Penang

---

We left Krabi at 6:30am and had decided to take a minibus across the border to Penang as it seemed like the easiest option. In typical Thai style it was one minibus for 30mins then we were thrown off and told to wait in an office for another minibus to take us the rest of the way. We finally got to Penang at 7:30pm knackered! The bus driver told us our hotel was just down the road so we started walking and asking people which way it was - but no one spoke English! We later discovered it was Little India and its not somewhere you should be walking around after dark!
We hailed a taxi and finally got to our hotel to find a note on the door saying the owners had gone out and could we phone then when we arrived? We sensed this might be more basic than we first thought!
The hotel is owned by a young couple who were very friendly and keen to give us advice on where to go and what to do. Although the rooms were very basic - Soph and Lee had a mattress on the floor in a store cupboard AFTER they paid for an upgrade - the couples friendliness made up for it. Once we had got onto the main strip of Georgetown we realized what a lovely place it is - the seafront was full of posh hotels and a massive shopping mall.
On our first full day we went to Penang Botanic Gardens - and our first time seeing monkeys! They may look cute but they are vicious, one threw a stone at Sophs head from a tree - hilarious!
We had planned to stay in Penang for two nights before going to Langkawi on 7th July (Daves bday). But we couldn't get on the ferry until the 8th so we needed another night. As it would be Dave's bday we decided to look for a nice hotel (well, 3*). Me and Soph sneaked off under the pretence of looking for a hotel. Instead we went to 7-Eleven to buy a birthday cake and balloons! I had brought candles from home so we could have a little party the next day : )
On Dave's actual birthday he still didn't know what he wanted so we went to the shopping mall for him to pick something.......and of all the things......he wanted lego! So we went to Toys R Us and he picked out a speedboat, a police bike and a sea plane! Our next hotel was quite fancy so I chucked Dave out of the room while me and Soph blew up the balloons and tried to make the cake look presentable (it had been in my bag all day!) We had dinner in the hotel restaurant and some beers in the room later...a chilled out birthday before heading to Langkawi the next day.........

---