Day 3: Life’s a beach

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Today was the day we actually got to explore Penang.

I’ve decided the “shower/trickle” will now be the predictor of what our day will hold. Thank goodness that this morning our shower was fully functioning, with hot water. It was going to be a good day.

We awoke to the sight of a man sleeping directly across from us in the middle of the pavement, unaware of people traipsing around him. Not prepared to get caught out with buses again, our first mission of the day was to sort out transport to Trang in Southern Thailand. Like all good kiwis we decided the information office was the place to go, and after grabbing some bake and take (yummy, yummy rolls) for brekkie we meandered down the back streets of George town, taking in the sights and smells (of the sewer). After about 20 minutes we made it. Next to the clock tower, built in 1867, was the information office. Unfortunately for us, Malaysian’s have taken the literal translation of the word information, and the offices do not double as ticketing offices!

So, information in head and map in hand we marched back the same way we’d come to the individual ticketing agents. On the way back we got to see a band and their dragons practicing (pretty neat). We ended up at the Banana guest house that doubled as a ticketing agent, for just 44 ringit they could get us to Trang, compared to the 155 ringit down the road, sold! So impressed we also decided to move our bags down and stay here for our last night.

Once the move was complete we decided it was time to take off to the beach. We’d been told that Batu ferrangi was the place to go. We ended up on what we think was a rebel bus (2 ringit)- no number and not having any real platform at the bus station yet just yelling out for people to jump on! The bus weaved through the streets for a good 45 minutes before arriving at the beach. Another opportunity for us to listen to our ipod’s and take in the contrasting sights of Penang; the exceptionally rich areas offset by the poor. One thing we think should be introduced to NZ are traffic lights that count down...ingenious!

Batu ferrangi was a nice beach...but not spectacular. I fear we have been spoilt by the beautiful Nz beaches and nothing can compare. The beach obviously popular with tourists was lined with resorts, that ran numerous water sports offshore...making for a noisy beach. For the life of us we couldn’t find a public loo, which meant me having to negotiate our micro towels, while not exposing myself to the world to put on my togs. Mission successful (-ish, maybe exposing a little flesh here and there), we headed down to the beach for a dip a little dubious of the murky water we decided it best to keep our heads above water. A wise decision, when we later saw what james quite aptly named poo rivers making their way out to sea.

Deciding it was time to see what Batu Ferrangi really had to offer we headed back to the road and made our way down the main street. The answer to our question, not much! A little despondent and about to turn around we saw a sign that read Waterfall 300m, leading on to a run-down track (obviously DOC’s equivalent does not exist here). Off we went, eventually after at least 500m we made it. It was worth the walk, if nothing more than to dip our feet in the cool water and hide out in the shade. Having had a look around there we began to make our way back, only to discover three monkeys playing the trees. Now I have always been fascinated with Monkeys and until d-day actually came couldn’t wait to see them in real-life. However coming face to face with them all I could think was Rabies. I therefore let James take the photos, while I searched for the biggest stick possible to attack the rabid little things if they made a run for it. Thankfully with James as my shield we managed to sidle past them without them noticing!!

Back on the beach we had a nice afternoon lying under trees in the shade, playing with the setting on James camera, and me listening to Drive time Spanish, my inability to concentrate however meant that my improvement in Spanish is null! After another dip, at around 3.15pm, we decided it was well after beer o’clock and headed to one of the beach side bars. Absolute bliss, playing 500 (in which I managed to win a hand...wohoo) and sipping beer while watching the world go by. The beers we tried today were Tiger (so, so) and Skol (apparently European so cheating a little but very nice). Our table on the beach meant that we could watch the sights and sounds - the horses on the beach, people parasailing heading straight for us - something to get the heatbeat up a little. After our little bit of perfection we headed back to the main streets to find dinner. Too lazy to search too far we ended up at Fantasy, the biggest rip off this side of the border! For 57 ringit, not much in NZ, but huge amounts here, we had two seafood dishes. That were nice, but a little disappointing considering penang is supposed to be the seafood capital of Asia.

After our dinner we made our way slowly back along to the bus stop. Having had such a perfect day, it was capped off for me when we saw a poor lady, obviously with some degenerative muscle disorder shuffling along behind her husband. While this may seem interesting that this was my deciding factor of a perfect day, it was more so the fact that it made me realise just how lucky we are - to one be so healthy and two to be able to do what we are doing. We couldn’t ask for a better life!!

Every night in Batu Ferrangi they have a night bazaar - this involves about a zillion street merchants setting up their stalls full of...junk on the sides of the roads. Thinking of our packs, and the fact we had about 5 ringitt left we just mosied past these to the bus stop. The bus back into town again gave us time to appreciate life, and just observe. Nearly having to jump of a moving bus we made it back to the hotel at about 9ish, and again tired, and James with a sore back, made our way to bed.

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