Back in KL.
After my long day and night getting back from Dhaka, I would have liked a bit of a sleep in. Alas, it was not to be, for I needed to be up before check-out time to secure the room for one more night.
So, after getting to bed well after 3am Malaysia-time, I was up again at just after 10, and made my way to reception to check whether I could have the room for one more night. Thankfully, this wasn't a problem.
Since I was up, and hadn't eaten much the day before, I decided to step out for a bite to eat. I popped down the street to an Indian eatery, and had myself a roti chenai and a pineapple juice.
As I ate breakfast, I gave some thought to my plan of attack. I didn’t really want to spend too much more time in KL. It was time to head north, the question was, when. It was Sunday – and since the train to Penang left early in the morning, Monday was the soonest I could get away. I also wanted to catch up with Manan before I left if I could.
With this in mind, I set course for KL Sentral. My hotel was just around the corner – hence my reasoning for keeping the room another night – the walk to the station was no more than 5 minutes.
I proceeded to the ticket office, so check the train schedule. The train left around 8am – boarding would begin at 7.30. Another unavoidable early morning.
I walked away to think about whether I would go the following morning, or the day after. Staying another day in KL meant another nights accommodation, and there wasn't really much more more I wanted to do there. I wandered back towards Hotel Mexico, with it's pleasant facade, but wasn't quite so pleasant inside. Sticky carpets, and a crummy little bathroom, but, the bed was very comfy, and clean as they come.
Upon returning to my room, I found the cleaning ladies giving it the once over, so I either needed to wait in the lobby, or find something else to do. Well, hunger got the better of me again, the roti I’d had not more than an hour ago hadn't quenched my appetite, and so I stopped in at yet another Indian cafe for something a little more substantial. A dry chicken curry served on banana leaf, that ought to do it. And it did. Satisfied, and feeling tired I retired to my clean room for a much needed siesta.
I awoke mid afternoon, and my decision was made. I would leave for Penang Monday morning. And with my intentions confirmed, proceeded back to the station ticket office to secure my seat.
“1st Class sir?” asked the attendant. The difference in price between 1st and 2nd class was about AUD $10. I thought for a moment.
“Yes please” I said grinning.
It would surely be a very similar train to the one that had derailed out of Singapore. And while it wasn't that classy, the 1st class chair did recline rather nicely, while the 2nd class did not.
On my way back to the hotel, ticket in hand, I sent Manan a message to see what he was up to. He was working until 9.30pm, but could pick me up afterwards.
I had myself a couple of beers and finished writing some of the Bangladesh blog, before having another lay down.
The alarm woke me at around 7.30pm. It was dinner time, and just for something different, I decided on an Indian restaurant at the end of the street that looked rather nice.
Prawn Sambal and a strawberry lassi. Very tasty indeed. The lassi was sensational, with huge chunks of juicy strawberry, and an oversize straw with which to suck them up.
Next stop was the station, again. It felt as though the whole day had been stuck in a loop. Indian. Station. Sleep. Indian. Station. Sleep. Indian. Station ...but sleep would have to wait this time, since I was going to catch up with my local friend.
As promised, he collected me from the station. Later on we picked up another of his friends, a pretty young lady whose name I forget now. She was a part-time model, and rightly so with her slender figure, and china-doll face, she was indeed a beautiful girl. She wanted us to go to a shisha bar that she liked. And so off we went.
I had been watching the street signs as we drove, and suddenly, it occurred to me where we were. Right round the corner from the dreaded Bangladesh embassy! I'll never forget that weasel who tried his best to be unhelpful.
The shisha bar was about 1km away. Manan parked the car, and we entered the bar, which was really more of a restaurant. But it was cool, all outside, shisha pipes everywhere, and middle eastern food being dished up left, right and centre. And I was hungry again! Service was rubbish though, and it took about 25 minutes before anyone would take note of our attempts to get their attention.
I ordered a mixed appetiser, which came with hummus, baba ganoosh, a tomato, cucumber and carrot salad drizzled with tahini, and tons of crispy-warm pita bread. Awesome. And it was delicious too. The eggplant dip was very impressive indeed, and it didn’t take me long to wolf it all down.
Next came our shisha pipe, with apple and cherry flavoured tobacco, my favourites. We spent the rest off the night chatting and puffing away on the nozzle of the hose connect to the pipe. Soon enough, 2am rolled around – I was due to be up soon, and, while I’d knocked out a couple of siestas during the day, I was beginning to fade again. So we paid the bill, and made for the car. We weren't far from KL Sentral, and as I pointed out the street in which my hotel was in, Manan and his friend burst into laughter. Apparently, the street where Hotel Mexico stood, was notorious for hookers. Similarly amused – I remembered back to the morning, on my way to breakfast, where a repulsive 30-something lady had called out “Hey Sweety” to me, followed by blowing a kiss in my direction.
I guess it made sense. Although I hadn’t noticed any when I arrived in the early hours of the morning from the airport. I waved by to the two of them, and dashed inside before I could be accosted by any lady predators.
Monday - Up at 6.45, I felt wrecked after little more than 4 hours sleep. Packed my bags, checked out and headed for KL Sentral. I needed some breakfast, since the journey to Butterworth was 6 hours and wasn’t expecting there to be much in the way of food on-board, so I stopped in at good ole Maccas for a sausage'n'egg McMuffin, before heading to my platform to await boarding.
I knew where the 1st class carriage was, after my last encounter with the KTM train, and once we were allowed to board, and headed straight for it, 1st on-board, and into my chair. Pretty sure I was assigned the exact same seat as I'd had from Singapore ..which wasn't so comforting. To my surprise though, this train was in much better condition than the 1st one I’d been on. And it had big LCD TV’s in the carriage too.
Not much to report on the train trip...I slept for the 1st 3 hours. The scenery for the last few hours was nice, but nothing otherworldly really. I watched some funny, b-grade kung-fu movie on the big screen up the front of the carriage, and listened to some music.
And then we arrived in Butterworth. From here I could take the ferry to Pulau Pinang, or catch a 45-minute cab ride to Georgetown, which would take me across the 3rd largest bridge in the world, connecting Penang to the Malaysian mainland.
As I set foot out of the station, a taxi driver was on approach. I was keen to check out this bridge, but it depended on the price.
“70 ringgit” he chirped. I declined, telling him I would just take the ferry.
“Ok ok, 60 for you since you are alone. 70 for group, normal price”. His English was good, so I went on to explain that if a group of 3 or 4 pay 70, then shouldn't it be more than just 10RM cheaper for a lone traveller?
He explained that the bridge toll was 7RM, and on the way back for him, 10RM.
“40 ringgits” I offered.
“55” he retorted.
“Nah I’ll just catch the ferry I think” and I began to walk away.
“Ok, 55, very good price”.
“I tell you what. I'll pay you 40RM, and the toll for the direction in which I’m going, so the 7rm toll fee”.
I had him – he shook my hand and led me to his car.
The bridge was indeed long ...somewhere around the 13km mark I think (need to check this), and the view, ehhh, it was ok. Nothing to rave about.
We made our way into Georgetown once on the island, and finally to my hostel, the Red Inn. As we'd approached the area, my taxi driver queried why I was staying there, it was a bad location. I didn’t care, and more to the point, it felt as though he were about to try and sell me a room in his mates hotel or something.
I paid the driver, collected my bags and jumped out onto the street, and then into the Red Inn. Albert was the owner and co-host the hostel, and greeted me. He showed me to the dorm, gave me a key, and gave me a few tips on local eateries and the area itself.
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| A Trishaw in Georgetown |
Once I was settled in my dorm, it was time to eat. Albert suggested a few places to eat at … so I went for a wander, and settled on the first place I liked the look of and ordered a spicy fried rice and a Jaz beer which I’d never had before. Jaz beer is rubbish .. I’ll have to fire up the Beer Blog to report on that.
Upon my return to Red Inn I met a young German by the name of Nikolai, who was sharing the room with me. Shortly after, and Aussie named Dirk – also in my room.
Dinner time rolled around, and Dirk and I jumped in Albert’s car to go to the Red Garden – a hawker centre/food court type place, which came recommended by Albert. It was ok, nothing to rave about.
And then it was beer o'clock. Myself, the fellow aussie, and the German got stuck into some Tiger beers. Quite a few of them as it turned out. We had also been joined by yet another German – Dominic, and an annoying old Pom, Robert, who was a 40-something alco, who claimed to be travelling on some sort of disability benefit back in the UK. Needless to say, he was completely wasted on vodka, and didn’t say anything worthy of mentioning.
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| Good ole Slippery Senoritas! |
So we decided to head out in Penang – Dirk had done his research, and suggested a place called Slippery Senoritas! The name alone won my vote. En route we stopped in at an English-style pub called Soho, where the tunes were cranking, but the place was a little too quiet. Dirk came back to our table with a Beer Tower! This thing was huge. I was sort of like our own private beer keg, with a tap and all. We must have each had 3 beers out of it ...so 15 beers all up, not a bad way to kick things off.
Next stop – Slippery Senoritas. This place was rocking. Full of locals mostly, and had a smashing band on stage playing covers, and playing them extremely well. Mostly current pop tunes, but they added their own funk to the grooves, and were very impressive. I got us a Beer Bucket … not a glamorous as it may sound, it was a bucket with 5 bottles of Carlsberg inside. The rest of the night was spent on the dance floor, until close time, around 3am, at which point we headed back to the Inn, woke up Albert, and staggered back to our respective dorms.
Monday night set the pace for the next 3 nights in Penang.
Party. Party. Party.
Tuesday was a non-event. I woke up mega late, somewhere around 1pm. Headed down to the English pub – I needed a burger after the previous nights charade. I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the 'hood, taking pictures of the fine architecture that Penang is known for. And in retrospect, to be honest, that's the only thing I can say I really liked about Penang. The buildings.
On the way back to my temporary home, I stopped in at an Indian place called Kapitan, mainly because I’d seen the meals being served up on my way out earlier in the afternoon, and they looked good. I had myself a Tandoori set – which was a huge chuck of tandoori chicken, and a thick, toasted garlic naan, accompanied by 3 delicious dipping sauces.
Tuesday night was another bender ..kicking off at the hostel where Albert sold myself and the two Germans, half a bottle of Chivas Regal for about $15, which we split 3 ways. Once we'd polished of the whiskey, we marched down to the nearby Reggae Bar in pursuit of more alcohol.
And that was that. Another late night of drunken nonsense, waking Albert up, and stumbling back to our dorms.
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| Inside a local Chinese temple |
Wednesday, like Tuesday, began in the afternoon. I ran into Dominic as I was heading outside. Finally, the weather was decent. Monday and Tuesday has been cloudy all day, with the odd shower here and there. We had blue skies this time though. Dom said he was going to Batu Ferringhi – somewhere I wanted to go – claimed to be the nicer of the beaches in Penang, and recommended to me by my friends in KL. So we agreed we would head there after eating. I recommended the Indian place I’d found – I could go another of those tasty Tandoori sets.
Then it was off to Batu Ferringhi. A 1 hour bus ride.
Bus stops were annoyingly close together in Penang. The bus would travel no more than 100m before stopping to pick-up more passengers. No wonder it took an hour, but at least I got to see more of Georgetown as we went.
We jumped off the bus next to the beach, and spent a lazy afternoon on the sand, sipping drinks, and watching the world go by. And while the beach was fairly nice, the water wasn't so inviting. This thought was later reinforced when a dead chicken washed up on the beach in front of us, all bloated and gross. Dominic was horrified ...he'd been swimming there only a few days back.
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| Chong Fatt Sze Mansion |
We had to wait about an hour before we could go back inside.
Once I’d had a chance to take a shower, I headed for for dinner, laptop in hand, so that I could finish some work with photos from Bangladesh. I knew that if I sat around the hostel and did it, it wouldn’t be long before I was coaxed into drinking, and the photos would remain on my to-do list.
I went to a place that looked quite nice called Ryan's Gourmet, serving mostly western food, and had, of all things, Spaghetti Bolognese … and it wasn't too bad.
On my way back to the hostel I bumped into Dom, who was heading out for a bite. And once back, ran into Nik who was on the same mission, giving more time to finish off the photos and try to add to the blog, if internet speeds didn’t slow me down too much.
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| A church in Georgetown |
The boys returned about an hour later, and once again, it was on like donkey kong, only this time Nik had a couple of Indonesian girls from a nearby hostel joining us.
I put away the computer and joined them at the Reggae bar. Another solid session of drinking, only we had upgraded from beers, to Long Island Iced Teas.
It was also the last night in Penang for the two German boys, and so it was a long night, finishing up somewhere around the 4am mark.
I got up at a reasonable time considering, on Thursday morning. Partly because I wanted to say bye to Nik and Dom, but also because they both owed me money from the night before, as the ATM's had closed at midnight leaving them penniless.
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| Not sure what this is, but it was a nice building |
Cashed up and on my own, I headed back towards Ryan’s Gourmet – I needed something greasy to soak up all the booze, and given their fairly decent pasta, I thought their burger might be alright too. And it was! Food on-board, I headed next door to a cafe I’d found on Tuesday when exploring the area. They served a good, a really good coffee. It was a Segafredo cafe – and I’m not a huge fan of their coffee back home, but in Malaysia it knocked the socks off anything else I’d found. So I knocked back a couple of iced latte while the afternoon came and went.
In the early evening I went to the main shopping area in Georgetown which had also been recommended to me, where there was a market and a shopping centre. I took a stroll around. It was extremely cheap. Afterwards I stopped in at a nearby restaurant called Ecco Cafe. I had taken a mental note earlier in the day – I saw a pizza served up that looked mighty impressive.
So I sat down and ordered a good old Margerita. For me, it's the baseline for judging pizza. If you can make plain cheese and tomato tastier than it sounds, then you're doing something right.
It wasn't cheap – but western food rarely is. But boy these guys knocked up and terrific pizza.
This pizza was impressive even by Melbourne standards! Top notch pizza base, the perfect amount of cheese, and a super tasty home-made tomato paste. For dessert – a Blackcurrant Lassi – superb as well.
I had come to the conclusion that I might actually get a quiet night in. But my arm was twisted by the Indonesian girls, who wanted to go out to Slippery Senoritas. Given the success drinking Long Island Tea's the night before, I thought I’d get on them again. They were double the price of those at the Reggae Bar, but they were twice as big, and probably 4 times as strong. Two of them had me completely smashed (of course, I’d probably had about 6 beers before I started on the LIT's), and so I called it a night sometime before 2am, but not before inhaling a burger at a street stall on the way back home.And then it was Friday morning. I'd had enough of Penang. It was time to head for Langkawi. Well, almost. I booked my ferry ticket through the hostel for the following morning, Saturday.
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| Batu Feringghi beach |
After a couple of hours siesta, I hit the streets in search of some lunch, but was too hungry to decide, and so when it began raining, I just stopped at the eatery closest to me, which was an Indian joint, and had a decent vegetarian plate.
I spent the rest of the afternoon retracing my steps from the day before. Iced Latte. Then the shopping area again, as I needed a cheap shirt since I’d run out of clean clothes, and the quickest turnaround for washing that I could find was midday on Saturday – by which time id already be in Langkawi, and then, after the excellent pizza experience, returned to Ecco Cafe to see whether it was a one hit wonder, or whether they could muster up another pizza of the same quality. They didn’t let me down. A mexican-style pizza, with salami, chilli, fresh tomatoes, cheese, onions and that rockin home-made tomato paste. Bloody unreal.
I made it back to the hostel just after 9pm, and relieved to finally have a quiet night, which would be needed for the early rise for the 8.15am ferry to Langkawi. I spent the evening finishing off my photo stuff, and then decided to hit the sack nice and early, sometime just after 11pm.
But as luck would have it, just as my head hit the pillow, the karaoke bar next door, that had been dormant since I’d arrived, suddenly fired up, with what were seemingly drunken Chinese people taking to the stage and serenading one another. And it was all coming directly into my room. I wasn't impressed. Nevertheless, I did get to sleep, only to be woken up about 30 minutes later by 3 roomies coming in and deciding to have a conversation at normal voice levels, as if I weren't in the room. Laughing and carrying on and ridiculing the singers next door. Finally they tucked themselves into bed, leaving the wallowing drone from next door to put me back to sleep ..which it did, after a few hours.
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| A Tea stall on the streets of Penang |
6.50am, Saturday December 11th.
Up'n'at em. I wasn't going to tone down my exit for my fellow room mates, after their noisy entrance last night. Unfortunately, 2 of the 3 were catch the ferry too, so my noise making was hardly a hindrance.
I was ready to go by 07:20. But Joyce, the Dutch girl working in the hostel wasn't out of bed until 07:30. I returned the key, got my deposit back, and set off with one of my room mates, Sharique, to the ferry terminal. A good 20 minute walk, I was sweating profusely by the time we got there. It was a humid morning with thick, sticky air.
It was a 3 hour ride on the ferry to the island of Langkawi. I managed to get an hours sleep as well. I was seated next to a young couple, from Oman. I'd never met anyone from Oman before, so I had a bit of a chat to him. He was a stocky chap, who worked in the oil fields, he explained. They were on holiday in Malaysia. Malaysia was expensive for them! Wow. He told me about his country, in particular about the poisonous snakes, spiders, and most deadly of all, the scorpions, which I’ve never had the pleasure of running into. Apparently, if stung by a desert scorpion, you're as good as dead unless you can get to a hospital quickly. And when you're in the desert, hospitals aren't usually behind every sand dune.
He also told me about summer there, how it is generally 45 degrees and above, for 3 months. I couldn't believe it. 45? For 3 months? That's insane.
I asked “What do you do when it's 45 all the time?”
He replied “Walk very slowly”. Good call.
As the 3rd hour of the boat journey ticked over, I could see out the window that we were approaching the jetty. As the crew signalled passengers to disembark, I said goodbye to the chap from Oman and bid him a pleasant holiday in Malaysia.
Here we go Langkawi!!
Off the boat, I waited for my backpack to be unloaded. Just as it hit the jetty, I noticed a familiar face. It was Shaun, whom I’d met in KL. With packs on backs, myself, Shaun and Sharique headed for the main terminal in search of an exit point. We were all staying in different places and we didn’t know whether they were near one another or not. Either way, the plan was to share a taxi and split the fare.
We found a taxi driver, who explained to us where each place was. Sharique and I were fairly close together, Shaun was another 10 minutes from there. So we jumped in the cab and began the 25km journey across the island.
And it was raining. Heavily.
We reached Pantai Tengah – the location of my hotel. It was a ten minute walk from the main strip of bars, restaurants and tour operators, a slightly quieter area, however it had its own shops and restaurants close at hand. I jumped out of the taxi into a giant puddle, and into the pouring rain.
I made may way towards the reception area, and waited under cover for Laila, the German hotel owner to arrive. I'd spoken to her the day before, when I called to check there was a room available.
Laila appeared out of nowhere and greeted me. She was an animated, friendly lady, probably early 50's, and spoke in English with a resonating German accent. She handed me an umbrella, and took me on a tour of the hotel, and my room.
Room No. 19. one of her favourites, she exclaimed. Indeed, it was nice. I wasn't sure whether that was just a ploy she used when showing rooms to guests, but I was more than happy with it.
“I like 19” I told her. “It's a prime number”.
“Sorry?” she looked puzzled.
I'm not sure why I said it, I think it's because for some reason, being German, I assumed she would clue onto it, as if they're all intellectual, precise, advanced people, like the typical stereotype would suggest.
“19 – it's a prime number”.
She got it. “Oh, yes, it is too” and followed will a jolly chuckle.
We made our way back to the reception area to complete the check-in, which involved detailing different bits'n'pieces of information about myself, where I’m from, passport credentials, and so on.
She also gave me a map of the island, and a local magazine which she rated very highly. She was indeed a most hospitable hostess. There was however one condition she requested of me. No alcohol in the resort. This was not a party place (that was up the road) - She and her husband were Muslim, and would prefer if guests could adhere to this policy. It was fine with me.
I picked up my bags, and my umbrella, and wandered back to no.19. The gardens leading to the units were lovely, the pathway weaving in between giant palms, ferns, and lots of other plants that I don't know the names of. Reds and greens and yellows everywhere, it was a colourful, tropical inspired setting. Which makes perfect sense really, since the name of the hotel was Tropical Resort. Don't get the wrong idea, this was not your typical “Resort” with a pool and a swim-up bar. Just a very basic, clean and comfortable place to stay, no more than 50m from the beach, and great value at about $28 per night.
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| Nice paint job - that's all |
I settled myself into my room, unpacked a few things and smoked a cigarette on the porch.
Food was next on the agenda. I hadn't had any breakfast, and it was around 2pm at this stage, so I was ravenous. I asked Laila is she could suggest anywhere places of particular note, I felt like something tasty.
There was a cheap local place down the end of the street, or across the road there was Sun Cafe ..which, she went on, was not cheap, but very impressive. I was sold on Sun Cafe. It was close in proximity, and the acclaim she awarded the food was exactly what I was after.
Indeed it wasn't cheap. Not by Malaysian standards, but still quite reasonable compared to Aus.
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| The rice plantation museum - exciting! |
I felt like some Malay, and was also slightly wary of the high priced western food which can so often be rather average. So I ordered a Ginger Ale, and a Nasi Campur.
Nasi Campur was a mixed platter, an assortments of different Malay dishes, and comprised chicken satay, chicken curry, spiced dry beef, rice, sambal and pickled vegetables.
When it arrived at my table, it looked very impressive indeed. Great serving size. And smelt delicious.
And it was. In fact, it was sensational. Each mini-dish was perfect. I could not fault any of it. Even the pickled vegetables were fantastic.
I thought, if this were the standard of all their food, I'll be coming back a few more times.
It cost me about $12 all up – pricey compared to say KL or Penang, and especially for Malay food. But after all, Langkawi was a tourist haven, prices were bound to be higher. But for the quality of the meal, it was an absolute bargain, and possibly the best meal I’ve had to date, since leaving Australia. In fact, it'd beat many places I’ve eaten in Melbourne too. It was that good.
I fixed up the bill and strolled back across the road to my room. I needed to do some washing, I was all out of clean clothes. I proceeded to the nearby laundry business, just a hundred metres down the road, and dropped it off. It was still raining heavily. It was going to be a quiet afternoon. Plus I was feeling tired after my rough sleep,and early morning, so I returned to No. 19 for an afternoon nap.
It was early evening by the time I awoke. The rain had eased to a light shower. I was getting hungry again. And I needed to go to the ATM to reload my wallet.
It was a ten minute walk to the main strip, Pantai Cenang. The ATM was nestled in between two massive duty free shops.
It was a ten minute walk to the main strip, Pantai Cenang. The ATM was nestled in between two massive duty free shops.
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| Water Buffalo... |
I cashed up, and headed back in the direction of the hotel. Dark clouds were looming, another downpour was imminent. On my way back, I stopped in at a Turkish restaurant for my evening meal.
There were two reasons for choosing this restaurant. Firstly, I liked Turkish food. And secondly, they had free Wi-Fi (the hotel had no internet). A little trick that I’ve come to enjoy since my travels begun, is to find a restaurant that offers a free Wi-Fi service. The reasoning is this. On the iphone, once you connect to a Wi-Fi connection, it remembers the password (that the restaurant gives you), and will automatically reconnect whenever you're in range. Selecting a restaurant with a good location, i.e., near other restaurants and/bars, close to the hotel ..etc meant that I can wander down the street, take a seat in a nearby local eatery, sip a beer, or even just stand on the street, and piggyback onto the generous restaurants Wi-Fi connection. Free internet. Thank-you very much!
The food turned out to be very average. And massively over priced. This place was charging 49RM for a beef shish kebab. That's nearly $17! My meal wasn't quite so pricey. But I saw him cook it. By cook, I mean, place it in the microwave and heat it up. Poor form. No repeat business for you. But cheers for the internet!
I returned to my temporary abode for a quiet night. It had been a long day.
I had the pleasure of a long sleep in on Sunday, up around 11am.
The weather was crap again. Raining. I pencilled in a lazy day.
Spent some time in the internet cafe to write some emails (the iphone is good for checking, but not so convenient for writing a few emails)
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| Scarecrow in the rice fields |
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| Super duper Nachos! Ole! |
Hallelujah!! It was, to date, possibly the best Nachos I’ve had. Simply stunning. The chilli con carne was spicy and hearty, the salsa was brilliant, the corn chips were nicely toasted, and the cheese, quality! I inhaled the meal in a matter of minutes.
I finished off my drink, and, extremely satisfied, headed back to the hotel.
Later in the afternoon, once the rain had cleared, I decided I would go for a walk down to the beach. But I didn’t quite make it. Walking through the scrub towards the beach, I felt some pain in my ankle. I thought it was a thorn or something. It felt like some was stabbing me with a needle. When I looked down, I saw this tiny little red ant, apparently called a fire ant, running around my ankle, biting me. And boy did his bite pack a punch. I terminated that little ants life fairly swiftly for his attack, but my ankle was still sore, and afraid that where I was walking was full of these little bastards, I hopped, skipped and jumped back to my room to assess the damage. It didn't leave any marks really, but I could feel where I’d been bitten for some time afterwards.
I decided to relax on my balcony for a while before taking a shower to freshen up. It was just about dinner time. And after the success at the Sun Cafe the day before, I decided I would see what else they had up their sleeve.
I settled on a Beef Rendang. And damn, it was superb. Langkawi was setting an awfully high standard of food so far, except for the Turkish place.
One of the waitresses asked what I would do in the evening, and suggested the Sun Ba (owned by the same company) down the road was worth a look. So I decided I would check it out a little later on, and retired to my room and relaxed with some tunes.
I made my way down to Sun Ba around 11.30. It was fairly quiet. A cover band was playing, but they weren't that great. In the corner a table of girls sat and talked, while at the bar, a couple of locals drew caricatures of another couple of tourists playing pool.
I ordered a beer. 9RM. It was a bit steep considering I could go next door to the convenience store and buy one for 1.60RM. But this was a bar after all.
I sat and watched the soccer on the TV’s on the wall. Blackburn Vs Bolton was on screen.
I sat and listened to the band play a few more songs, before a Russian couple entered and sat next to me at the bar. I polished off two more glasses of Tiger, and then decided to depart. It was nearing 1am and the bar was still half empty.
As I wandered back towards Tropical Resort which was no more than 400m down the road, I noticed a group of people seated outside a row of shops, music playing and beers all around. One of the boys, Banshee, called out to me to join them. I sat myself down and he brought me a beer. It turned out they were in the process of setting up a new venue which would be an outdoor bar. Quite cool too. They had a tattooist, some locally made crafts, and T-shirts for sale too. Banshee's friends joined us at the table. Amongst them was an Australian girl named Cathy, Banshee's girlfriend. She had been in Langkawi for quite a few months. And prior to her current residency, had lived there for another 9 months, before returning to Australia.
Later I was introduced to MK – the owner. Or more specifically, one of a group of investors who were setting the place up. He was originally from KL, but had lived in Langkawi for many years. A really good bloke too, a good sense of humour, and was fairly generous in giving me free rounds of beer. I told him that all they needed now was some big-ass speakers, and a DJ. The speakers were on order, arriving in about a week. But DJ's were hard to come by.
I informed MK that I was a DJ. And potentially a good move it was too, since he explained that they would love to have a foreign DJ to come play every now and then. Their plan was to have a latin jazz band initially, but would be looking at putting on some dance parties further down the track. I told him I’d be in Thailand for the next 3 months and so on, so we swapped contact details to keep in touch. He said he would take care of travel costs and accommodation if all went to plan.
By a out 3.30 I was well smashed and decided to call it a night. I promised I would return again before I left the island, and with that, plodded back to my room.
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| My ride! |
After eating, I visited the tourist agent across the road – and hired myself a 125cc scooter for the day. There is no better way to explore a place, than on two wheels.
I nipped back to my room to get my backpack before hitting the road.
And I was off. I decided I would head to the north of the island, and then cut west, and explore the west side of the isle. It was just after noon, so I had about 7 hours of daylight ahead of me.
I zoomed off and made my way through the middle of the island, and up towards what is arguably the nicest beach on Langkawi. Pity I don’t remember the name of it. The ride was beautiful too, twisting and turning through lush forests, I stopped now and then for to have a look around, before arriving at the beach. Indeed it was lovely, with islands jutting out off in the distance, and behind them, a large island with hills in the clouds. Very picturesque.
I had some lunch at a small restaurant by the beach, and sat back and enjoyed the view.
After lunch and was back on the road, and headed to the west, stopping off at a few places on the way, a craft market, then another glorious beach setting. And then another one. Langkawi really has some beautiful beaches. I was relaxing by the sea in a little cove set back from the main road, it was just after 4pm. I decided I would head to the cable car which was about 20 minutes ride away. Everyone I’ve spoken to says to go up the cable car, you get a wonderful view of the island. So off I rode.I parked my bike and set off in search of the ticket office. The latest I could down was 8pm. Which suited me fine, I thought I would stay up their for the sunset,and then come down and head home.
I stood in line for about 40 minutes before I could actually get into a cable car. A popular place.
But to my dismay, at the top, visibility was almost zero. The top of the mountain in the clouds. I couldn’t see a damn thing. Just white, everywhere. Very disappointing. I took a 2ndd cable car across to another lookout point. Alas, I would get no panorama today. The cloud was too thick, and wasn't going anywhere it seemed. By the time I got back to my bike, it was well after 6pm. Home time.
I sped off back the way I had come, before turning off onto a more direct route back, stopping in at a service station to get some petrol on my way.
It was dark when I got back to the hotel. I parked and locked my bike, and headed for the shower.
I'd taken a few hits from bugs in their as the sun went down, and felt grimy.
For dinner I would check out Kampung Siam – a Thai restaurant that was recommended to me by the waitress at Sun Cafe.
There were only two other people in the giant restaurant. Not so reassuring. But nonetheless, I gave it a go. And it was pretty good. Nothing amazing, but good enough.I strolled back after eating, stopping outside the Turkish joint to use their internet and check my emails, and then proceed back to my room. I wanted an early night, so I could get up early and have the whole day riding around the east coast of the island.... weather permitting.
Tuesday morning. 9am. I was up'n'at 'em. Ready and raring to go.
I had a quick feed at a cafe up the street, and let the bike rental place know I’d be keeping the bike for another day, before jumping back on it and twisting the throttle back, and tearing off down the street. Since I had more time, I decided to take some of the tiny, narrow side roads to find obscure little places around the way.
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| Langkawi cable car |
I passed up through Kuah, where the ferry terminal was, but on my way out of the town, it began to rain. I pulled over for a while until it subsided. It didn’t last long, and I was back on the road in no time, continuing my cruise of the east coast. I made my way down a little street of the main road, and headed into the forest for a look around. Suddenly, daylight disappeared, and some scary looking clouds filled the sky. I sped down the lane and parked my bike, and took refuge under a tarp, in a small roadside eatery. And just in time too, because the rain absolutely smashed down. It was so heavy, I could barely see across the road.
An hour later, and it hadn’t eased up in the slightest. In fact, it was getting more intense. And the chair I was sitting in, was now in the middle of a huge puddle. Another 30 minutes went by, and still the rain poured. I was nearly 3pm, and I was hungry, and since was still bucketing down, I ordered a Mee Goreng from my roadside host. Pretty tasty too.
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| Supreme visibility at the top of the cable car |
I found my turnoff, and pulled over to review the weather situation. The road ahead hugged a mountain, and would no doubt be twists and turns, so I wanted to be sure I wasn’t in for another downpour, since shelter would be scarce.
I was good to go.
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| The road up Gunung Raya |
The view was breathtaking. From the lookout, the entire island was visible, in all directions.
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| View from Gunung Raya |
Away in the distance more storm clouds loomed. I asked the waiter how long until it hit us, but he didn’t know. I thought it best to begin making my way back down Gunung Raya (Mt. Raya).
It was nearly 6pm, and so I began the winding journey back down. And it was just as great as the ride up. Exhilarating.
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| More from Gunung Raya |
It had been a great day, except for the rain. I was feeling tired though, so it was time for a siesta.
I woke around 9pm, a little hungry again. Plus I needed to eat something before I took my anti-malarial. I returned to the Sun Cafe, and had a Thai beef salad. And once again, Sun Cafe came up with the goods.
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| Turutao Island, Thailind from atop Gunung Raya. And way off in the distance, in the back left of the image, is Koh Lipe |
After checking out accommodation on Koh Lipe, I was leaning towards the latter. It was peak season in Koh Lipe, and not only was accommodation pricey, but most places required a 3 night minimum stay. I only wanted to stay one, maybe two nights at most.
So I would go to Satun. The question was, train or plane. I had always intended to travel overland where possible during my travels. But I was excited to be going to Bangkok, and seeing my old friend Kai. The train was a gruelling 18 hour journey. Adding on another 4 hours for the ferry, and the two hour drive from Satun to Hat Yai, it as going to be a good day of non-stop travel.But it was fairly cheap. About $30 for the train fare.
However, the airfare wasn't much more. $50. I pulled the plug on the overland expedition, and locked in a seat on Orient Air. It was kind of cheating, but I would be travelling back down this way mid January, so I could do the overland thing then.
Bed time.
Wednesday, Dec 15.
I had to have the bike back by 1pm. And I had to have another ride on Gunung Raya.
So I hit the road without taking breakfast, around 9am. I up to the turn off, and then really had some fun on the 125cc, burning up the mountain. But it was only a 125cc machine, so it wasn't really very fast. And with the steep incline and the weighty foreigner load, struggled to get up much pace at all. But that was fine, since I’m not an experienced rider, and probably wouldn’t have gone much faster, even if I could.
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| Lighthouse as the sun goes down |
And then I hurtled back down ..and did manage some extra pace this time, and boy was it fun.
I dropped the bike off at noon, and headed into town on foot, for some breakfast .. lunch really by this time. Cheese and tomato toastie. Just what I felt like. And the restaurant baked their own bread, which made it all the tastier.
I made the most of the afternoon by stopping in at a restaurant next door to my internet-friendly Turkish eatery. I had noticed that the place next door had beers for 3RM. And so I made myself comfortable, and polished a good 4 Tigers, while surfing the net on my phone.
I had a small snack while I was there too, Kung Poh Chicken, one of my favourite Malay dishes, and then headed for a walk on the beach as the sun went down. I hadn’t really seen a sunset in Langkawi, it was always cloudy. Today was no different. But I at least had some entertainment on the beach, where 3 gorgeous local girls, who were almost certainly models, were doing what I assume was a photo shoot on the beach. Very nice.
I made my way back to my room, and relaxed again with some music, before heading off to see MK at the soon-to-be-bar just down the road, which was called Rojaks, by the way. The rest of the night was spent guzzling cheap Tiger beers, and hanging out with MK, Banshee and Cathy, plus friends. I met a couple of Swiss boys who were on their way to Australia. One of them had a full on Fabio-style hair-do, the other one, who didn’t speak much English had a ridiculous, Revenge Of The Nerds-style laugh, which was most amusing.
We carried on well into the night, before I hit the wall, and staggered back to my hotel, and fell into bed.
I slept in late Thursday morning. Today was a nothing day. I wanted to sit on the beach, read my book, and do very little else. The weather was quite nice again, the sun was out, and so after stepping out for some brunch, made my way to Pantai Tengah beach, hired a chair, got comfy, and watched the world go by all afternoon. Oh, and of course, I had a good swim!
Since it was my last night on Langkawi, I wanted a tasty meal. It was either Sun Cafe, or Little Mexican. The Nachos got the vote though, and the rest is history.I took in a quiet evening. I bought a nice bottle of whiskey for me and Kai to celebrate with in Bangkok, and I also bought some floaties. Yes, the arm bands children use for swimming when they're young.
You're probably wondering why?
Let me explain.
I'd always planned on buying a nice bottle of booze to take to Bangkok. But I hadn’t originally planned on taking the plane. There is no problem taking a bottle of alcohol on board a train or a ferry, but you cant take a bottle on a plane these days! So once I’d bought the bottle, I realised I’d need to put it in my check-in luggage. This meant my main backpack, which isn't a rigid case. So I needed a way to make sure this fancy whiskey wasn't going to get broken. At first I thought maybe I could find a box to put the bottle in, but there was nothing of the sort in Langkawi. I racked my brains trying to work out how I could do it – and then the ingenious idea hit me. Floaties!! They would fit around the bottle perfectly, and filled with air, would provide excellent cushioning, should the baggage handlers decide to get rowdy with my bag, which I’m sure they do, not to mention the possibility of having stacks of other luggage piled on top of my bag. I really didn’t want my clothes soaked in this delectable, single malt whiskey. So I picked up some floaties for about $1. The perfect crime. I packed it into my backpack, and robert was my mothers brother.
I had an early night, and was in bed by 10.30. I didn’t have to get up especially early, but it was a long-ish day ahead, and I didn’t want to be tired when I hit Bangkok. Being re-united with Kai surely meant some drinking was in store. Especially with my intact bottle of Highland Park.
Friday Dec 17 – Bangkok impact...
I moved pretty swiftly from the outset, up and dressed just after 9am. I was due to leave at 11.30am for the ferry terminal in Kuah, roughly 30 minutes away by taxi.I walked down the street to get some breakfast. It was likely that it might be a while between meals once I left the shores of Langkawi on the 1pm ferry to Satun, Thailand.
From Satun I had to get to Hat Yai – which was apparently one and a half to two hours drive. And once in Hat Yai, I then needed to find my way to the airport.
The ferry ride was roughly one and a quarter hours, and since I wasn't planning on eating lunch in Malaysia, I decided to have a big brekky. I wouldn’t be eating again until sometime after 3pm Malaysia-time, and that's assuming everything goes to plan.
So it was eggs, sausages, hash browns, tomatoes and two slices of toast for breakfast.
And a white coffee.
I got back to my room at around 10.15am, and slowly began packing the remaining items, the camera, laptop and so on.
Once packed, I carried out my mandatory luggage verification routine.
Nothing left in the room or bathroom, drawers, wardrobe. Check.
Passport, wallet, and all electronic equipment where they should be. Check.
Main backpack comfortably loaded, and secured with padlocks.
All good. Ready to rumble.
I sat on the balcony for a while, one last time, reflecting on my time here. I really really liked Langkawi. A great place for a relaxing holiday. Terrific food, and ultra cheap booze! I'll be coming back for sure. And wit that thought lingering in my mind, I picked up my bags and headed for the reception. I needed to fix up the bill and return the key.
Laila was wandering around out the front, tidying up some fallen leaves.
“Good morning Ben” she said in her usual, jovial fashion.
“You are leaving today, I’m sorry to see you go. You have been a wonderful guest, you are most welcome, any time. And I wanted to say thank-you for the condition you kept your room in, my cleaner had nothing to do. It was lovely” she continued, and finished with a jolly laugh.
I hadn't actually gone out of my way to keep it especially clean, it just happened that way, but I’ll take the compliment.
Laila had arranged a taxi to collect me and take me to Kelaga harbour terminal at 11.30.
The taxi pulled up at 11.15.
“He is always early” Laila called out from reception as she got me my change.
The cab driver lobbed my backpack into the boot, I kept my small backpack on me as I always do.It was time to go. Laila begun to wave good-bye, and then started chasing after the taxi. I still had the room key in my pocket. Oops.
The taxi pulled into the harbour taxi rank just before noon. I threw on my backpacks, and set off in search of the ticket office, which I assumed would surely be in the ferry terminal building.
It turned out it wasn't. It was back out the front, behind a cafe in the car park. Odd.
Bought my ticket, and headed for Starbucks for an over-priced, mediocre iced coffee. As I stood outside and sipped, I spotted two rather ridiculous looking foreigners, both male, one tall and skinny with a shaved head, sporting tight, full length leather pants, an equally tight purple shirt, a scarf, and chunky, oversize, somewhat female inspired sunnies. His partner (quite literally) was prancing into the terminal in body hugging white denim short shorts, a grey designer wife-beater (tank top), Converse mid-cut boots, and carrying what looked liked a black cardigan.
Both each had, in tow, an absolutely massive rolling suitcase, almost big enough to be coffins. Quite an amusing sight.
At 12.30 I proceeded to the Malaysian immigration gate. It wasn’t open yet though, so I sat and waited with a handful of other, a few Malaysians, a few Thais.
Customs was quick and easy and I was aboard my ferry 15 minutes before departure.
Once on board I spent a moment looking for my allocated seat, before a rather pretty lady with two children told me that no-one sits in their assigned seats on this ferry, so just sit wherever. Suited me fine.
Just as I got comfy, the two camp and colourful fashionistas fluttered in with their enormous bags.
The ferry ride was pretty boring. The windows were filthy and so I couldn’t see anything outside.
We arrived at Satun. It was raining. And as I passed through customs, the rained got heavier.
As I walked out into the main hall, I was approached by a man who would arrange transport to Hat Yai. He led me to the office to buy my ticket.
Ticket in hand, a young Thai girl took me towards the waiting taxi that would take me into town where I would change vehicles onto a minibus. I asked if I had time to change some money and get rid of my excess Malaysian Ringgit. No problem. This brief delay turned out rather favourably for me. As I walked away from the money changed and to the taxi truck – which was basically a dirty old ute, with a metal frame on the back, and a bench along either side of the tray, and another in the middle, the taxi truck was already fully loaded with ferry passengers going to Hat Yai. And I mean FULLY LOADED! The two gay guys were crunched up against the frame already, there must have been 14 people in the back of the ute, and then they loaded 3 more locals who were waiting in front of me. It looked awfully uncomfortable, but luckily for me, when it came my turn, the driver held up his hand and waved me away – it was full. Phew. As I turned and walked away it began to pour, soaking all the passengers as they pulled away.
So, where was my ride then, I wondered. The girl who sold me the ticket was frantically keying in number into her phone and making calls. A little while later, the rain still smashing down outside, one of the ticketing girls asked me if a motorcycle taxi would be ok. I shook my head, no. I wouldn’t have minded if the weather was nice, but I’d have been drenched as it was at the time.
Finally, I was informed another truck was on it's way to take me into town for my minibus connection. And when it arrived, I had the luxury of having the entire truck all to myself. Ahhhh how sweet it was.
On board, in the tray of the ute, gripping onto the steel frame, with a beaten tarp over me for shelter, we sped through the winding roads towards town, eventually pulling over into the minibus station where I jumped down, and waited with a crowd of locals, to board my minibus to Hat Yai.
The minibus was a far more comfortable affair. I put my luggage in the boot, and climbed aboard, the only seats left were along the back row. As I sat myself down in the back-left corner of the bus, three other locals had boarded, and took up all but the seat next to me. After about 15 minutes on the road, the driver pulled over to pick up one last passenger – who filled the only remaining seat. As it turned out, this young chap was studying International Business, and so spoke good English, and our conversations along the way helped pass the time. His name was Fiz (well, his nickname. Mos Thais use a nickname rather than their full first name), he studied at and International College/University, his father worked in Malaysia most of the time, and he spoke English with his friends to practice. And it showed, because not only could he understand most of what I said, but most of what told me was perfect, with few errors. He had also spent a year studying in India. His main gripe with Thailand, was that in universities, students were required to wear a uniform. He hated this. Fair enough too – wearing a uniform to school was more than enough for me, and if it'd had been a requirement for Uni, that would have sucked. I asked him what the consequences would be if he just turned up in casual clothes. He said it depends on the University, but at his, he would receive 10 lashes of some sort. Whether it was the cane, or some other instrument, I couldn’t clarify. A pretty nasty penalty if you asked me. And its not as if these young adults needed to be treated so harshly, they were their own person by this age, and surely the clothes you wear are a reflection of your identity in some way or another. So, I couldn't help but agree that it seemed a bit ridiculous.
Fiz got off the bus a few km's from Hat Yai, which left me sitting next a gorgeous young Thai girl who promptly moved into his seat, and offered me some chewing gum.
“Korp khun khup” I replied after taking up her offer.
It suddenly occurred to me that other passengers were just telling the driver when they wanted to get off. Which implied that perhaps there was no actual end point, so as the driver unloaded another passengers bag from the boot, I asked about the airport, my final destination. He turned to a couple of taxi riders to his left, before turning back to me, and motioning me to get off the bus. The taxi guys could help me out. It was still raining at this point, and their first offer was a motorcycle taxi to the airport, to which I replied no. I didn't know how far it was, and wasn't overly enthused by the idea of arriving completely soaked. The next option was a ride to the airport limousine service, about 5 minutes away by bike. That worked for me, and I jumped on the back of the bike fully loaded with backpacks mounted front and back, and we took off through the streets of Hat Yai.
At the airport taxi counter, ordering the taxi was straight forward, and within just a few minutes, the taxi had arrived, and I was on my way to the airport. I was grateful I’d opted for the the car, over the motorbike, since it was a good 30 minute drive to Hat Yai airport in the pouring rain.
My last few hours in the airport was fairly boring and uneventful, and consisted of a couple of delicious Thai meals, some donuts, a coffee, finding myself a local sim card to contact Kai, and checking in my luggage.
Boarding for my Orient Airlines flight to Bangkok began just after 8pm. It was an aircraft I’d not been on before, two engines set at the rear of the plane, similar to the now obsolete 727. Although as the engines wound up, it sounded almost as if the engines we right behind my seat, it saws a noisy flying machine.
Just over an hour later, ahead of schedule we touched down at Bangkok's domestic airport, Don Mueang. And the rest, my friends, is history.
