Langkawi - Kuala Lumper (Day 35-41)

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Day 35

We were leaving Thailand today in order to head into Malaysia but Brett still wasn't feeling very well so we weren't expecting a fun journey. Also in the high season you can travel straight from Lipe to Langgkawi in a couple of hours but with it being the low season this wasn't possible and we had to head back towards Pakbara first and as we had only booked the first boat we knew it was going to be a long day!

The journey began with our hotel kindly giving us a lift across the island by a bike and side car (we have no idea how many forms of transport we have used on this trip!) followed by a speed boat back to Pakbara. Simple start. As soon as we arrvied we had a tour guide asking us where we were going and we had soon bought our tickets to Langkawi. We had the usual get in one bus then get told to get off and into a van before we got going...we were then driven for about an hour before being dropped off at a street cafe at 12 noon and told we had to wait there until 3pm!!!!! We were not amused and having spent all our Thai money we couldnt even buy any lunch. Luckily the local cafe man (not speaking much English) offered to take Brett to a cash machine via his scooter, we had no choice but to go with it! It wasn't as scary as Brett had imagined and was only a quick journey anyway. So we sat and had some food and then waited, with Brett practically falling asleep! Finally the same women returned at 3.10pm and with other people in the van, we were forced to sit in the back (the boot) with the bags and with our legs hanging out of the vehicle!!! Not only this we arrived at 3.30pm with the ferry due to leave...it was a rush through immigration before we finally boarded the ferry. After a couple of hours journey and a taxi ride, we had finally reached Langkawi (Malaysia) which looked a lot different to the beach islands in Thailand and more like a regular town. We stayed at Zackrys guest house. Zack came across slightly moody though and shortly after arriving in our dusty room we saw a big beetle!!! Not the nice comfy, clean room we had hoped for. Anyway we headed out to Kung Fu restaurant and had a nice meal.

Day 36

The room leaflet had said there was breakfast available in the mornings but when we asked Zack he laughed and said no breakfast today! So we headed out and ended up finding a really cool coffee shop (Troppo Co). With Brett still having manflew, we thought it was probably best he rested today in order to get back to full fitness, so whilst he cuddled up with the bugs Mandy went to a local shop and did some research on the internet. With Brett feeling better in the evening we went to a really nice place for dinner called Sunday Bistro Restauant where we both had some familiar western food!

Day 37

We found another cool place for breakfast (Cactus bar) and had a wander before it was time to leave for Penang (its a shame we didn't really get to see much here, just nice places to eat!). With Brett feeling better though, we headed to Penang by ferry and then took a taxi with a really kind driver who made sure we had arrived at the right guest house, Baan Talay Homestay. The house is run by a really friendly famiily (as opposed to Zack!) and despite Mandy spotting a Gecko in the bathroom (there are loads of them around at night!) we had a fairly good room. There was a local food hall (called Hawker markets here in Malaysia) just down the road which had around a dozen different stalls offering all kinds of different food, so we chose a couple of meals and gobbled them in the centre...Brett sees another business potential here!

Day 38

Penang is a lot bigger than most of the islands we have been to and is more like a big city with sky scrapers all around. We took a taxi to Penang Hill and then shared the 15 minute journey up the hill in a 4x4 with an older american guy. The views were meant to be wonderful but despite being a lovely sunny day at the bottom it was very cloudy at the top and before we knew it, it was raining hard...so we quickly took shelter with Mandy falling over! After around fifteen minutes the cloud started to clear and the rain calmed down, so we headed to the Tea House (with the american) which was really beautiful and would've been even nicer in the sun. It was then time to head back down, so it was a shame we didnt get to see much of a view!

We then took a dotto train around the Botonic Gardens nearby but again a little disappointing although we did see a load more monkeys gathering food off of people which was cool. We then took a bus to George Town (the main part of the island), had a look round and grabbed a nice lunch. When we arrived back we found a beetle on the bed, not the best thing to help us sleep! We spent the late afternoon playing bat and ball on the beach before eating at the Hawker food court again and playing some cards in the evening.

Day 39

Time to move on again and this time to the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumper. After checking out of our room we got a taxi to the bus station and soon booked our ticket...all running smoothly until the bus was late by around 45 minutes! Once it arrived we had a smooth journey lasting around 4 hours (nothing compared to all the China journeys!). We stayed at a budget hotel centrally located in Chinatown (every city seems to have a Chinatown!) called Mayview Glory Hotel. We were hungry so we walked down the street of the hotel and ended up having the only thing going, a buffet Indian...hot, hot hot!!! We later found out if we had gone two minutes the other way we would of found all the restaurants!!!

Day 40

We woke up early to go exploring this new city across the world...but as we woke up we turned on the TV and ended up getting into a film (we havent had much English tv away!!!). We also had our, make your own breakfast with jelly on toast (not quite the same as our Bangkok buffet)!

When we finally left the hotel we went on the Hop on Hop off bus around the city. We stopped off at the National Palace just in time to see the Malaysia version of the changing of the guards...not quite as big as the Buckingham Palace version! We were looking forward to our second stop at Lake Gardens but after struggling to find it there seemed to be lots of work going on all round the park so it wasn't quite the picturesque place we had imagined. Stop three was the Petronas Twin Towers (the tallest twin towers in the world!) which has a big shopping centre inside where we ate at Chilis which wasn't as hot as it sounds! You also have the chance to go on the sky bridge and have a good view over the city but apparently only a certain amount of people can do it each day and we were too late! (We seem to have some kind of curse in Malaysia with things not quite running so smoothly!).

Anyway we still had a good day and this time we ate in Chinatown before heading to "Reggae Bar" where we played some pool but were stunned to pay around 4 pounds for a bottle of Budweiser...not the prices we have been used to!

Day 41

A more chilled out day where we booked our next bus ticket and finally caught up on writing all these blogs!!! We say chilled out, we did take a long walk to KL Tower and generally around the city as well as having a different type of meal at some american chain called "Kenny Rogers" where he even has his own water...good old Kenny!

That evening we had another classic Chinese meal at a local restaurant...how much rice do you think we have eaten since being away?! Also, we are so used to using chopsticks, from when we were in China, that we use them all the time even when the locals use a Knife and fork!!!!!!

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