Langkawi

Following a couple of days in Penang (which in all honesty wasn't fantastic) we dragged ourselves out of bed at 7.30am through the rain and got the 3hr ferry north to the island of Langkawi (Eagle Island).

After Kasia had finally got over her sea-sickness, we got a taxi from the port over to the main beach area, Chenang, where we found a chalet right on the beach. (pleased it isn't tsunami season!)



It was a big contrast to anywhere we'd already been to. Clean, quiet, good roads, nice beaches and the sun was actually shining! I also thought my bargaining skills were going great as I'd got us the place for 'ay-eee ring-e' or 18 ringet which is about 3 quid per night.


I later found out this was actually 80 when it came to paying but compared to the 5* spa resorts each side charging 150 quid a night, we decided it wasn't so bad. Kasia was very happy there and really didn't want to leave the place.

The first day was spent lazing on the beach, drinking cheap beer and following Kasia as she sampled the local fruit, ripping unripened bananas and coconuts from the trees.

Ironman Malaysia is held on the island (no coincidence there ;) ) in Feb and I wanted to hire a bike to ride the course having done no execise at all for the last week. Unfortunately though the choice of rental bike came down to a rusting old BMX or a shiny moped. I chose the latter :) Apart from the heat and humidity, it would be a great location for a race. Maybe one to do in a couple of years time. Steve? Dan? ;)

Whilst on the beach, we met Kevin 'Come on Man!' the entertaining chinese fella who had learnt his english watching episodes of "Friends" on cable tv. He set us up with a cheap afternoon island hopping boat trip which turned out to be great.
Some swimming in a fresh water lake, eagle feeding and an encounter with a bunch of monkeys on a small island beach.

We rounded the day off in a nice bar down on the beach, breaking the bank with some cocktails watching the sun go down whilst stuffing our faces on indian curry. Ahhhhhh.. :)

North to Penang

So, after a couple of days seeing the sights in singapore, we needed to get out of the place. I've never seen so many shopping 'malls' in one place. It's incredible. The locals must spend their entire time working and shopping with a coffee at starbucks in between.

We had a rake through Chinatown, taking in some food, a walk around the harbour sampling a 'singapore sling' and had a look at a world war II museum 'the battle box' (an old secret bunker where the british command centre was based until the Japanese invaded).

We also met up with some friends of my granny for a couple of beers (at 6 pounds each :o/.... though we didn't have to pay the bill :D)

So, we got tickets for a night bus for the 800km journey north to the island of Penang. This left from some dodgy out of town shopping centre filled with thai karaoke bars trying to out do one another with the worst sounding din. Thai Hip-Hop isn't exactly Snoop Dogg :)

We woke up the next morning at 8am with the bus driver screaming at us to get off the (now empty) bus as we had arrived at Butterworth, the ferry port for boats to Penang. Stumbling off the bus and down to the the pier still half asleep, we paid the 20p each and got the boat over to the island.

This is when Kasia realised what I meant by a holiday on a budget :) Having reached the other port we strolled through the back streets of yet another 'Little India' with the aromers of dead dog, rotting fish and poo filling the air :D We managed to find the first recommended guest house from 'the lonely planet' guide book in no time and got a clean double room with fan for 25RM which is just over 4 quid.

The rest of the day was spent walking around Georgetown, eating some very dubious braised duck for dinner in chinatown along the way. You know something's not quite right when the entire family on the next table looking in your direction and giggle among themselves.

This was also the day I finally got my first competition victory of the year in my new found event: 'Moon Cake Eating'! I managed to outdo a chubby indian bloke, a chinese lad and a maly girl at their own event stuffing down the peanut filled pie in 48 seconds. My prize? Two more of the revolting things. Bean flavoured!! :(


Finally, in the eveningwe took a walk down the main strip of bars and clubs. The last bar we visited 'the soho' was pretty much full of middle aged white blokes and young malaysian girls getting down to the sounds of Sidney Youngblood. Quality place.. especially the loving prepared display of photos featuring the manager and famous faces such as Andy Peters, Sid Little, Wayne Sleep and Chris de Burgh hung behind the bar.

....

Pt.2

Well we just got back from a moped tour of the island. Our planned "early start" began at 2pm and we then spent the next hour sheltering from the downpour of rain. We finally got out on the road just after 3 and we rode the 25km down to the famous Snake Temple in about an hour and a half as I got to grips with the powerful 80cc beast and we made many a detour having lost our map :)

The 'amazing' temple full of smoke from incence sticks and a couple of monks touting their fruit was a bit of a disappointment to say the least. In the centre was a alter with a large candle holder on each side with a couple of what we found out to be poisonous cobra snakes on the top each. This is after Kasia had poked one with her finger telling me they weren't real :D

I then had the joy of an indian bloke placing two of these slithery things throwingon my head and another in my hands while his sidekick told me to smile at the camera. "don't worry, they're very friendly sir". Yeah right! To say I was cacking it would be an understatement! Trust me, the smile in the photo is one of fear :o/

After all this fun we did a loop of the island riding through the mountains, realising I'd managed to lose the moped key somewhere along the way. I did this in thailand 4 years ago so should have really learnt my lesson. This meant a 30km ride back through to Georgetown and lots of traffic praying that the thing wouldn't stall where we again ancountered the giggling chinese family, this time in a car which pulled up against us at the traffic lights, pointing to the silly white people with mushroom helmets. :)

Happily, we got back ok and the bloke at the hire shop didn't seem too bothered about the key.

Tomorrow we're planning to take the early 3hr boat trip north to Langkawi. Apparantly there's a few monkeys, eagles and most importantly, cheap beer there :)

Change of plan

Fly to Bangkok, head upto the north for a couple of weeks, ride an elephant, see some tigers, have a jaunt through the jungle in the hills and consume lots of thai curry and beer before spending a few lazy weeks on the beach and a spot of diving.

Well that was the plan anyway. After taking the train down to heathrow and getting ready to check-in, my dad calls to say there's been a military coup in thailand. Bugger.


Not imagining that Kasias parents would be too impressed by taking their daughter through tank blockades and rioting mobs, we changed our flight to go directly to Singapore, which is where we are now, sat in an internet cafe trying to work out what to do next.

Last night was spent wandering around smelling the different spices and insence of the markets and food stores in Little India (a kind of indian chinatown), some tasty vegetarian food then a long walk down to the posh end of town and the harbour. Doesn't seem such a bad place so far. Lots of variety, very clean and it's not raining which is always a bonus.

Current plan is to spend a couple of days here and see the sights then get a train up through malaysia and find something to do up there. Seems a shame to come here then go straight to Oz and I read there's lots of nice food and beaches near Penang... More updates to follow :)