In Malaysia now... The train journey from Bangkok to Butterworth was 22 hours long! It wasn't too bad though, for the night the seats coverted into beds so I slept through about half of the journey. Opposite me was sitting and old Iranian man who used to live in Dubai but now lives in Bangkok and was on his way to Malaysia to renew his Thailnd visa. He had traveled around Thailand and told me a lot of stories (even though some of the time I couldn't understand him at all, and some of the time I think he was just talking to himself). He was great though, he shared his snacks with me after I missed the breakfast that was served on the train. I didn't realize/wasn't told that it was only available between 5 and 6 am (or something like that) because the train had to stop at 7am for two hours to a station where we got our passports stamped. The Iranian dude had brought some random cakes with him (something with a texture of a rubbery sponge but actually tasted great). He said he always buys two of everything so he can share with his fellow passengers. Bless him! Also the scenery along the way was pretty awesome. There was huge rice fields, jungles, mountains and tiny villages built on poles. Also we saw a sunset! My train from Butterworth to Kuala Lumpur did not leave until later in the evening so I had to figure out something to do for the day. I had heard that from Butterworth I could take a ferry to the city of Georgetown on Penang island (which apparently is one the most popular tourist destinations in Malaysia). A return ticket on the ferry cost ridiculuosly little, like 20p or something! I am loving it here indeed... Georgetown is quite a small place but has lots of character and the peopel are lovely! I had my first proper contact with Malaysian people when I went to put my photos on a CD (not that I've taken that many pictures here already but my memory card was full of random pictures from before the trip) and the guy working there was really nice and we talked lots. He even understood my sarcasm, and not even all of my friends in England get my sarcasm so that was pretty impressive... Also, there was no place on the train station or ferry terminal to leave my bag so he offered to watch my stuff in his store while I wandered around. Since Malaysia seems to the be The Mall Heaven, I did some hard-core window shopping (I was very tempted to do actual shopping but since I still have nearly three weeks left, I'd rather not carry any more stuff around than necessary so shopping can wait until later). There is lots to see and do in Penang, but if you have limited time (which I did) the best way to get a look around is to hire a rickshaw (kinda like a tuk-tuk but this one is being cycled, I'll get a picture of it later). If I thought the tuk-tuk driver in Bangkok was a bit crazy, this dude was absolutely insane. Ok, a tuk-tuk at least has a motor but this guy actually went racing the cars in the middle of the road with a bicycle (me with him obviously) and it was more than once we nearly got killed. It was lots of fun though, he told me a lot about the place. I visited a buddhist and a hindu temple which was great coz I've never been in either before. Both of them were very beautiful and nicely decorated. I like how some people express their religion so colourfully. Even though visiting Georgetown was not actually in my plans in the first place, I'm glad I went there! This is why I'm happy I decided to travel by train from Bangkok to Singapore, even though it takes over 40 hours altogether (in three separate trips though). Flying would have been quicker and more convenient but then I would never had visited this place. I'm taking the plane back from Singapore to Bangkok though, don't think I could do same thing twice within a week! When I got back to Butterworth, it was time for another overnight train, heading to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. Anyone seen Entrapment....?