Butterflies and Spices

Today we explored around Batu Ferringi. We took a bus to the Penang Butterfly Farm, which was interesting.But a tourist destination not really worth visiting. Walked a little settlement which had a Chinese shop with Tuck as the middle name (interesting in itself). Caught a bus to the Tropical Spice Garden. This was an interesting and informative hour or two. We had a personalised guided tour. The guide was a retired local, very informative. Decided to have a light snack at a restaurant called "The Monkey Puzzle Tree" -had Thai tapas. AS we were finishing we noticed an approaching squall. When it arrived the wind was very strong and it rained buckets. The wind overturned all the umbrellas on the deck resulting in everybody fleeing inside. Within 5 minutes all the paths were flowing streams. Luckily we had our "Uncle Bills" $2.50 poncho raincoats. THey managed to do a good job.After waiting 5 or 10 minutes to see if the rain would ease, we made a dash for the bus stop. In less than 5 minutes walking managed to get shoes and sox saturated. Heavy rain, but warm rain. Three big tourist buses were blocking the bus stop so had no luck flagging down two buses. One of the locals offered to run us to our hotel for a rather large sum of money- we declined. Then one of the tourist bus people took pity on us and offered us as ride back to Batu Ferringgi (where all the holiday resorts are located). It turned out that this tourist group was a group of Malay Hospitality students from a Polytechnic up near the Thai border. Had a quick trip back to Ferringgi. We left the group when they stopped for McDonalds (yes even here in Penang is maccer territory.
Got a bus back to the hotel, rested.
In the evening went back to Ferringgi to the night market. Had a meal at the market, or as Karla would say "street meat". The food court (outdoors) was a tourist mecca. A virtual United Nations. The meals were very nice and cheap, no ++ tax. Had a great blueberry pancake for dessert.

The night market as I mentioned earlier goes for a couple of Km's. Did a little shopping, enjoyed the bargaining with the stall holders.
Took a bus back around 10 pm,
The buses: hard to follow, you have to have the correct fare (which we never have) so they round up to the nearest ringgit. Still can't complain, it is still a very cheap (if slow) way to get around.
Tomorrow is our last full day, so guess there will more exploring.