Waking up in Malaysia

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Bry speaking: It was with some sadness that we bade farewell to Samui and Thailand. The island gets a bad press amongst the traveller community for being over commercialised, but as our honeymoon venue it will always hold a special charm for us I'm sure.

Anyway, we made it to Surathani with a mere 5 hours to wait for our 1am train to Panang. We passed the time eating, reading and sleeping. Tom was still suffering with tonsilitis, so gave into his tiredness and made himself comfortable on the platform for a quick nap - much to the amusement of the locals. The sleeper was much more comfortable than the Indian or Vietnamese ones, mainly due to much more generous mattress padding. Sleep was, however, elusive. I imagine that if you've been used to sleeping in dorms it wouldn't be a problem. It's amazing how distracting a chorus of strange snores can be. One thing common to all sleepers we've been on is that the AC is much too strong. It seems that as you've paid for it they feel the need to prove that it works... with the effect of making the carriages a tad chilly. The other slight irritation for a pair of average sized westerners is that the beds are about two inches too short to really stretch out. On this particular train, the noise that kept me from slumber was an unnerving squeal of contorting metal every time the train made the slightest of turns, a sound akin to titanic sinking scene in the movie depictions I've seen. All in all, and eerie mix.

Arriving in Butterworth we headed straight for the Penang ferry arriving on the island mid morning. After a restorative nap and a refreshing shower we spent a happy afternoon perusing the mall and watching a truly awful film, Ghostrider. Apologies to any comic-geeks, but frankly I thought it should get turkey of the year prize. Next day we got the funicular train up Penang hill, after which we decamped to a posh hotel with a pool at Ferringhi beach. A bit of bod baking, lovely beach walk and a few cocktails made for a great second day in Malaysia. Next day passed much the same, but on the totally deserted beach rather than with the over-50s bus brigade at the hotel. Then back to the train station to experience our private first class carriage to KL... with a hope to sleep, perchance to dream!

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Photos

Clapped out
Tom couldn't take the boredom of the wait for the overnight train anymore

Another sleeper
Different from India and Vietnam, here the 2nd class berths are arranged longways (actually the bottom berth is really wide, almost double-sized)

Penang hill
This is the view down the funicular track

World domination?
Unfortunately our friends at Tescos get everywhere - they have quite a presence in Malaysia and Thailand. This was taken at the top of Penang Hill.

Leaving Penang...
A quiet ferry crossing to catch our night train to KL