Malaysia loves the letter “K.” It seems to be the most prominent letter in the Malay language. Taxi is teksi, ticket is tiket, cafe is kafe… Speaking of kafe, kafe doesn’t mean early and kopi (coffee) is an afternoon thing. After several hours of wandering, I realized that all the kafes open around 2pm. Welcome to Malaysia!

After finally finding some breakfast and coffee, we caught the bus to the botanical gardens. We walked around in the [oppressive] heat for several hours before taking a bus back to town and then another bus back up the hill (you have to love the hub and spoke theory of their bus system). At Penang Hill we rode the cable car to the top, toured the temple and mosque and looked down at the city.

For dinner we went to a local Indian market. So far the food in Malaysia has been predictably cheap and good.

More pictures from George Town:

Here’s a sign detailing all othe things you shouldn’t do in the Botanical Gardens.

The cannon on Penang Hill, with a woman in a burka at the lower left corner.