Foodie heaven **

Thanks to everyone who wished me a speedy recovery from my cold. I'm already well on my way, I think, as I had a lot more energy today than the past two days. And, my appetite is back in full force!

Upon my arrival in Pulau Penang, the first thing I did after dropping off my bag was to find a place to eat. It was after 9pm and I hadn't really had anything to eat since breakfast that morning before leaving Railay. And, um, I think I've pretty much been eating ever since then. :-) As much as I love Thai food, I was starting to want something else to eat, so I couldn't've arrived in Malaysia at a better time. One of the interesting things I've noticed about Malaysia so far is the diversity of ethnicities, with Malay, Chinese, Indian, and Thai being the most highly represented. Add in all of the foods from these various groups and I'm in foodie heaven. I kind of just want to walk around for days, point to things that look good/interesting/kinda weird, and eat eat eat.

(I have no idea what it was called, but it was delicious!) 

I did manage to take a break from eating today, just long enough to visit Kek Lok Si temple. It's not a particularly old temple, it was just built in 1890. (Which, sure, it's over 100 years old, but in the grand scheme of temples and ones that I've visited that were thousands of years old - this one is practically brand new.) It also happens to be the largest Buddhist temple in all of SE Asia. 

(At the top of the Pagoda of 10,000 Buddhas)

Kek Lok Si is perhaps one of the coolest temples I've seen recently, probably because it's a mix of styles that I've never seen before. Although it's spread out on a fair bit of land, it's two primary parts are the Pagoda of 10,000 Buddhas and the Kuan Yin statue, a bronze Buddha that is almost 100 feet tall. There's also loads of gorgeous flowers everywhere, Liberation Pond with the biggest turtles ever, and views galore. I noticed that there were lights everywhere and I kept thinking how cool it would be to see everything all lit up. When I got back to the guesthouse, though, and did some research, it looks like the lights are only lit for the 30 days following the Chinese New Year (which was in February this year - I missed it by thismuch). The only thing I didn't like about Kek Lok Si was the overabundance of crap souvenirs being sold pretty much everywhere you looked. It was kind of a shame, actually.

(Pulau Penang "resting" on top of a pagoda.)

** Edited to add: The title sounds vaguely familiar to me, but I can't be bothered to do a search to see if I've used it before. It's safe to say, though, that I love food and I love to eat. Any time I'm in a place that allows me to indulge, I'll consider it a foodie heaven. :-)