More sun and sea and..........

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Langkawi

To our amazement there was a “direct connection” available from Krabi………… well this we were told was a man with a van taking us to a coach and then onwards to the ferry. Well surprise, surprise, it wasn’t quite like that. Man turned up with a minibus that had seen better days twenty years ago and had gone downhill steadily since then!!! He took us from Ao Nang to a place where we changed minibuses for the last hour of the journey to the ferry port. The chap running this “bus terminus” then set about ripping everybody off, we stood our ground as did others and he eventually gave in. We just missed the ferry at 2.00 but caught the 4.30 ok.

We had a taxi driver take us to a nice looking area with a number of hotels and booked into one for the night. It was horrendous and, after changing rooms at 4am due to noisy air-con units outside and then being awoken at 7ish by heavy duty pumps refilling tanks, we ate breakfast and left. We then rented a ‘shack’ on the beach, which was very basic but just a short step from the sea and very, very quiet. We hired a car and had a drive around encountering troops of ‘ wild monkeys’ and some wonderful scenery and very little traffic. The car was unfortunately broken into but not much taken, it cost us more for repairs to the window (no insurance on vehicles here) but nothing compared to the price in the UK. On our way back one afternoon we discovered that they have monitor lizards in Malaysia as well, about 100yds from our shack!! We rented a motorbike on the last day to get us to a cable car and some stunning views, then it was back for packing and off to the ferry, which we made with 5 mins to spare, for the sart of our journey to Singapore.

Well we arrived in Penang to discover that Pauline’s purse had been stolen, no money but all her cards, so it was a mad panic to get a phone card and get to a phone. However that was the easy bit - nobody could give us the number for the operator so that we could call the reverse-charge number, eventually we found an ordinary number and used a mobile to make the call. So taxi to Butterworth station and pick-up the tickets. Things then went really well for about 30 seconds, “oh yes sir, you can upgrade to a first class sleeper to Kuala Lumpur” and “yes sir you can pay for that ticket here too” but “oh no sir, I know it says visa is accepted here, but it isn’t” finding an ATM was an interesting experience everybody knew what I meant but and could point to a building in the distance but not explain how to get there. I eventually found the ATM and wished that I had unravelled a jumper so that I could follow the wool back to the station!! However, tickets paid and wait and wait for the train a comfy bed and dinner. Cabin and beds were really nice, but dinner?? Turned out to be an egg sandwich made with sweet bread yeugh. Breakfast was McDonalds at KL, which was little better, and then the train to Singers. Rest of the journey pretty uneventful though disembarking at the border and going through the xray machines, customs and passport control only to re-embark the train seemed a little odd. Then Singapore station, taxi and the luxury of the Intercontinental Hotel.

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Photos

Nice Anchorage
Yawn, "this is hard work"

Mines a pint
You can't beat a beer after a hard day entertaining the tourists