Malaysian countryside

One of the attractions on the North Coast of Penang is the Tropical Spice Farm, a beautiful little sanctuary away from the hussle & bustle of Georgetown. Unfortunately there's a lot of traffic noise, but there're also garden trails where you can see (& smell) the herbs that you cook with every day growing in glorious fecundity. After some very grown up wandering round it's a relief to find a swing suspended from a tree bough where you can drift off
The gardens aren't without their own hoodlums though. I turned a corner and found these guys waiting for me
I said hello and started to walk up the steps but they didn't back down, in fact they started coming towards me with what looked like evil monkey grins on their evil monkey faces

I could hear crashing in the tree canopy approacing from behind me, so word of a vulnerable tourist was obviously out on the (grape) vine. I was backing slowly away when either a leaf or an insect brushed my ear, so I jumped, spun round and ran away. Which was a little embaressing.

Fortunately the spice farm had a wonderful restaraunt overlooking the beach so I fortified myself with a Thai curry & some manly facial expressions.

After that I went to the butterly farm, which had as one of it's attractions a 'scorpion pit'

I chuckled to myself about this James Bond villain-ish attraction...well I laughed until I found out that their Malaysian scorpions glow under UV light

Now that's freaky.

Afterwards I relaxed at the beach

Looks idyllic but I wasn't going in the water. Gangs of monkeys roaming through the treetops, scorpions gleaming sinisterly in the darkness - I reckon there was a bunch of frikkin' sea bass waiting for me. With lasers.