George Town: 51 and out

Saturday

We hadn't really got on with Bangkok, so when Saturday came round so quick, it certainly wasn't a disappointment. We had a train booked for 3 o'clock that afternoon, so we had some time to kill in the morning before we had to leave. We had our usual toast for breakfast and made sure to scrape every last slither of Marmite out of the jar before we discarded it. While getting breakfast, Charlotte cooked up some tuna, sweet corn and pasta to take with us on the train. We filled up our handy plastic bowls that Donna had got us for the Trans-Siberian and we even froze some bottles of drinking water to keep them cool from the oppressive Bangkok heat. While sitting drinking our coffee after breakfast we were accosted by a rather loud American chap, who greeted us with "I just flew in!". "Well done you", I thought but I held my tongue and instead went through the normal pleasantries. Mercifully, the receptionist saved us by taking him to check in, so we made our escape to pack our bags and check out. We still had to wait downstairs afterwards for a couple of hours but it flew by while we watched the afore mentioned American making his way round every person staying in the hostel and greeting them with "I just flew in!". The time came and we left the hostel for our short, 5 minute walk to the train station. From previous experiences, we tend to get to train stations far too early and sit around for hours waiting for our train to start boarding. We got lucky with this one though, we got there just over an hour before departure but our train was ready and waiting for us on platform 5. We made our way to our carriage and we settled in to our seats, checking out the unorthodox sleeper train setup. Rather than cabins containing 4 beds, it was an open carriage, with bunk beds running down the length of it on either side. It was different but we were happy to give it a whirl. The hour flew by and the carriage was only half full by the time we slowly pulled out of Hua Lamphong Station. That didn't last for long however, we made regular stops through the suburbs of Bangkok and before we knew it, there wasn't a seat to be had. We passed the time by reading and watching the world go by until it was time to eat our cold pasta dinner and get some sleep before the Malaysian border crossing the next day. In order to go to sleep, we had to flag a carriage attendant down so he could make our beds for us. He had them made and our curtains up in the blink of an eye and we clambered into our cozy looking bunks for the night. If only the sleep quality was half as good as how they looked. We both had very limited sleep. Probably due to the very bumpy train ride, constant noise from an open carriage and the light from the carriage seeping in through the rather translucent curtain. The overall experience was still much better than sleeper trains we had been on in China though, so it wasn't too bad.

Sunday

With the morning came the border crossing from Thailand to Malaysia. The problem with an open carriage is that your bags are there for everyone to see and anyone could do anything to them while you sleep. The other problem was the that we were entering Malaysia, which carries the death penalty for smuggling drugs. I will just say now that neither of us are smuggling drugs, or anything for that matter, anywhere. We had a quick look at our bags, knowing they would be fine and they were, the border was smooth and easy. We got back on the train and continued on for a few more hours until we reached the final destination, Butterworth. We got off the train and headed for the ferry port, which runs between Butterworth and George Town, which was where we were headed, on Penang Island. The ferry only took about 15 minutes, and then we were off on the short walk to our hostel. We couldn't check in as we were too early, so we headed off down the road and found a gastro pub to have some lunch. Fish and Chips and Mushroom Soup later and we were back at the hostel, lugging our bags up some pitch black stairs to our tiny 4 bed dorm room. In previous places we had been guilty of arriving and not heading out straight away. We were conscious that we only had a day and a half to see the town, so we allowed ourselves half an hour to cool off and then headed back out into the late afternoon heat with our map in hand. We wandered through Little India, took some snaps with the clock tower in the centre of town and then wandered along George Town promenade. It was surprisingly busy with lots of locals sitting along the prom enjoying the cool sea breeze that was on offer. We didn't hang around long though and made our way past the cenotaph and through some quiet streets before stumbling across a random wrought iron sculpture bolted to the side of a building. It proudly claimed that this was where the world renowned shoe designer Jimmy Choo had started his apprenticeship. We took a photo and forgot about it when we found a number of souvenir shops dotted along a road. The first one we went in had exactly what we were after, pin badges with Penang written on them. The only problem was that they came in a pack of 5, along with ones that said Malaysia and featured pictures of Kuala Lumpur. We asked if they would just sell us the ones that said Penang but we were told they only come as the whole set. We said we'd think about it, hoping single ones would crop up as we wandered round town. The rest of the souvenir shops and stalls proved fruitless but we knew where we could get them if we were desperate and we still had the whole of Monday left, so we were positive. We turned left down a road and it was pretty clear we had entered China Town by the endless street food vendors and Chinese writing on the shops. It was getting dark at this point so we decided on a route back to the hostel and followed that pretty uneventfully. We paid a quick visit to the 7/11 just up the road from our hostel and noticed another one of those wrought iron sculptures attached to the side of it. This one explained about the area being popular with backpackers and depicted a traveller being offered a massage by a hotel receptionist. Again, we took a photo and didn't really think much of it, not knowing what an obsession they would become. After a short rest back in our room we found a place to eat of Tripadvisor and hunted it down not far from our hostel. Trying to stick with local cuisine I went for the Malaysian chicken curry, which wasn't that dissimilar from the Khmer chicken curry I had throughly enjoyed while in Cambodia. Charlotte plumped for a chicken and mushroom dish, despite the rather hefty price for a beer we both enjoyed our dinner. We tried Skyping the Hosie family when we got back from the restaurant but the Wifi was so bad all we really got was dalek noises coming from the speakers. Eventually, we gave up and headed for bed.

Monday

We didn't really have a plan for today and decided over our complimentary toast breakfast to just wing it and see what happened. Penang Hill seemed like a sensible destination, despite being an hour and a half away on a busy we walked to the tourist information centre to see what our options were. We got the nice and early and asked how to get to the hill, the man told us but then said that the funicular was closed at the moment, which gave us the impression it wasn't worth going at all. We picked up a fresh map here and left to see if that could give us any suggestions. We stood outside deliberating for a few minutes and the map gave us oor answer. The wrought iron sculptures. The map showed that there were 52 around town in total, giving information about where they were and what happened in the past. Well we had a spare day so decided that how we would spend our time. Our first stop was one by the port marked on our map as number 11. Before we got too far from the tourist information centre we decided to go back in and buy a natty pen to tick them off as we went. On our way out a pot that had 'pins' written on it caught our eye and it contained 2 pin badges with the flag and name of Penang on it. That tourist centre turned out to be a goldmine for us. Finally, we could start our trail around George Town, heading in the direction of number 11. Well boy did we look and look but we just couldn't find it. We started to worry that this would be the general rule and we would be giving up by our third attempt. We set of and tried to find our next one but at first that seemed to be a hopeless exercise too. We stood in the street looking for it for a short while before Charlotte noticed we were standing in the wrong road. We backed on ourselves and turned down an alleyway and there was the first sculpture we'd actually been looking for. We took a snap and set off with renewed motivation for our task. We rattled off 15 or so before stopping off at a cafe for an early lunch. Charlotte enjoyed her burger but my ramen noodles were nothing compared to the basin sized bowl we enjoyed so much in Tokyo. With lunch polished off we carried on our iron quest. We passed a few along the road we walked to our hostel on and were surprised we had missed them as they were fairly large. They took us to all corners of the town and we learnt a lot about the history of the area, what professions worked on which streets and about the 5 foot alleys built around town, so people could walk through them and avoid the searing tropical heat. Half way round our second stretch was the second one we couldn't find. As we approached where it should have been we could see there was a new building under construction, we deduced that it had been moved away while the building was constructed, although we still hunted high and low just incase we were being stupid. We marked it down as more than coincidence that it was number 13. Frustrated we finished off by doing about 25, then treated ourselves to a cold drink and a rest in our hostel, just to get out of the endless heat. By the time we headed out for the final stint, it had cooled slightly and the sculptures were situated so close together it took us less than an hour to rattle them all off and had everything ticked but the 2 we couldn't find. Now we deemed ourselves experts in what we were looking for, we decided to head back to the first one by the port to see if it genuinely wasn't there or was just us being stupid. Charlotte could see it before we even got close. Located up high on the side of a building, it was probably the largest one of the lot. We'd stood across from it earlier in the morning, scouring ground level, how we'd missed is beyond me. It meant that we had 51 of 52 but one definitely wasn't there for us to find. We had had a great day, saw loads of the town, learned a lot and considered it better than the hill would have been. On top of that, it was absolutely free! We plodded home and were hugely relieved to give our tired feet and sun ravaged skin a rest. We found another local restaurant for dinner, just up the road from our hostel. The Penang Curry I had was a slight let down but I think Charlotte really enjoyed her butter chicken.

All in all, it had been a worthwhile stop on our adventure. Any longer and we may well have been slightly bored but it was nice and quiet and a very walkable city. It would be off to the capital of Malaysia tomorrow, Kuala Lumpur.

James and Charlotte

Bangkok: A familiar face and a supply drop

Sunday

In order to get to our next destination we had to double back on ourselves and revisit Siem Reap. We could of caught the bus from Battambang but by returning to Siem Reap we were taking the more reliable and trustworthy route, if slightly more expensive. We got picked up from our hotel and once we'd obtained all the other passengers we set off on our return journey. As with before the journey was non eventful and we were back in Siem Reap quicker than we'd expected. After 13 days in the city previously we knew the area like the back of our hands and made quick work of finding our hostel (it was a different one from the previous time). The Receptionist made checking in rather painful, insisting that he had our booking reference which I could only get through email. After struggling with the Wi-Fi for a while and with the assistant receptionist trying to read my other emails he relented and just took the booking name. After that fiasco, we were informed we were still unable to check in. To kill some time we wandered to our old petrol station where we had a cold drink and a sit down. As it was lunch time we crossed the road to our favourite hotel restaurant where they were pleased to see us again. No prizes for guessing I had Khmer red curry and Charlotte had chicken fried rice. By now we could check in and with having seeing everything in Siem Reap we relaxed in our cramped room for the rest of the afternoon. That evening, we had just enough time to frequent our favourite town centre restaurant for dinner.

Monday

As ever it was an early start and we were sat outside the hostel awaiting our pick up from the bus company. When a tuk tuk turned up claiming to be from Nattakan bus company we were somewhat unconvinced but relented to his insistance. It was only a 5 minute drive up the road so we probably could of walked. We were all clustered on the pavement waiting for our bus when with not long to spare I realised I had left my earphones sitting on my bed. I had too little time to go back as the bus was just pulling up, its typical that you remeber these things just too late. Forgetting about them we all pilled on and took out seats and set off in the direction of Thailand. As with most coach journeys it was rather uneventful, the boarder crossing was easy and despite the wait was quite quick. When we'd finished the formalities our lunch was served, which consisted of a microwaved rice meal each. One was salmon and the other prawn, Charlotte didn't fancy hers so I had double helpings and ate the lot in no time at all. It took us a good 2 hours to realise that we were back to driving on the left hand side of the road, something that just feels normal. The rest of the journey into Bangkok was passed quite easily by reading. We arrived at the bus station and headed for the metered taxi rank, having done some research beforehand that taxis could be a bit dodgy. After a long wait we finally got allocated one and clambered in, this is when the problem started. We told the driver our destination but he didn't have a clue as to where it was. Charlotte also had a map up on her phone but that only seemed to confuse him even more. You'd like to think that any native of their own city would have a good idea of how to get to a specific spot by just looking at a map. He eventually got the gist of where we wanted to go and started heading in that direction. Somehow, Charlotte managed to obtain some free wifi during the taxi ride and managed to pull up the phone number of the hostel. The taxi driver gave it a call and managed to locate the hostel after being guided by the receptionist. When we arrived we went down so many alleys and made so many U-turns, I'm not surprised he struggled to find it. When we arrived we let out an ironic cheer, relieved to have finally arrived. Despite the fact the journey had taken us over an hour it still only coat us £4 for the trip. We settled in to our room dinning on just toast for dinner as the large supermarket was too far away at such an hour.

Tuesday

After a long couple of days travelling we struggled to get out of bed this morning. Eventually surfacing gone 10am. We had some more toast for breakfast and we were rapidly trying to get through the Marmite and olive oil before our limited baggage flight in a few weeks time. After breakfast Charlotte couldn't resist the temptation of some more sleep which delayed our sightseeing even more, we only had one thing planned for the day which was a visit to Lumpini park. At around 1pm we finally managed to get out and about, we got to the park using the metro which was just a short walk from our hostel. As it was gone lunchtime already we paid a quick visit to a 7/11 to boost our energy levels with some chocolate. We spent a good few hours wandering around the park doging sprinklers as well as oversized lizards. We decided to sit for a little while to enjoy the relaxing atmosphere in the busy city. We attempted to walk back via a large Tescos supermarket that we had seen from the taxi on our ride in. As ever with our 'attempts' we managed to get ourselves somewhat lost and walked along a road for a good 20 minutes before realising that it was, unsurprisingly, the wrong road. We consulted our map and devised a plan that got us back on track but still couldn't find us the supermarket. We had to return to our hostel and ask for help in order to find the elusive Tesco Lotus. We'd been in the right area but just hadn't looked hard enough and after one stop on the metro we'd found it and returned with our dinner for the evening.

Wednesday

Today we were going to meet an old friend and colleague, who is a native of Bangkok and just happened to be visiting while we were in town. We had arranged to meet Nuchy on one of Bangkok's many river piers, this was easier said than done though as Bangkok isn't set out for the walking tourist. We set out slightly late but were still lost within the first ten minutes of our journey, the map didn't help as it was incredible unclear and didn't show every road within the city. After 15 minutes of heading in what we thought was the right direction, we stopped at a mechanics and found out that miraculously we were actually heading in the right direction for once. They did manage to help us continue along the correct way though, it took them a while to get over the fact that we were walking the route and they did tell us that it is 'a very long way'. We informed them that we liked walking and ploughed on through the heat. After an hour of walking we could just about glimspe the royal palace at the end of the road which meant we were almost there. Upon our arrival at Maharaj Pier, Nuchy hadn't arrived yet which meant we had been panicking for no reason (it would later emerge that Nuchy had messaged us informing us that she would be late). After a few circuits of the Pier Nuchy turned up along with her boyfriend, Dominic and we were given a goody bag from our parents. Charlotte received practical items such as underwear and hairbands whereas, I received luxury items which hadn't been fully thought through as they were chocolate. We love chocolate but it doesn't fair well in one of the most humid cities on the planet. We had nothing planned for our meeting with Nuchy so we entered an internationally renowned coffee emporium and we all enjoyed a catch up over a cold drink. The time passed freely and all the talking worked up a hunger. We left the coffee shop and managed to find a Thai restaurant located on the river bank. We left the ordering to Nuchy and had plenty of plates to choose from including; pineapple rice, chicken satay, spicy Squid and salad. We spent the majority of the afternoon chatting away while the sun slowly dropped towards the horizon. We had enjoyed seeing Nuchy and Dominic but with time moving on they had to get back and prepare for a flight to Chiang Mai the next morning. We said our goodbyes and headed our separate ways knowing that would be the last familiar face we'd see for a while. Having memorised the route home we set out in that direction, we hadn't been walking 15 minutes though when we made the decision to eat the cadburys cream eggs that were rapidly melting in my backpack. They were almost pancakes when we pulled them out so we had to eat them by licking them off the wrapper. We managed to make it back and complete a trip to the supermarket before it got too dark.

Thursday

Our enthusiasm for the city and its almost half completed transport network was waning rapidly at this point. It seemed to us that only half the city had been covered by the metro which made Bangkok, being such a sprawling city, quite hard to treverse. We stuck with it with the intention of obtaining a pin badge. We hopped on the metro to a place which we were informed by the internet would be full with souvenir shops. We exited the metro station and completed a huge circle not finding what we wanted to. Either we were looking in the wrong place or the souvenir shops were not there. We were growing ever more frustrated by this chaotic city. We picked up the skytrain from the metro station we had got off at which TripAdvisor had said was worth experiencing in its self. After a short ride to the national stadium on the skytrain, even this seemed like a bit of a disappointment. We managed to find a shopping mall where we sat down and had a pizza for lunch, we made our way through the copius amounts of mobile phone shops and managed to find a number of independent souvenir shops. The Bangkok pin badge proved elusive but we did manage to find one encompasing Thailand as a whole. Frustrated by the city we walked back to our hostel (via the supermarket) and relaxed for the evening.

Friday

So far we had failed to do anything truly touristy and so set out with the intention of seeing the Royal Palace. The walk was exactly the same as the one we had undertaken to see Nuchy a couple of days before, so we wanted to change things up a bit and headed to a pier instead. This is when Bangkok caused us yet more frustration and the Pier was almost impossible to find. We tried hunting down a ticket booth when we eventually found the Pier but it was nowhere to be found. We hopped on the boat with the intention of paying for a ticket on board but there didn't seem to be any body selling them so we just rolled with it and disembarked when we needed to get off. There was no announcement for where we were, we just followed the crowds that we're getting off at that particular pier. The Royal Palace was only a short walk away and having been in the area before it didn't take us that long to find the entrance. We had come prepared with shoulder covering shirts and long trousers in preperation that we would be collared and asked to coverup when we entered. We were picked out and so hastily put on our more suitable clothing. There was no queue to buy a ticket so we made it inside quicker than we thought. The palace wasn't dissimilar to the one we had visited in Phnom Penh and was made up of a large number of elaborately decorated buildings. Our map even said that one of the buildings was a replica of Angkor Vat but we struggled to pick that one out. We spent a good couple of hours wandering around the buildings, admiring the architecture and chuckling at the coach loads of Chinese tourists take photographs as though their lives depended on it. We were also well aware how clothed we were and how hot it was, which made the experience somewhat uncomfortable and sweaty. We still covered every inch of the grounds but we're halfway out the door when we realised we had missed a large parrot the whole thing. Situated bang in the middle of the grounds was the emerald Buddha, which is housed in the Temple of the Emerald Buddha or Wat Phra Kaew. I'm not sure how we missed it on our first time time round as it was a huge building where all the crowds were flocking. We had to back up on ourselves and explain to a guard that we had missed it. Despite there being a sign saying no readmittance he was very kind and let us back through. We removed our footwear and wandered into the temple. It was fairly full with people milling around as well as kneeling and sitting in the floor. The emerald Buddha was a lot smaller than we had expected but was perched high up for everyone to see. We didn't loiter long and moved on with the silent procession towards the exit, shushing a group of unnecessarily loud Chinese tourists along the way. It was a slightly underwhelming visit but we were still pleased that we had realised our mistake before it was too late. This time we left completely and were very relieved to be back in shorts in the stifling heat. By this time were were hungry and fancied a cold drink. Knowing the area after our meeting with Nuchy a few days earlier we visited the internationally renowned coffee shop for a pastry and a cold, fruity drink. We passed some time, not really wanting to walk all the way back to our hostel again. We knew we had no choice though thanks to the limited transport options and headed off. It took us less time than we had hoped and again, we had visited the supermarket and picked up a beer or 2 before it had got dark. We utilised the hostel kitchen one more time and cooked ourselves some pasta.

Sorry this has taken so long, a combination of illness, wifi and reluctance has slowed down the process of getting this post published. I also don't consider it particularly well written but for Bangkok, it will have to do. The Malaysian posts are already written and ready to go up once this once has had a couple of days.

We really didn't like Bangkok (sorry Nuchy!!) and just couldn't get along with the lack of transport, complicated road system and sheer size of the city. Maybe we weren't looking for the right thing from such a popular city but it was a blip in an otherwise thoroughly enjoyable trip through South-East Asia. We were to continue onwards, approaching the equator at an alarming speed, heading through Malaysia.

James and Charlotte