Blogs from Penang, Malaysia, Asia - page 71

On the Friday afternoon my Mum and Dad took us to the pier and we said our goodbyes, just a we had done in England a couple of months before. It was due to be a long journey. The boat left at 4pm, arriving on the main land an hour or so later. From there we got a bus to Surat Thani, then another bus to Surat Thani train station. We arrived at the train station at about 730pm, where we had to then wait for the train which wasn't passing through until 130am, onward to Butterworth in Malaysia. We actually managed to kill time pretty well. Although there was hardly anything there, we did find one little place with Internet access. That lasted till 9pm when they closed and we had to leave, so then ... read more

The road to Penang turned out to be very comfortable indeed, courtesy of the Super VIP Konsortium Bas Ekspres. We decided that the extra one pound 50 pence would be wisely invested in the aforementioned service, that came complete with airline super snoozer seats and individual entertainment console......and before we knew it, we were at the bus station on Penang Island. The scenery en route was more of the previous in peninsula Malaysia, although generally it was a lot drier than anticipated. The express bus station on Penang is about 12 kms outside of Georgetown, which leaves you with limited choice but to get a taxi (at least, if you are carrying your backpacks and it's 90 degrees). The taxi ride therefore costs about 2/3 of the price of the bus ticket from KL and there ... read more

So, endlich sind wir draussen - war ja nicht zum Aushalten dort ;-) Ich bin schon gestern (30.01) mit Minibus, Faehre, Minibus, Faehre, Minibus, usw. nach Penang gefahren und der Andy kommt heute Abend (sofern er ausreisen darf) auch hier an. Mehr Zeilen und Fotos zu Malaysia und natuerlich Andy's Eindruecke von den Similans gibt's bald hier - stay tuned!... read more

We got up nice and early at 6:30 to jump on our air conditioned mini bus along with our snacks, prepared for a long days travel. George was instructed by Sharn to sit in the front to keep an eye on the speed the driver was going to tell him to slow down if necessary, which filled us all with confidence! After a change of drivers, 2 passport controls and a long strip of 'no-mans land we arrived in Malaysia. Although it does not yet have the status of 'developed' country you could definately see the difference from Thailand. It was a lot more built up with sky scrapers defining the sky line. In order to enter Penang island we crossed over the 2nd longest bridge in the world, spanning an impressive 13.2km. We arrived at ... read more

The minibus service to Penang was uneventful, with the possible exception of the driver who was smuggling something across the border. Nothing like being used as part of the drug trade, or whatever it actually was. It went something like this. Right before the border crossing, liaison with women in car. Right after the border crossing, liaison with women in car, load a few crates of dogs into minibus, arrange something under the floor of the crates. Drive past checkpoints (being waived through because we were 'tourists', pull into a rest stop about halfway between the border and Penang, and the dogs and whatever was under the towels they had in the crates get picked up by guy in black Toyota pickup. An Irish guy in the back seat kept a careful eye on the bags, ... read more