Penang to Manila - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

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October 25th 2007

Published: October 27th 2007

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Rob Donna

Welcome to Boracay Island

Hello All

What a busy time we have had during the last few weeks all the way from Langkawi Island in Malaysia to another beautiful island in the Philippines called Boracay Island. We had such a lovely time in Langkawi, our two weeks there just flew. On our last night in Langkawi we were invited to the opening of Langkawis new and stylish restaurant Putumayo. We had a great night - and really enjoyed all the FREE food and drinks. Thanks Paul and Rebecca for you hospitality and best wishes for a successful future.

Next day a taxi to Kuah Jetty and a 50MYR - AUD$17 boat trip to Penang. Rob resisted taking the sea sickness tablets and only just made the 2.5 hour boat trip without throwing up everywhere. Looking rather green Rob piled the bags into a taxi ("taxis in Penang no longer use the meter sir", we were told!) to the Mingood Hotel one block away from Lubia (Street) Chulia. Booked into the Mingood through www.hostels.com and got a good deal (including breakfast), a large clean room at this family run hotel - definitely a good place to stay if we return (80MYR - AUD$25).

Last night inLangkawi

Enjoying the hospitality at opening of Putumayo Restaurant

We walked down Chulia Street, in Penang's Chinatown, to find the New Hong Kong Bar. The New Hong Kong Bar has long been a favourite for servicemen serving in Butterworth with lots of memorabilia and photos on the walls. Rob first went there in 1977 (New Years Eve) and we were both there again in 1998 and wrote comments in their visitors book. Disaster! A fire in 2004 destroyed the bar along with all the books of travellers comments the bar had kept for over 35 years. The bar has been rebuilt and new books started - so a new beginning for them.

Carol and Peter, you would not recognise Penang now, many high rise buildings amidst decaying colonial shop fronts. The town seems to have lost its spark.

We had some good meals in Penang - Maharaj Indian and Slippery Senoritas stood out - but the place that saw most of our culinary attention was the Red Garden Food Paradise, a collection of Malay, Chinese, seafood and Thai food outlets with the cheapest beer in town (10MYR - AUD$3.30)! Meals were equally cheap - chicken satay at .3MYR -AUD10c a stick, Dim Sum, spicy chicken wings and

Rob with owner Paul at the Opening of the Putumayo Restaurant in Langkawi

much more.

We did all the touristy things in Penang - Cable car to Bukit Bendera (Penang Hill) 715m, shopped at Komptor, bus to Batu Feringghi - walking around the colonial parts of town. Many of the old buildings have been restored, but sadly lots more are decayed and falling into ruin.

Still sporting one of the duty free bottles of Baileys we brought from Langkawi, we caught a Konsortium Bas Ekspres (38MYR) for a 5 hour trip to Kuala Lumpur. The bus was amazing - with reclining seats and high tech entertainment screens in the seat backs. We arrived at KL Sentral - the equally high tech rail hub for a deluxe overnight train to Singapore in a very expensive (MYR243 - AUD$81.20 for two) executive coach with 2 bunk beds, own toilet and shower (no water) and TV (didn't seem to work). Tired, we hit the sack for what turned out to be an experience akin to a CIA sleep deprivation program. The train, banged, clanged, stopped and rolled all through the night. The major problem was that in creating 2-bunk compartments the bunks are located on the side of the train, so as the train

Ferry from Langkawi to Penang

rocks you slide out of the bed! Needless to say this is one experience we will never repeat.

We arrived at Woodlands, the Singapore border station at 7am where we had to remove all our bags from the train to go through immigration and customs. That's where Rob was detained and escorted into a room out the back for importing a bottle of Baileys for which the Singapore duty had not been paid. Apparently you cannot bring alcohol into Singapore from Malaysia!! (But you can bring it in from other countries) After a lecture from a customs officer he was allowed to keep the Baileys without duty being paid. Good talking Rob!!

We re-boarded the train for the trip into the Malaysian owned railway terminal in Singapore. We had to walk some distance to find the MRT to get to our hotel. We stayed at the Asphodel Hotel which is located on the edge of Little India and close to the MRT. We booked this hotel over the internet with expedia.com.au and it was about the cheapest acceptable accommodation we could find AUD$77.62 per night.

For 5 days we walked and travelled the MRT metro to the

Our magnificent indian meal at Maharaj Restaurant in Penang

main areas of Singapore - Little India with great food and the amazing Mustafa Shopping Mall, Chinatown, the Esplanade Theatres on the Bay (the big durian), Merlion, historic Raffles Hotel, Raffles Plaza and Chijmes food area within a colonial church complex, Sim Lim Square (IT Plaza) and Sun Tec City complex with the Fountain of Wealth, Millenium Walk and Bugis Street. We also spent a day on Sentosa Island, Singapore's resort island. We travelled there by cable car but the weather was foul so all of our pics are marred by rain. There is massive construction underway on the island with a new golf course and hotels.

In Singapore you can walk several blocks underground through various shopping malls without having to go up to the surface - air-con bliss.

The food in Singapore was varied - lots of yummy Indian (masala dosa and curries), Chinese dim sum and French - and excellent if not a tad expensive. We found a Hogs Breath (Aussie owned) in a lovely old colonial building in Chijmes food area which we visited a couple of times.

And that just about sums up our Singapore experience - a tad expensive! Having been

Little India, Penang

We bought some Bollywood movies here!!

to Singapore in '78, '97 and 2007 you can see how the government has managed to eradicate all spontaneity in favour of cold commercial tourist crass. You only have to look at Bugis Street as an example of how far this had come! Or Chinatown, which has been so overdeveloped that is has lost all its original character.

We completed our 5 day sojourn in Singapore with a 6am start to get to the airport for our Tiger Airways flight to Clark Manila (the old US airbase north of Manila). After a 2.5 hours (300 PHP - AUD$7.5) PhilTranco bus trip from Clark we arrived at the MegaMall - and it is just that Mega! It consists of a large group of shopping centre buildings in the centre of Manila (Donna of course thought it was heaven!!) From MegaMall we caught a taxi to the Malate area near the bay where we checked into the colonial Malate Pensionne (1008PHP - AUD$25 incl taxes - they tax everything here!!) The Malate Pensionne is difficult to find from the street as it is behind the Starbucks Coffee Shop in Adriatico St.

Beer in the Philippines is refreshingly cheap at 25php

B.U.M. Equipment

- Aud 55c for a bottle of San Miguel and the food is generally cheap. In the couple of days we spent in Manila we ate at streetside cafes, middle level eateries in nearby Robinson Mall and a couple of expensive tourist restaurants. The bills varied accordingly, but to be honest the best food (sizzle plates of chicken and prawns) and the cheapest beer was at the streetside Erras Bar and Grill. After a very long search across most of Asia and much to Rob's relief, Donna finally found her dress for the wedding next year.

Manila is a huge, sprawling sea of concrete and humanity. To be honest the city does not have a good vibe - the streets don't feel particularly safe and there are lots of homeless and people living on the streets. Next time we come to the Philippines we will fly into Cebu and travel around the islands from there. Cebu Pacific Air now has cheap flights from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur with brand new Airbus 319's.

After a harrowing taxi ride to the Manila Domestic Terminal (almost took out a couple on a motorcycle) we flew Cebu Pacific Air to Kalibo (AUD$64

Red Garden Food Paradise, Penang

each way per person for a 1 hour flight). Then a crowded mini-bus to Catilclan ferry terminal (250php - AUD$6.25), where we had to pay a 50 peso ($1.20) environment fee, a 50 peso terminal fee and 20 pesos for the ferry across to Boracay Island. Here we were met by a seething mass of commission agents who promised much, but in the end delivered nothing. Amidst all the confusion we ended up in a motorcycle side-car - with all our bags and three other passengers and accoddodation tout in tow - to be taken to boat station 3; then a 50 peso pushbike side-car ride to our accommodation. The hotel the tout took us to had a green swimming pool (which was closed) and some rather seedy looking older western guys with Philippine friends.

We promply walked out and down the laneway and stumbled into Tonglen Beach Resort. We noticed their sign out the front advertising the special rate of 100 pesos per night - $25! When we saw that they also had a swimming pool we were in like a rocket! The Tonglen Beach Resort is a collection of villas in a beautiful garden setting. We've booked

Slippery Senoritas, Penang

in here for two weeks and are loving it. The beach is just down the laneway and a mere two minute walk! This is one place we will definitely come back to. Tonglen Beach Resort

Boracay is a small Island (4km long x 1km wide) off Panay Islan, just about the middle of the Philippines. Boraxay lays claim to the title "the best beach in the world", and frankly having been to many of the best beaches around the world we would agree. Crystal clear blue water, still water beach ringed with coral reefs - pretty good - only Ornos Beach in Mykanos comes close.

So, Boracay has been about swimming pool and beach, eating at a different restaurant each night (some better than others) and beers watching the sunset.

The downside is we both caught a nasty asian flu virus which has slowed us up considerable and that's why this blog is late. The weather has been variable with heavy overnight rain and sunny/cloudy days - but it's still 32c-34c degrees during the day and 28c degrees at night (we have air-con).

On Sunday 28/10 we fly back to Manila for a day and then on Monday

Didn't know you had gone international Mum!

30/10 we fly Air Asia to Kuala Lumpur for a night (staying right across the road from our favourite Indian restaurant) and next day 31/10 we fly Air Asia to Bali for the last 16 days of our trip. We have booked a Jetstar flight from Bali to Sydney on 16/11 arriving home early Sunday 17/11.

We have the Australia Channel on Cable TV here so we get the ABC news abd saw the election debate live the other night. It was nice to watch PM Howard (aka the rodent) try and squirm his way out of Rudd's (Opposition leader and Tin Tin lookalike) attack. Remember he is ready and waiting at the Blue Lotus Hotel (an in-joke for Tin Tin fans - and yes Rob has a photo of the sign above the Blue Lotus Hotel in West Lu, Yangshou, China).

Bye for now, we will blog again from Bali.
Love
Rob & Donna

Bill & Denise - Have a great trip in India and Nepal - don't miss the Ying & Yang Restaurant in Freak Street - and Denise in India don't miss the masala dosai (vegetable curry crepes - delicious!! - pic in this