So I've finally started a blog. Only a month late. I've actually been to Thailand in that time, met people, visited temples, had an operation...you know, the usual. But now I'm doing it properly because, well, frankly I'm sick of telling different people the same story over and over again.
Arrived late afternoon in Penang airport, tired and tearful from saying goodbye to mum and Jimmy, and the first two things that struck me were the intense heat (even coming from Bangkok) and the mountains. They were beautiful. The forest here is denser with thicker trees than Thailand and the greens are more vibrant. I liked Malaysia almost immediately.
I stepped onto the taxi rank expecting a fight for the price, but was issued with a ticket from a booth with a fixed price to certain parts of the island. A nice change when you're sick of haggling. It was 45 Malaysian ringgit for a 45 minute journey which was about 9 pounds - not too bad. I told the driver about my appendix ordeal (I tell anyone that will listen) and he gave me a brief medical rundown is almost perfect English on what foods to avoid to stop stomach aches abroad. And this was a taxi driver. I arrive at the Red Inn hostel already feeling very comfortable with the city.
The state of Penang is made up of an island and a slither of mainland joined by a huge pillar bridge. The city I was staying in was northeast of the island called Georgetown, famous for it's history and English heritage during it's colonisation across the world. It is vast mixture of Malay, Chinese and Indian cultures scrambled into this busy little city which was famous for it's passion for food and feeding people. I was in heaven. I could roam for hours along these narrow busy streets with tatty plastic chairs outside grubby food counters. The packaging wouldn't matter because you know it would be the tastiest and most authentic food you've ever had, at a ridiculously cheap price. A-maz-ing!
So my first full day I spent in penang consisted of an hour bus ride to the botanic gardens and a car trip up Penang hill. The 'hill' is more of a small mountain. The winding road to the top was 5km at a 30% gradient and just so happened to be the most terrifying car ride of my life. I was on the back of a 4x4 pick up trick and my knuckles were white and my face was green. The views in the end were fantastic but unfortunately a tad hazy. The gardens were beautiful and peaceful contrast to the evening antics. After food we were all up for a dance and after an hour of walking around for places to accept flip flops we found an crazy bar which we completely took over with our crazy dancing and drinking crazy coloured cocktails. Stumbled in at 4 after completing the night with guitar singing outside the hostel. it was overall a good productive day.
Day two started with a hangover. Good start. After peeling myself out of bed and discovering it was pouring down with rain, my ideas of chilling out by the beach were ruined. Instead, I decided to go for a walk to the mall, about 15minutes away. I got lost. Very lost. The mall was like a rabbit warren, the deeper you go the more disorientated and lost you get! Eventually I made in back to the hostel before the sun went down. Checking out of the hostel when I got there was an Australian middle aged guy who was curious about an old mansion around the corner from the hostel that was owned by a flamboyant Chinese mafia leader in the early 1900s. The mansion and all the furniture was restored and it was a beautiful sight. We spent an hour and a half there with the Australian guy giving chinas entire history in one go, pointing out genuine and not-so-genuine chinese artefacts. I was bushed after that and made it into bed at the respectable time of 11.
Day 3 of Penang and 2 other girls and I decided to have a girly day of shopping (in that fecking mall). After an hour though I got very bored having seen it all already so I said goodbye to them and hopped onto the next bus I could find. An hour through the traffic later and I found myself on the other side of the island and at the entrance to a national park, basically a mass of jungle with a few monkeys. A bunch of guys (1 Canadian, 1 Dutch, 1 Japanese) were getting off at the same point and I strangely ended up climbing through the jungle with them, talking about xbox games, computers and the best takeaway (they were all complete geeks). Finally got back at about 8 after sweating a stone off me then putting it all back on with Indian food and ice cream. Yum. Another early night as I'm up at 4:30 to catch the bus to krabi. Hence I'm stood here at passport control s***ting a brick because I don't have re-entry visa for Thailand (if you come back over the border you only get 15days extra but I think you need to fill out a big long form).