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After a boat, 'taxi', train and a ferry we arrived in Pinang, a small island off the west coast of Malaysia. We had spent the last 24 hours (the whole of Belle's birthday) travelling down from Kho Tao and saying our goodbyes to Dave, at this point wanted nothing more than a shower and something to eat. Before we could do this though, we had to find a bed for the night, which was actually an easier task than we thought.
After about a 20 minute walk we ended up in the backpacker area of the city and after viewing one grotty hostel we managed to find somewhere nice we could stay for the night. After a sweaty 24 hours an en-suite shower and some air con was just what the doctor ordered.
Showered and refreshed we headed out for a look round and book a train ticket for the following day to Kuala Lumpur. We strolled back towards the ferry port and train station only to find that the train to Kuala Lumpur was fairly expensive and the actual journey, not as far as we first thought. We had planned to get a night train down to Kuala Lumpur but it was only about six hours away, therefore we opted for a bus instead. Bus booked it was now time to look around Penang.
For a fairly small island there are a lot of different cultural influences in the city. We looked round China town before heading through an area which was very European, (French or Spanish in style) before heading to Little India for some dinner. We both tucked into a curry, some rice, naan bread and two drinks all for the grand total of about £5.
After dinner all we wanted to do was to catch up on some much needed sleep, so after going for a post dinner walk and to be honest, not finding much at all, we headed back to the hostel. Before heading back we stopped off in a near by 7 / 11 for some water. It was here where we came across one of the weirdest sites we have seen in South East Asia. A woman, standing in the shop, getting high by sniffing glue or spray-paint (or something similar solvent based) from a plastic bag. Alcohol in Malaysia is actually quite expensive (especially compared to what we are used to) and we both found it odd that a woman could get high in this local shop and nothing was being done about it. She must have been a 'regular' there as we saw her on our next trip to the same shop. We did exactly what everyone else did, go about our business, pay and leave, almost like she was a piece of the furniture.
The next morning we once again packed up our bags and then headed for the bus station leaving Penang after only one night. Although Penang wasn't a horrible place by any means, it's not necessarily somewhere we would go back to. A bit like a film you watch once, but wouldn't watch again or even buy it on DVD, not even in the HMV sale. It did however serve a purpose; a refreshing stop over and a chance to catch up on sleep.
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