It seems amazing that we have now been on the road for almost two months . It is going so quickly!

We have just spent four days in Georgetown, which is the main town on the island of Penang in Malaysia, the original headquarters of the British Empire's 'Straits Settlement'. This old colonial town has very recently received Unesco World Heritage status but it may be another case of striking while the iron is starting to become a bit luke-warm. Although many major buildings grace the town, a lot of the old workaday colonial buildings have already been lost, replaced by new high rise concrete blocks and many of the shophouses are in poor repair although there are signs of renovation in places. Some blocks of buildings in some streets are beginning to look smartened up.

In particular, they seem to be putting a lot of effort into creating acceptable road surfaces and creating large drains to ensure the town doesn't suffer from the normal problem in these parts (ie when it rains - frequent and heavy - the road fills up with water with nowhere to go and brings traffic to a halt) . As each owner is responsible for their own frontage to the street, the ways of covering these drains vary a lot and you need to watch your step. Also, because the street lighting isn't wonderful, journeys home at night can be particularly exciting as bits of sidewalk suddenly stop with a metre drop into a running sewer etc!

Nonetheless, the city remains an intriguing mix of cultures and beliefs and Georgetown is heavily marketing itself on the successful way these have all got along together for many years and continue to do so today. Apart from the original Malay cultural groups, there is a huge Chinese population and an equally huge Indian population that came with the growth of the trading port (the harbour is a useful rarity in this area; a natural deepwater bay where most ports have problems with shallow water). There are numerous jetties along the waterfront. As we walked along Chew Jetty (home of the Chew clan families) we were invited into one of the traditional wooden houses where the family is doing homestays . It was surprising large inside and would be quite tempting if we weren't already installed in a hotel elsewhere. The families are all traditionally involved in fishing and other boat-related work and therefore living on the jetty makes sense. You can see the jetty and houses at www.mychewjetty.com

Most of Georgetown consists of old shop-houses which are small terraced places with a shop downstairs at the front and living space above and behind. Many of these seem pretty much unchanged and uncared for over the years and have a very worn look to them. As well as this, the town is full of Chinese temples, Hindu temples, Mosques, the odd Catholic church and so on, and there is a really good feeling of people from all sorts of backgrounds actually living quite harmoniously. Hindi music and Bollywood sound tracks merge with the Imam calling the faithful to prayer and the Chinese opera from the temple round the corner. Although there are now only 12 registered rickshaws (pulled by a man) there are still lots of tricycle rickshaws sharing the streets with cars and buses .

We’ve had some fabulous food in Georgetown, from all sorts of places. (although generally places less upmarket than the Georgetown restaurant in Leeds - for those continuing to note our themed journey). One of our regular eating and drinking haunts was the ‘Red Garden’ which was a night market with lots of different food stalls around the outside, with tables and chairs in the middle and a stage with very cheesy acts to entertain! The first night we had Tom Yam Soup from a stall where you pick all you own ingredients from a wide array and put them in a dish, which you then hand over. It gets cooked in some sort of broth and delivered to your table! Delicious, and probably quite good for you! Unfortunately, J later struck up a cosy (but less healthy) rapport with the man who deep fries all his food. As a result we have also had a lot of deep fried tofu, spring rolls etc with chilli ketchup.

We have experimented with the video function on our camera and now for the first time in glorious technicolour we present you with video footage! So if you click on the photo that says 'video' you will get your own visit to the Red Garden night market! I think you'll get a black square with an arrow in the middle. Click the arrow and you should get the video (you may need to make sure your speakers are turned on)