Today we arrived in Penang, a small island off the coast of mainland Malaysia. We met our guide, Max and set off through Georgetown and headed up into the hills.
Our first stop was a huge temple complex. We hiked further and further up the mountains as we went to each amazing temple.
We learned so much about the Buddhist religion in this part of the world. The temples were incredibly ornate.
We hung prayer ribbons - Hayden wished for academic excellence and Violet wished for constant happiness.
Several of the temples are still under construction, including this massive one on the highest point. It is hard to get a sense of the scale from the photos but it is huge!
One of the temples is a tall tower with a level in the Chinese style, the Thai style and the Burmese style. The view from the top was incredible. Violet wasn’t a fan.
We made our way back down and headed to the botanical gardens and saw monkeys!
Next, we headed back into the town to walk through the streets and see the street art.
Finally, we went out on Chew Jetty - a place where the people built houses and shops so they didn’t have to pay the British land taxes.
This is where one of the houses burned down. Because this place is a UNESCO heritage site, nothing can be rebuilt, so it will just have to stay like this forever.
We had a really great day today in Penang. Tomorrow, we will be going to another Malaysian island, Langkawi.