Beach Life

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Flight from KL was quick and easy. Ferringhi beach is what we were expecting, except perhaps a bit less infrastructure. The beach is a bit disappointing in that it is not the cleanest, but from a distance it is pretty. Saying that we have spent most of our time on the beach, which is quite quiet since most people seem to stay around the hotel pools. The resort comes alive after 8pm. There is a good night market which lines the main street, selling the usual counterfeit DVD’s, T shirts and souvenirs. Found number one copies of both our Dads watches and the Orange Omega Seamaster Planet, which James was tempted by, but at £25 managed to resist, though we probably would have got it cheaper had we bartered.

Ali’s Ferringhi Guest House where we are staying is pretty good. It is spotlessly clean (and I have high standards). It is right on the beach and behind a mosque which provides an early morning wake up call (5:45am)! I think I am coping quite well with my backpacker ish lifestyle. I have not had to give up many of life’s luxuries, except a comfy pillow!

There is a nice beach bar outside our guesthouse, ‘The Sunset Bistro’, we have had lunch there twice, both opted for the western option yesterday and enjoyed (probably not our last on this trip) a club sandwich. It is also a nice place to go for a drink at night. Got caught out in a storm when walking along the beach Friday afternoon, the strong wind pelted us with sand, James was laughing at me for tying to protect the lenses on my Prada sunglasses! Sheltered back at the guest house and I braved my first shower in our kind of wet room, only to find I didn’t have to spend the last 24 hours worrying as there was actually hot water.

Food has been excellent here, the hawker food courts are brilliant, we had a three course meal with drinks on Thursday for less than £6, including a lovely banana roti. There is so much choice, we have been able to resist the restaurants and have enjoyed Malaysian, Indian and seafood. Met a Malay man called David on the seafood stand yesterday who we spent our evening talking to (well at least the time it takes we to drink a large Tiger). Basically he was trying to sell us trips around the island, massages, water sports and reflexology, however he was not pushy at all and it was an interesting evening, especially the reflexology, where by touching James’ hand he picked up on an old medical condition!

We were meant to spend today around the pool at the Grand Plaza Park Royal, but when we woke up it was raining, so we headed to Teluk Bahang instead, a fishing village west of Batu Ferringhi. It was not really worth the visit, though the beach there was much quieter, since there are currently no hotels in the area as the Intercontinental are currently refurbishing the only hotel there.

Looking forward to the luxury of Traders in Georgetown, until then….

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