There are Chinese people that live on their water houses on Penang. Here we are as we walk down the boardwalk between the houses.

This is how the houses along the boardwalk look. Thought you'd appreciate this shot of the man walking to his house, the motorbikes and the Chinese decorations.

There were fishing boats all over and those vertical floats were also all over. We still continued up through the Malacca Straits without stopping.  During the southern part of the journey we were mostly dodging huge ships. As we were traveling north, we stayed in the easternmost lane (along the edge) and with our AIS we got along fine. Just outside the eastern edge of the traffic separation zone was two way traffic - mainly fishing boats and tugs and tows. As we traveled north we got so that we could just about pick out these vertical floats as tiny dots on the radar (during flat seas). We did experience one of the dreaded "Sumatra" storms during our trip north and it was not pleasant. It was just as has been described: They come upon  you suddenly (often at night), can have winds into the 40s, and go away after a few (or many) hours. It was during this storm that I felt that the big ships either didn't see us or didn't care. I did contact two ships during my night watch to let them know we were VERY close!

On the right we see one of the local boats leaving the harbor and the high rise apartments of Georgetown in the background.

In celebration of Queen Victoria's silver anniversary there stands this memorial in central Georgetown.

The fabrics in the shops were beautiful. They do cater to tourists, but primarily to local Indians, Muslims and Chinese.

Rickshaws can be seen here and there for the enjoyment of visitors.

If we look tired, it's because we are. The heat was killer and we were looking for this Chinese shop on the left!

Scott was looking for this special tea and finally found it Chinese medicine shop (thank goodness, or we'd still be out there walking the streets)!

There were many street scenes that we couldn't resist. These guys playing chess was one of them!

And, you know me and flowers! I can't resist!

And, of course people watching is a specialty of cruisers. We went to the Bird Farm and couldn't keep our eyes off this black bird on the right!

The other birds were fabulous! It was a very large exhibit with more birds than we could see on a hot afternoon.

Nice picture of Scott and the horned bill, don't you think?

We enjoyed seeing these owls and watching them fly overhead.

We had to take the ferry to the mainland to visit the bird sanctuary. The ferry trip was quite interesting as many people travel back and forth every day to work on the island.

Many people are pedestrians and many others ride a motorcycle. (left and right)

We visited the butterfly farm on Penang and loved it also!

Beautiful, I'd say!

There were too many to show!

We also visited the Snake Temple where fortunately they have given up the idea of handling poisonous snakes. They used to subdue vipers and other poisonous snakes with incense and then handle them! I'm glad they just use constrictors now and even so, we could tell they had just eaten and were sedate - not looking for a meal!

This is Vivian and myself as we stagger toward the GEM restaurant after a long day on our feet (in the heat!) walking around Georgetown.

During our time in Penang Jean was struck down by the dreaded "dehydration/heat" monster. Part way through her stay in this fabulous hospital one lung partially collapsed. Fortunately, I had wonderful doctors and nurses. Frankly, the nursing staff was more attentive and helpful that I've experienced in the States (at 1/20th the cost!). We should be ashamed! The famous grape and pumpkin soup diet along with first rate medical care put Jean on the mend.

As soon as I was strong enough I wanted to go to our favorite place on Pinang Island: Batu Feringghi. This is the foreigner's beach. It reminded us of some of the very nice beaches in Mexico where people were enjoying the water, riding horses, riding the parasails and sitting at the cafes enjoying food and drink while viewing the passing parade.

We loved to see the families splashing and laughing in the water.

The parasails were fun to watch as sometimes they had a perfect takeoff and landing and other times they didn't!!

Probably one of the most fortunate situations of our time in Penang was our ability to stay in a luxury condo owned by our good friend, Mr. O. Around the complex were beautiful lilies and other lovely plants and trees.

The pool was a godsend as it afforded exercise in a cool environment.

This very special flower on the right was the daughter of our host. We are eternally grateful for his continued hospitality throughout our three week stay.

This view from the balcony of "our" condo shows prospective building site and other commercial and residential building all around us.

There are shops all around the condo and an upscale mall and our boatyard not far from here. We did find a cheap car to rent, so our time here was quite pleasant and convenient.

We've had several questions regarding "having one's feet DONE." Well, it starts with a nice cup of tea. AND... after a period of time and the attack of the pedicurist (that's a bit like an exorcist, but focused on the feet!)

One feet end up looking like these on the left. Vivian's feet have flowers and that blob you see on my large toe is a fish - just take my word for it!

While our feet were being attacked, Quest was also receiving treatment to repair her hull that was damaged at the City Marina. Other damage related to hitting a log was also repaired.