Day 58 cont-74

---

Day 58 cont

So after I last updated this we headed to the post office to post some stuff and grab some street noodles for lunch. Then a very exciting thing happened I found cider in a bar! Cider is impossible to find anywhere and after 8 weeks of fruitless searching there it was on the menu however it was about £3 for a tiny bottle, ah well it was worth it! After this we had a 4 litre chang beer tower which we polished off in no time before heading out shopping on the kaosan road. Picked up a few bargains then headed back to the hotel by this time we were knackered so decided against a show and had a quiet night in a bar and restaurant near the hotel.

Day 59

Left at 5am for the island of Ko Samui. Was a long drive but didn't feel it as the roads were good and regular and nice service station stops. Which made a change! Possibly also helped by watching the first series of the inbetweeners, which nat had picked up in Bangkok, on the bus tv (not sure some of the older folk appreciated the language etc but it definitely made the day go a lot quicker!) Made it to the ferry station just after 3pm to catch the 4pm ferry to the island. Was about an hour and a half trip helped by the ipod and speakers and a few beers! Got to the hotel which is nice enough, little individual huts right on the beach. Went for a quick swim before tea then a quick walk along the beach before bed.

Day 60

Woke up earlyish to the sound of torrential monsoon rain, not happy! Skipped breakfast to stay in bed before putting on the bikini in a vain hope it might stop. Another walk up the beach in the downpour and then walked back along the roads just dried off in time before another storm hit. Waited and waited and waited for the rain and wind to stop and clear up but it didn't so headed for a few happy hour cocktails which surprisingly didn't help the mood. Spent a few hours on the internet booking flights, uploading pics etc before heading out for a very nice meal at a fancy hotel down the road. Was knackered so fairly early night.

Day 61

Woke up about 8.30ish to bright sunshine, yay! so quick shower, bikini on, breakfast then swimming and sunbathing! Another quick lunch at the hotel before happy hour cocktails again, followed by another swim. After a shower and change went for a wander up the road to get cash out to fund the happy hour cocktail habit. While the other young folk went for a night out in the main town I decided to have a quiet night at the hotel and an early night (Yes this actually happened, don't sound too shocked!)

Day 62

Another hot and sunny day but after nearly every single one of us got various degrees of sunburn from the day before most people tried to stay out of the sun. So a quick swim in the morning and then chilled out in the hotel bar/restaurant/reception which over looked the sea. After lunch went for a small walk (and by small I mean 5 mins!) up the rocks near the hotel to take some pics of the bay and hotel before heading back to the bar to drink pineapple shakes and relax some more. All this lazing around was getting a bit boring so headed back to the hut for a shower and to pack my stuff up and have a nap (I said the lazing around was boring but it was also tiring work!) At about 5.30 headed back to the bar this time for a beer, hung around there for a while before heading up the road for tea. Went to a really nice restaurant that was all pretty and lit up with fairy lights and had the nicest chef/owner in the world she was the cutest thing and I wish I could have brought her with me! Had a really nice sweet and sour dish washed down with a gin and tonic and a never ending long island iced tea before heading back to the beach for a wander then bed time.

Day 63

Left the hotel at 8am to catch our ferry back to the mainland. A bit more of a sedate crossing than last time as I spent most of the time dodging the baking sun and trying to sleep! At about 10.30 we made it over and got on our double decker coach (I know, fancy!) We stopped at a massive tesco complete with kfc and dunkin donuts for lunch before getting back on the coach. Second half of the trip was made much more interesting by watching season 2 of the inbetweeners and eating my newly purchased werthers originals! Got to the hotel in Hatyai about 4.30pm where I proceeded to watch american TV such as House and Law and Order and random old school programmes such as Secret world of Alex Mac on Nats Laptop!

Day 64
We left Hat Yai for the quick drive to the Thai/Malaysian border. After leaving Thailand no problem we walked back to the coach to wait for our Malaysian guide with the Malaysian bus. After a while and a few phone calls it becomes apparent that the coach company have screwed up and were expecting us the day after. We hang around for a while and get cash out etc while waiting til a replacement bus arrives complete with replacement guide (extremely irritating lady with annoying voice and a habit of repeating everything about 6 times!) All pile on the bus to be told that in 5 mins we have to get back off with our luggage to go through Malaysian immigration and customs! Eventually get to the island of Penang and our hotel. The hotel is all kitted out for Christmas complete with tacky Christmas tree and Christmas songs playing in the lobby and lift. Very unusual to hear in boiling hot heat and to be honest a bit creepy! The girls and I decide to hire a taxi in the afternoon, first stop food! Really nice street food noodles and spring roll things followed by fresh pineapple so that was all good. We then got the taxi to the botanical gardens where instead of walking round in monsoon rain we got the little train to drive us round. Nice to see it all but a little on the boring side so we kept ourselves amused by watching the monkeys and doing fake tour guide information! After this we headed back to the hotel to chill out for a while before heading to the supermarket to stock up on snacks for the bus rides. Wasn’t planning on going out for food but was swayed by Ross and the findings of an English pub! So off we went and I finally had my long awaited Jacket Potato with cheese and wait for it...STRONGBOW! After this spectacular high the only place to go was bed and to sleep!

Day 65
We left Penang in the morning and arrived at the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur in the early afternoon. After a quick detour via the Petronas towers we got to our hotel. First stop as always, food! We spotted a Nandos on the way in so headed there. I was all excited for my usual medium veggie pitta with pineapple however it turns out that Malaysian vegetarian option at Nandos is a bowl of lettuce...not happy! So Feeling pissed off and not that well due to the fact I was getting a cold I planned on going back to the hotel for a sulk and a nap however a Jamaican bar with happy hour cocktails swayed me to stay out! After a quick wander round a market, back to the hotel for a while before heading back to the Jamaican place for tea where we saw a cat kill and eat a gecko!

Day 66
We left the hotel at 9am for our 9.40am slot to go up the Petronas towers. At this point I was knackered, felt a bit ill and had lost my voice so not the greatest time to be doing it! Anyways arrived at the towers to be handed our passes and lead into a small cinema room where we were pelted by Petronas propaganda for about 10 minutes, completely pointless and annoying! Anyways after this we all got into the lift and then arrived on the 42nd floor and the bridge that joins the twin towers. Was a really nice view of KL but once you’re up there and have taken a few pics it’s a bit like “well now what do you do for the next 10 minutes!” Anyways back down in the lift to the bottom and then back to the hotel to load up the coach before setting off to Melaka. A relatively short drive there and we arrived about 2pm where we pretty much went straight to the pub where we stayed til about 10.30pm!

Day 67
Woke up with my voice restored and no signs of a cold apart from a cough so that just proves that lots of beer can be good for you! A very quick drive to the ferry where endless immigration and customs forms had to be filled in before we finally went through to the boat. Not quite what I was expecting was a bit like a bus with rows of seats and screens playing Westlife Live on repeat and freezing cold air con however there was free cake! Anyways we set off and a few hours later arrived at the port of Dumai on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. After waiting for our visas we went through customs where we all had our bags searched for the first time. A pretty basic search but the customs man (who hardly spoke any English) wanted to check our medication etc so I opened up my bag with them all in showed him my malaria tablets, painkillers etc and then conversation went pretty much like this...
Customs man: Whats this?
Me: Contraceptive pill
CM (looking confused): what?
Me: Contraceptive pill
CM (still confused): Sex Pill?
Me (laughing): Erm well yeah I suppose so
CM (confused again): What?
Me: Yes ok then, Sex Pill.
CM : Ah ok, Sex Pill
All very funny not helped by the fact he started asking if I was married, single, whether I liked Indonesian men etc. This encounter definitely cheered me up, well until I saw how small our Indonesian bus was! A long drive to our stop of Pekanbaru by this time very tired so a quick wander near the hotel before bed.

Day 68
A 6am start with a packed breakfast of rice and noodles (they seriously eat the same meal 3 times a day, gets very boring and who wants noodles for breakfast?!) A very long drive to our next stop of Jambi but we did finally cross the equator which was quite exciting! I kind of wanted a big line across the road but had to make do with a statue thing! Anyway very nice hotel but headed straight to Pizza Hut where it soon becomes apparent that not many white people visit the town of Jambi as everyone stares and the waiting staff laugh openly in our faces for no apparent reason. Starting to realise I don’t like Sumatra! Anyway back to hotel to watch TV before bed.


Day 69
Was a shorter drive today so left at 8.30am and arrived about 4pm. Headed out to find a supermarket to stock up on bus snacks again and got stared at and hassled by begging children and us girls got horrible comments from all the sleazy men. Really do not like Sumatra and cannot wait to leave by now. Anyway after buying my own body weight in food headed back to the hotel to get ready for the group meal on a floating riverside restaurant at 7pm. A nice buffet meal but it was all tiny servings (the Indonesian people, like the Thai and Malaysian, are very small and don’t eat much they obviously underestimated how much us greedy westerners eat!) so everyone was still quite hungry however birthday cake bought by our tour leader, Michele, for Emily’s birthday the next day certainly helped! Back to the hotel where sadly one of our groups rooms had been broken into by hotel staff using a key card and a lot of cash had been taken. The hotel are denying anything even though there is proof on the computers the room had been opened while we were all out, the police are finally called but useless and laugh and refuse to do anything very frustrating for all involved. And not exactly making me change my mind about Sumatra!

Day 70
Left the hotel at 6am and no one was in the best of moods especially our tour leader and everyone involved in the thefts as they had had hardly any sleep and for obvious reasons were very angry! Nothing seemed to have been resolved over night by either the hotel or the police and it looks unlikely anything ever will be. Another packed breakfast of noodles and another long driving day. Arrived at our hotel about 5pm after chilling out for a while we headed out at 7.30pm for dinner at Pizza Hut! In my defence it was Emily’s birthday and it was her choice! Quite tired so a fairly early night.

Day 71
Was awoken at 4am by the Muslim call to prayer from various mosques around our hotel. I have no problem with them praying but do they have to be called by such a loud speaker so early in the morning! Anyway we were leaving at 6am again so not too bad really and this morning our packed breakfast was a peanut butter and a jam sandwich, result! Drove about 2 ½ hours to the ferry port where we finally left the shitty island of Sumatra to go over to Java! It was a 2 hour ferry journey where we chilled out on deck in the sunshine and then in the shade as it was baking however I am slightly sunburned on the shins where I forgot to put my factor 50! The view from the bus window is already an improvement on the last island so feeling a lot happier already. We arrived at the hotel on the outskirts of Bandung about 4pm not the nicest part of town or the nicest hotel but it’s not Sumatra so I don’t care! This is also the last one night stop for a while so things are looking up! A very quick walk to the supermarket to get shower gel (the smallest bottle in the world, after days of looking it was all I could find. Indonesians must smell bad!) . An effort to find a telephone to make international calls to ring home to speak to baby bro on his 21st birthday proved useless so back to the hotel to go on the internet. Left over pizza hut for tea before chilling out, aloe vera on the shins and bedtime!

Day 72
Left Bandung at 7.30am and arrived at Pangandaran on the coast of Java about 1pm. Had a headache so went for a nap while the others checked out the pool. At about 3pm Anna, Emily, Preya and I headed out in the torrential rain to find some food we made it about 100m down the road into a cafe and arrived soaked to the skin! After a sit down, some vegetable noodle soup, a drink and a laugh at Anna’s expense I felt loads better so since the rain had eased off a bit we headed off in search of a supermarket and some beers! Sadly we never made to the supermarket as we were sidetracked by the boys and beer! After chilling out in the restaurant with a beer and dodging the leaking roof the girls and I headed back to the cafe where we had a lunch to do some long awaited karaoke! We were very excited by this and at this point slightly tipsy (yes I’d only had 1 beer but they are huge!) We ordered more another beer each and were lead into a tiny room with everything set up, there wasn’t a lot of choice only 2 cds one of eighties and nineties songs (some classics and some not so much) and westlife! Settling for eighties and nineties we sung our little hearts out! Towards the end of the cd the rest of the group, from the pub before, attracted by our tuneful voices arrived and joined in! We quickly got bored of the oldies so decided the only place to go was westlife and I am both surprised and disappointed in myself at how many of the songs I knew! After sweating it out in the tiny karaoke room I headed outside to cool down by dancing in the rain with some of the others. After growing bored of the limited song choices we paid up and headed back to the hotel where us young folk decided a night swim, in the pool, in the rain and in our clothes was the best thing to do! After about an hour it got cold so off back to the room for a hot shower and bed (it felt about midnight on closer inspection it was only about 9.30pm!)

Day 73
Was awoken by extremely annoying jazz style versions of “classics” like ‘my heart will go on’ (I’m sure there was’ God rest ye merry gentlemen’ in there as well) and the usual mosque speakers outside. Thinking i’d slept past the alarm I check my watch. No it really was about 6.30am and they really were blasting it through the hotel speakers on the only morning I get a chance of a lie in the last 2 weeks! Tried to go back to sleep but with little success so at about 8am head for breakfast where they immediately stop playing the music. Aarghh! After breakfast I go back to the room do some much needed washing, tidying, sorting and eyebrow plucking! At about 1pm the girls and I headed for lunch, noodles again before a wander on the beach where we got interviewed by indonesian schoolgirls for an english assignment. Bizarre! Back to the hotel for a swim before getting ready for a group bbq on the beach.

Day 74
Left the hotel at 8.30am and arrived in yogyakarta about 4pm been for a quick swim and now catching up on internet times before heading out for food!

---