who we befriended while teaching English in Korea. Having recently finished their contracts, they too were doing some travelling in Southeast Asia, and they took a plane from Singapore to Penang just to meet us. The four of us spent several days exploring the island together, seeing the colourful temple of Kek Lok Si, riding motorbikes along the coast, and chilling on several beaches.

The evening that Matt and Kimmi arrived we all met in Georgetown and had some delicious tandoori chicken and naan for dinner.

Watching some street performances on Armenian Street.

Later, we went on a little bar crawl, drinking into the early hours.

The next day, we explored the historic buildings of Georgetown together.

Then we took a taxi to Kek Lok Si, one of the largest Buddhist temples in Asia. We spent a couple of hours walking around, admiring its multicoloured architecture and magical hillside views.

Making a wish.

We climbed up the pagoda for some great views of the surrounding temple.

A huge statue of Guan-Yin, the Buddhist goddess of mercy.

Walking down to ground level.

That evening, back in Georgetown, we enjoyed some food and live entertainment at Red Garden, an indoor complex of restaurants serving cuisines from several different countries. We tried a mixture of Thai, Chinese and Vietnamese.

We also got a huge beer tower.

Click here to continue the adventure in Part 2!