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Published: November 26th 2010
22 November 2010 Our last morning in Langkawi started early as we got up to start work on a little project of ours that we are not at liberty to share with you all as yet….( I could tell you but I’d have to kill you). All I can say is that I didn’t really want to be up as early as we were but c’est la vie!
Having completed our mission for the minute we headed onwards to breakfast, and a list of tasks that we had written for us to achieve prior to leaving for our next destination.
Breakfast therefore was also an opportunity to take the laptop with us and have a working brekkie… (how London are we?) We strolled along the road to a place we had visited yesterday for a meal called the Red Tomato Café. We both ordered our breakfast and when mine arrived once more I had come up trumps in the food ordering stakes. My Farmhouse breakfast which consisted of re-fried boiled potatoes, grilled tomatoes, beef bacon (all pork produce seems to be imitation as it is a muslim area) and egg all mixed together. It was both delicious
and huge, really setting me up for the day. Even Lou agreed it was a quality meal from the morsel I allowed her to sample.
We lingered there for a while nursing my Ribena Freezee, followed by a tea, whilst ticking some items off the list: Add money to the pre-paid cards = tick
Buy ferry tickets online = decided to do it at the ferry port
Book a hostel for tonight = decided to do it when we get there
Book a taxi = hail one when we are ready
Book flights to Bali = couldn’t the money hadn’t cleared on the pre-paid card
All in all we didn’t really achieve much but it was nevertheless a pleasant morning. We returned to achieve something on the list, packing. Not really much of an option there when we were moving on!
We came downstairs, checked out and spent a little more time online before realising it was nearly midday and the morning was done - time to get to the ferry port. We hailed a taxi which was a very simple affair, merely moving about 3 yards from my seat and looking across the road, and a
little wave got us a car.
Off to the ferry port whence we had arrived we went and then got to a star bucks to sit and have a drink prior to boarding. With the luxury of a seat, Lou kept watch over the luggage whilst I went to sort tickets, returning moments later to tell her that there was no sign of anywhere to get a ticket. Out comes the laptop and a quick search later we know that (obviously!) the ticket office isn’t in the ferry port building but the one across the road nearer the car park - what a sensible design that is!
Anyway I set out once more and this time returned successfully.
We were approaching our time slot for boarding so headed into the departure area, where we were slightly surprised to have our bags scanned. Only afterwards did it click that the duty free status of the island meant that you may need to declare goods if you were here on a booze/cigarette buying mission.
We boarded our ferry with little difficulty and our seats near the front gave us a little window to see out of, although it
was at an inconvenient height visible half way between stood and sat down.
The annoying window meant that we didn’t look out of it as much as we would have liked and, lets face it, the ocean as far as you can see isn’t really something that holds the attention without a cliff, or some surf, or some other feature to interest you.
Instead the movie screen was the focal point where after about 10-15minutes of an appalling film which is the recent Herbie film (yes the Beetle - which should not have been allowed, it can do nothing but sully the image of what was once a half decent franchise back when I was a kid) we were treated to Avatar, now it has been a while since I watched this on the big screen but it was still quality. The subtitles in German when the aliens were speaking, and the small screen definitely detracted from the experience as did the way the film skipped some scenes but it was still a decent enough watch and before we know we were pulling into Penang.
As we arrived, we manoeuvred around two enormous cruise ships which were
docked there, and made our little ferry seem pretty pathetic. We disembarked, hauled the bags onto our backs and set out in search of a hostel on foot.
The first thing we realised is that the pier we had arrived at was not the one we had thought we would arrive at and, as such, we needed to walk a different way to the backpacker area. We set off in the heat, admiring the architecture as we went.
We both had mixed first impressions and, to be honest even now writing this, I still do. Neither of us could quite put our finger on what exactly it was but we either really liked Penang or really didn’t but couldn’t decide.
One thing we did decide on though was our hostel, albeit to my surprise - the first hostel we looked at we agreed to stay in. The reason for my surprise being that it had a shared bathroom, which Lou is not a fan of, yet she seemed happy. We also had the room yet hadn’t at this point decided if we were to have aircon, the difference in price being small, yet until you paid the
extra the aircon unit on the wall sat unusable because you didn’t have the plug nor remote control - not a concept we had come across before (you either have it or not)
After dumping our bags, we set out almost immediately to look for some food as breakfast had well and truly worn off, and it was now approaching 6pm. We headed for the nearby food court that the owners of the hostel had recommended, and found a place with some dodgy live music, but some good looking food. After a quick circuit of the place, I opted for crispy pork with rice while Lou went for some noodle dish with extra chicken, a drink each and we hadn’t broken the £2 mark! Food was dispatched and we went for a walk in the now dark city of Georgetown.
This place is a UNESCO World Heritage City due to its colonial architecture and it shows, in parts. In others however it was a bit rundown and shabby. The Court, and some of the other municipal buildings were truly magnificent, as we walked along the seafront. We walked around Fort Cornwallis which is an attraction in it’s own
right and decided that we would go tomorrow. Down the street with all the banks on, which is called Beach Street or Bank Street, we are still not sure what its name is now as some things say one, some the other. We continued on into little India where the smells of various spices assault you as you wander, and back in a big loop up towards the back packer area.
We had only agreed to stay one night, so we stuck our heads into a hostel or two but all were full for the next night, and were no different in price anyway, so eventually we sat in a pub, called The Reggae Bar for a drink. On sitting down, we ordered our drinks and by the time we had them another couple who were coming in had been shown to the seats opposite us on the table of four, by the staff. I’m not sure whether they do this to force people to meet, or to save space, or just because they assume you don’t mind, but either way it was a little strange. However the people that sat down were very nice and we soon got
Tower at night
Built to celebrate Queen Victoria's 60th Jubileechatting about where we had been and where we were headed as you do with other travellers.
It turns out that they weren’t a couple after all despite both sporting bindis (red ink dots on their foreheads), but a male and female who had met the day before in a hostel and had been to little India earlier that day. One was from California, the other from Massachusetts (not Boston)
After about 15 minutes a girl from the next table asked if she could join us as the people on her table had left, we said yes and then there were five of us. This girl was from South Africa, and was only 23, as we discovered. She was very loud, and brash and also a bit drunk on the “Ladies Night” free drinks. She told us about teaching in Thailand, and some other stuff, and basically monopolised the conversation for the evening, bringing everything back around to her. A shame really as we had been having a nice conversation until then. A few more drinks followed before we headed back to bed, tired from a long day.
On arriving back our room was hot, very hot,
but the drinks meant we braved it anyway and slept with only a fan for what I believe is the first time on this trip. The heat did mean neither of us slept well, but it was bearable.
23 November 2010 We awoke dehydrated from the heat and the few beers we had consumed, and went for our morning shower before descending to the ground floor to have a cuppa. We had decided that we would stay in Penang another night and still had to confirm another night where we were, or move on, so we set out to see a few other hostels. As is often the way, you are told come back at about midday when people have checked out and we will know then if we have any space, and also you can view any rooms we have as people are still in them at the minute. As we wanted to make the most of the day we decided that it was easier for one night to reconfirm our current abode and move completely the day after. So we turned around and headed back to do just that.
After this we decided
to head to the mall, our initial destination as it had the bus stop which takes you to the long distance bus station on the island. This we decided was the obvious place to go to sort our onward travel. Except that by now we were feeling a bit lazy and thought that we may ask the hostel to do it as they offer the service.
Whilst walking towards the mall, we walked past a monk in full orange robes. He said good morning, and I responded thinking nothing of it. As we passed he then asked if he detected an American accent, to which I responded no, a British one, and then we were talking to him. I should point out that he was a western man, who was actually and American himself. He started to talk to us as if we were students and whilst in no way was he unpleasant, quite the opposite we both found ourselves edging to leave at the earliest opportunity. He told us his name, which I couldn’t pronounce let alone spell, followed by “ but most people call me Brother Mark”. Now I have somewhere read about an American monk who
lives in a cave up in Northern Thailand near Chiang Mai and was sure that this person was he, but since I have been unable to find any details on the aforementioned subject. He talked to us about how there were only two types of mentality, that of an adult and that of a child. Children’s mentality does something for fear of punishment or reprisals, whereas an adult’s mentality does something for another reason such as it being the correct thing to do or for the greater good. He was likening the Malaysians driving on the pavement to the child’s mentality because there aren’t enough police to issue fines etc. We shook hands, he also shook hands with Lou which he was allowed to do as he had been through some rite that he named but I didn’t catch, and went our separate ways.
As we walked away I asked Lou if she had noticed that he had bare feet, which in the heat of the day here, walking on tarmac must be excruciating! We arrived at the mall and started to look about to discover that barely anything was open. We had made good time and nothing really
opened until 11:00 and we were early. So after walking about the shops that were open we sat for a while and waited as by now Lou had got a desire to watch a film and we needed to wait for the cinema on the top floor of the mall to open at 10:30. On entering the first showing of the newest Harry Potter film was on at 11:30 so that was it, we decided to get some tickets and wait for it. We bought the tickets and some drinks and a snack and came to the total of…. Just under £4. Why aren’t cinemas like this at home?
We watched the film, which was very good, and then headed back out into the heat of the day. We were planning by this point to head to the bank to get some more cash out, something we had been planning on doing since last night but not got around to it. Luckily we had managed a fair amount on the little cash we had left. We wandered our way through some streets past mosques and temples and buildings in various states from beautifully preserved to run down, until we
reached little India, when the smells once again came at us from all angles and it was just too much. We had to stop for lunch. After checking the menu and realising we could manage to stretch the cash to a meal we stopped at Kapitan’s a famous restaurant here, and shared a Tandoori Chicken plate with a Garlic Naan, and a Vegetable Biryani, absolutely delicious.
We finally got to the bank and got some money and then decided that we should go and take a stroll around Fort Cornwallis, in part because of the name, and bought our tickets. We entered and quickly realised the entry fee was cheap for a reason it was a pretty dire attraction. Whilst the history of the place cannot be argued, what you can see from outside is almost the same as that you see once you pay to get in - namely the cannons on the ramparts and the buildings inside the ramparts which are in various states of disrepair/disuse.
Onward we walked across the Padang to the municipal art gallery which the guidebook states is free, with welcoming air con and has art displays by local artists which are
very hit and miss. They were spot on with the description - the air con was welcoming and the display was a bit of a miss!
We returned to the hostel for a drink and some admin, and a rest (its hard work on the feet all this walking) before finally venturing out into little India again for dinner. After walking past a few restaurants and Lou leaving the decision up to me we ended up in the same place we had been for lunch as it was so good. This time we ended up upstairs in the slightly air conditioned room, which on arrival seemed lovely. Within a few minutes though we realise that there were two rooms up here and the other was a large kids party complete with screaming! This was followed by the poor waiter up here serving on his own being over-run by people, in the space of about five minutes the numbers of people went from us two and one other table to about five more tables many of them for six. What made matters worse was that half of the people were from the docked cruise ships and thought they owned the
place. One table of 8 aussies turned up half cut, with bottles of wine of their own which they put under the table, ordered water to get glasses and ice and filled them up with wine, all the while having a go at the waiter and asking for things that weren’t on the menu! One of the women wanted only breast meat of chicken, no thigh, no leg etc despite it not being an option on the menu! The waiter was having a torrid time. Then reinforcements arrived and things started to flow a bit better but it was still pretty hectic. I have to say it was a real shame as it did detract from a good meal, but it wasn’t the staff’s fault.
We still couldn't decide if we liked Penang, but we did decide there isn't much there, and it was slightly soul destroying for us, not that we could explain why, hence we were to move on again in the morning. Back to the hostel we went for an early night as we had booked our onward travel, and had to be waiting for the bus at 7:45 once packed and showered and breakfasted. We
opted to buy the air con cable and paid our money, to aid our sleep. If only it had! The air con was as much use as a chocolate fire guard, and the room was as hot as the fire! It has to rank as one of the worst nights sleep of my life, tossing and turning and barely getting to sleep before waking up sweating. Turns out not having any beer was a bad idea!
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ZoeandSusan
Where to from here?
Thanks!
Hi both, been following your blog and just wanted to say thanks for the info and updates, its great to get ideas about my up coming trip - although you always somehow make me really hungry! Cheers and keep it up :) Zoe