Feng shui and food

I will be divorced once but happily married the second time round according to the feng shui "master".  When I protested about the divorce part he reassured me I'd be a loving wife but I didn't think that was much of a consolation.  I can't actually vouch much for the accuracy of this feng shui reading.  The said "master" was the owner of a reggae bar in Georgetown, on the Malaysian west coast island of Penang.  He produced his feng shui credentials in a thick book and only started doing these "readings" after a few buckets of beer.  He also told me that alcohol was good for me, which I was agreeable with (although that could have just been a ploy to sell me more beer) and that I should abstain from smoking.  Sitting with fellow travellers from all over the world while this guy told us about our feng shui certainly made for an interesting night!

The most interesting part about Penang however, would have to be the food.  As in other parts of Malaysia there's mainly Chinese, Indian and Baba Nonya (a mix of malay and chinese) cuisine to be found and it was the best we'd tried throughout the country.  We had tasty dishes like Hainanese style chicken with rice, fried chicken in plum sauce, spicy shrimp with greens and fried eggplant in shrimp paste.

From Penang, we took the ferry to the beautiful island of Langkawi.  There we hired scooters and hooned around the island (although my brother might argue it was more of a Sunday drive pace then a hoon).  We stopped at the island's cable car, which rises almost 800 metres above sea level and affords an amazing view over the island and surrounds from a viewing platform strung between two peaks (from which we couldn't help debating the quality of Malaysian engineering).  We spent most of the rest of our days on the island lying on the beach reading books, sipping beers and watching eager parasailers crash land on the beach (the Malaysian's aren't much for occupational health and safety apparently).

The only disappointment about Langkawi would have to be the food.  The island caters to hordes of international tourists and most restaurants offer "western" fare, which the Malaysians haven't quite mastered yet (they should stick to what they know I say).  We stepped off the ferry in Penang and headed straight to a gem of a restaurant we'd eaten at in Chinatown the first time we were there.  It was just as scrumptious the second time round!

Check out the pics of our travels thus far below ...