From The Golden Sands Penang.

We have done quite some walking since our arrival here in Penang. In many ways Penang is the same as we remembered it from 40 years ago, but of course it has changed enormously. It is more crowded nowadays with rows of condominiums along the roadside as you drive from Georgetown out to Batu Ferringhi.

There are now even more places to eat than ever before. And then some spots haven't changed. Like the alleyway on the southern side of our resort. The same extroverted guy is there putting on a performance just as he did 20 years ago. The beer is just as cold and the food is great and still inexpensive.

There is a new Food Court here that was only very small 15 years ago. Now it has expanded 5 times with local food available and fairly cheap.

The Golden Sands Resort is set up for family holidays. With several pools,play areas and plenty of space for others to lay back and enjoy the abundant sunshine. However it wouldn't be a cheap holiday if you just ate and drank within the Resort.

There is at your own risk parasailing, fishing trips, scuba diving and other water leisure activities. There are games in the pools to keep kids and some adults entertainment.

There is now more eating places across the road with new buildings stretching back several blocks.

I have been in the pool here a couple of times so far. With 3 pools you can always find a spot for a quiet swim. The weather hasn't been as hot as I remembered either. Though still quite warm, it hasn't been the searing heat I remembered.

One of the side effects of eating so much local food is a little queasiness and a desire not to venture too far from the sanctuary of our great hotel room.

The wifi here is adequate without being incredible. Still on most occasions I was able to stream some of the recent cricket test match on the tablet. The wifi wasn't good enough though to stream it onto the TV via an android tv box I brought just in case.

With some tummy gurgling going on most likely we'll hang around today. As it has for every day we've been here, rain is forecast for today. But the only rain we've spotted was a light shower last night when bartering for a couple of T-shirts and several singlets.

Speaking of food, we have breakfast included in our deal. There is literally everything you could think of on the buffet. All your local rotis, curries, fruit, western dishes, everything. And you can have as much as you can fit in.

I guess you can tell we are enjoying our time here, except for every now and again when we have had too much of a good thing.

Our final hurdle will be our flight from Penang back to KL to pick up our flight back to the Gold Coast on Wednesday evening. We have a less than desirable 2 hour 40 minute time between when our Penang flight is due to land and our homeward flight to take off. Hopefully there won't be a delay like when we flew here from KL.

But almost 3 hours between flights should be fine. With Air Asia things work pretty quickly and they seem to be able to squeeze you in somehow.