Jul 9, 2005 - Penang

Took some time last night to consider whether or not to spend another day in the Cameron Highlands, I loved it so much! Ultimately I decided I best puch on and have made it as far as Georgetown, in Penang, off the West Coast. Stopped in Ipho for a few hours on the way for a bit of a walk round. Found a Christian church but have no idea whether or not it was the one my grandparents married in! Had a pretty chilld time in Penang. Met up with 2 Austrian girls I met in Cameron Highlands and spent my one full day with them.

Jul 4, 2005 - Penang

So we got on the 8am bus to Penang, our last stop in Malaysia. We got there after a 5 hour journey which was ok as we got a few hours of dozing in ! Once we got to our very nice hotel we decided that we wanted to see if we could fly from Penang to Surat Thani where you get the ferry to Koh Samui the next day, rather than spend 11 HOURS on a train, which was the original plan. We spent the afternoon walking all over the town in a goose chase that eventually ended with everything sorted !! We had flights for the 5th from Penang to Bangkok &...

May 19, 2005 - Penang as it is

Following on from Penang. We took a bus to go to Penang Hill as well as visit the biggest temple (Kek Lok Si) in Malaysia. Just as we thought it was harder to get there than anticipated. Mr Sob from the backpackers explained to us how to get there, so we piled on the bus which was amazing it still went, oil in the front and a fan dangling by it's wires over the bus driver's head. Bloody funny. We had no idea where we were going or when to get off. A kind Chinese lady told us to get off soon so I went and asked the bus driver. Sure enough he...

May 10, 2005 - Malaysia: Penang

LESSON #1: When deciding between curry or spicy curry for what you hope will be an ethnic culinary delight, drop your fork and knife (or chopsticks), refrain from the desire to "try something new" and back away slowly. Head down to your local Penang Pizza Palace and go for the safe bet: a 12". Penang may have had its sights and sounds, the temples, the overlooks, the bird sanctuaries and rare monkey farms but it surely will always be remembered for its smells. I got a little case of what the local Chinese Buddhists like to call "wind". AKA...

May 1, 2005 - Penang, Malaysia

I got my bus ticket to Malaysia from Khaosan Road, Bangkok. I always ask for night buses as it means one can sleep on it aswell, meaning another day at wherever I currently am and not having to pay for a guesthouse! The journey down to Malaysia was 25 hours in total with 3 different bus changes. The first leg goes down to Surrathani - the mainland city next to Koh Samui etc. I recognised a french guy from the guesthouse at Phonm Penh. I also spied a secret bed at the back of the bus! I decided it was mine, put on my walkman, lay down and...

Apr 27, 2005 - Penang

After 5 days of lazing about in Krabi, where we really didn't do much other than make it to the pool, or the remote control to watch a movie / football match, we have today left Thailand for the delights of Penang, Malaysia. Described in the guidebook as one of the most delightful cities in South East Asia; having arrived we wonder which other cities the author has been to. Its a dump. We left at 6.30am for a supposed 9 hour bus journey that ignored the fact that the driver picks you up earlier than billed (40 extra minutes), drives around...

Apr 24, 2005 - Penang

So after laughing at death in it's big stripey, ginger face we decided to head down to Malaysia with our new found friends Anthony and Kelly. The reason for this was initially a visa run as the Thai visa only lasts for about thirty days, and if you overstay your welcome you've got problems. So we found and booked some cheap flights to Penang with the delightful Air Asia (a sort of Asian easyjet, but better). We flew down first thing in the morning, and on leaving the airport jumped straight onto a bus to Georgetown. Our initial impression...

Apr 14, 2005 - Penang, Malaysia

Yesterday we had the chance to celebrate the Songkran Festival in Thailand before catching the ferry over to Malaysia. Songkran is the celebration of the Thai New Year. I think it used to be just a parade where people sprinkled water over the monks as a sign of a new beginning, but now has now become essentially a full blown nationwide water fight. I made it out of the hotel in the morning only to be completely drenched by children with hoses and water guns. The adults were having their fair share of fun as well...no one was safe from being...

Apr 5, 2005 - Malaysia............Kuala Lumpur (only)

Hello, It's been some time since we have put in an entry........so I'll try and cover only the important things. When we last wrote we were in Koh Samui/Thailand, we stayed there quite a while and enjoyed the sun and sand. We rented a motorbike for 4 days and saw as much of the Island as possible. One night, while we were going through our stuff to get ready for our next move to Malysia, we happened to notice that we couldn't find our credit cards that were hidden away in our backpacks (VERY WELL HIDDEN, I might add!!). You see, we needed...

Apr 1, 2005 - Kuala Lumpur to Penang

A morning stroll over to the Petronas Towers, for a while the highest building in the world. Who knows, it still may be. But you can only go up to the connecting bridge a third of the way up, and for that you have to get a ticket and come back hours later. So instead I go up the telecommunications KL Tower; you pay but ascend instantly, and to twice as high. The view is fantastic. From up top Kuala Lumpur is a surprisingly big city with a surprising number of tall buildings, but most surprising of all is that it's like one of those Mayan...

Mar 30, 2005 - EARTHQUAKE!!!

Was on the first floor of a hotel in Panang when the earth started rollin. The best I could do is stand in a doorway. There is a feeling of Is it really an eathquate sort of thing. A good many of us were in the street soon after. Reminded me of California in 89 - A big one no doubt about it. Went on and on some 30 seconds. Fortunately no damage and no tsunami this time. Scary for all concerned though. This city was affected by the last tsunami - cab driver said they lost some 200 souls. All the newspapers had big stories - could have been...

Mar 29, 2005 - Malasia

The thirteen hour bus ride from Kho Rhogan to Butterworth was a bit of a nightmare Small a/c bus with two many folks and rude and crude bus driver. Will look for another way back. Did procure a 2 month visa for Thailand - The stay in Butterworth/Panang Malasia haa been pleasant. Every other shop is a cell phone or computer outlet - well almost.