YOLO in Penang Nov 2014

Penang is a lot of cruisers' favorite place in Malaysia.  Lots of old Chinese customs and culture as well as great food.  The old and new seem to mix easily here. We came to get our Thai visas here and didn't spend much time here looking around at tourist sights this time.  We got ripped off buying fuel here from a dubious source.  Yachts aren't allowed to buy fuel from the gas station on shore and must resort to getting it from a fuel barge in the anchorage.  A boat near us dragged twice in one day and we were glad to leave the iffy holding and move on towards Langkawi after only a few days.  Finding provisions here was tough.  The grocery store was miles away and most people just resort to eating the street food instead of buying food to prepare themselves.  We tried the famous Penang laksa, a spicy noodle soup that is known to be different here from everywhere else. 

These are some glittery dragons outside of a Buddhist temple.  The monks keep the place spotless and shiny.  So colorful.

The Penang Bridge that the rally wanted us to sail under in single file.  We declined to join the procession this year and went under and up to the anchorage a day early.

One of the giant gilt statues in the shrine.  People often buy little 2" squares of thin gold foil and rub it onto the statues as an offering.  Its real gold.

Some turtles and fish in a pond outside one of the shrines.  Such cute turtles.

More turtles and fish in the pond.

We wandered around the temples and shrines with a British couple, Mike and Karen off Chapter Two.

A panoramic 3-D mural at one temple.  The story behind the Buddhist scene here was lost on us, but the playful animals and plants made us smile.

It might be fun to fly through the air holding the tail of a horse, dontcha think?

One of the houses along the Chew Jetty.  The Chew family/clan live along one of the longest and oldest jetties here in the Penang area.  The pilings are reinforced by bucketfuls of concrete that you can see here at low tide.  Not exactly pretty, but they seem to do the job.

YOLO out in the anchorafe off the Chew jetty in Penang.