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April 6th (Monday) - Day 37 - Ko Phangan to Penang, Malaysia
5am wake up for our 6am taxi to the ferry terminal. The ferry to the mainland took 2.5 hours. We then had a coach journey to the closest city. That was 1.5 hours. We then got in a mini bus to the border town. Sarah was so disappointed to find it was a local service so we drove all over picking up locals who were really noisy. The driver was the worst I have seen and thats saying something. I am lucky to be alive. 5 hours later we swapped mini buses (again a local one) for our last 3 hour leg. This took us over the boarder but the driver did not tell us what to do so was all very confusing! Come back Jess. At 10pm we finally arrived at our guest house. We had no local currency to pay with so had to find an ATM very quickly. The place we booked into was okay but was a bit of a dump.
April 7th (Tuesday) - Day 38 - Penang
We got up and tried to get a cheaper price on our hostel but the guy that could speak English was not there so instead we found a new place. I am glad we did. We moved over the road then went out for a wander. We ended up in the mall and got some lunch (Thai of all things). We then went on a culture walk and saw an old fort which we walked around and went inside. We also saw a few temples and government buildings etc. Then the heavens opened once again (so much for the dry season). So headed back. This storm lasted forever so we had to brave it.Went for a few beers and Sarah suggested indian food for dinner as we were in little India. I almost fainted. The highlight was the lack of plates, instead we ate it off banana leaves. We were going to go for another drink but the beers were 22 ringget (4.25!!!) for a small bottle so gave it a miss.
April 8th (Wednesday) - Day 39 - Penang
We booked ourselves on an island tour. This was the fastest way of seeing everything quickly. We jumped on the minibus at half 9. There was another girl called Rosie (but I didnt ask her her name until like 2pm - opps). She was very chatty :) and it was great to meet someone as we have not found that many friendly people. First we went to see 2 temples. One with a reclining budda and one with a standing budda. Next we went to a Hindu temple where Rosie got blessed with a big red spot and a white line on her forehead. Next we went to see how traditional dresses and scarfs are made from dye. Next was a snake temple and they had live snakes roaming the place. Next we went to a large Pagoda and climbed right to the top. Then climbed the hill in a horizontal lift to see a large bronze Chinese warrior. Next we went to Penang hill. The hill is over 700 metres above sea level and you get to it using a hill train. It took over 30 minutes to get to the top. The views of the island were amazing. It was a good 10 degrees cooler which was a nice change! We got a late lunch and took in some more views. We could see the whole island and the mainland. It took 30 mins to get back down again and then finally went to a chocolate factory. It was nice chocolate but way to expensive. That evening we meet Rosie and found a beer called Ankor Strong. It was only 8.8%. We went for another Indian before saying good bye to Rosie.
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