After our breakfast sat beside the hotel pool we headed off to visit our first Buddhist temple of the day, Kek Lok Si, with our GPS, Mr Garmin, eventually taking us right in to the car park where a little guy appeared and charged us RMB3 for the pleasure of parking there. With its hill side location the views across Penang were stunning and with a cloudless sky as a back drop it all looked pretty amazing.
The temple complex is delightful with many smaller temples to visit and a pagoda to climb. A statue of the goddess of mercy, Kuan Yin, sits way up on the hillside with a little funicular railway taking you up the steep incline, this costs another RMB3 each person, each way and is accessed through one of the many gift shops.
Climbing the seven story, 30m high pagoda, Ban Po Thar, was challenging in the heat with its tiny narrowing staircases and ever steepening accent, but the views from each level are well worth the sweat. On descending we visited the tortoise liberation pond, a place where you can liberate your soul and not that of your tortoise! Very bizarre. Some expansion is taking place, so building work is messy but not that intrusive.
Back in the sweltering car, cranking up the aircon full blast we headed back down in to George Town to visit another temple, the Burmese Dharmmikarama temple. Another beautiful temple complex housing all sorts of artefacts including the temple, quarters for monks and a bell tower which has great views of downtown George Town. Luckily this tower has a lift which is a real bonus in the heat. Very peaceful here too.
Then across the road to the Wat Chayamangkalaran temple, this is a Thai Buddhist temple and home to a 32 meter reclining Buddha. Again, this complex is amazingly tranquil and peaceful. Some beautiful carvings of dragons covered with multicoloured, sparkling tiles guard the entrance to the hall.
Back to the hotel for a cooling dunk in the pool and a rest before heading out to the nearby cake shop, Passion Heart, for refreshments. The shop, large and spacious, has a great selection of cakes and drinks and is nicely cooled too.
Later in the evening, timing our visit to coincide with the setting sun, we drove out to the beach at Batu Ferrenghi. Basically just a road with a load of big hotels and shops along it, but the beach front that skirts along its length is glorious. The sand is a little coarse but it sure looks like paradise. Lots of the hotels have manicured grounds that spill out on to the beach as do a lot of the restaurants and bars, but it is a public beach and you can find parking and access easily. Walking along the palm tree fringed beach watching the setting sun was simply wonderful.
Stopping to eat in a Lebanese restaurant where the food was really good, followed by browsing the famous night market was lovely too, with stalls selling all manner of ‘genuine’ goodies and tourist memorabilia. The drive out is simple too, but it is a little winding and undulating, so care should be taken on corners and especially when scooters are either side of you.
Back at our hotel we decided to take a stroll in the balmy evening and ended up back at Old Town White Coffee again for more steam bread and ice cream toast! On the way back to the hotel we diverted through Little India where it was really bustling with shops open late, people dining out at hawker stalls and Bollywood music filling the night. What a great way to end our last evening in Penang.
mrandmrsyoung 