  Arriving at our hotel on Penang we seemed to confuse the check in staff, still not sure why, and so they asked us to sit in the lobby till the room was ready. Not long after the porter came over and placed our bags on his trolley and proceeded to show us to our room, telling us every useful piece of information about Penang.
Arriving in our room we said thank you to the porter and only afterwards realised that we had completely ignored all of his hints for a tip. Looking round the room we noticed that there was only a double bed when we had booked two singles, letting Helen go to sort things out I relaxed and waited. Five minutes later we were walking down the corridor to our new room, carrying our own bags, the porter seemed to take his lack of tip personally. The next morning we descended to breakfast, while trying to avoid the porter, and I couldn't help but notice a few pitying looks from the hotel staff, news of our move from a double bed to two single beds had obviously spread.
The hotel we were in was in George Town, the main town on Penang, left over from the colonial days. Wondering about in the midday sun once more we discovered a shopping mall and decided to pop in to have a look. It is amazing the high levels of tack that is available over here, and I think we bought most of it even though our backs are braking already under the strain of our bags. By this point in our trip I had got fed up with wearing creased clothes and so decided to buy a travel iron, it worked twice, once in the shop and once in the hotel, but for some obscure reason I am still carrying it round with me, think its in the hope that it will miraculously start working again.
Feeling a bit cultural we decided to head for the museum and art gallery, which is dedicated to the Malaysian people and their origins, know it sound bit boring but was actually very good, they had a few interactive exhibits as well. Obviously when I say interactive exhibits I mean powerpoint and a projector. After feeling that we had exhausted George Town we booked two tickets on the express ferry, we were actually looking for tourist information but the Malaysians are experts in sales, from Penang to Langkawi, which is another island further north than Penang. Two more handy travel tip for you all now, 1) don't just get the express ferry because it is quick, as it rides up and down every single wave, and 2) if you do book an express ferry, don't have scambled eggs for breakfast. 
