Kicked out of Thailand and stopping off in Penang
Trip Start
Sep 25, 2008
1
27
31
Trip End
Apr 01, 2009
Georgetown, Pinang, Malaysia
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Due to our early retreat from Langkawi this meant that while everyone back home was sitting down to leftover Turkey on boxing day, we had to make our way back to Malaysia. One of the options was to return to Langkawi but that wasn't really an option now was it? So instead we took a speed-boat over to the mainland.
We landed in a small place called Pak Bara where the only thing to do is sit in a cafe and wait for a minibus out of there. Fortunately we didn't have to wait too long before being ushered over to the other side of the road, bundled into a minibus and driven off to Hat Yai, the next point on our somewhat convoluted trip to Penang.
Hat Yai is the transport hub of the deep south of Thailand. You're not strictly supposed to go there as a westerner as it's just inside the 'problem' area of Southern Thailand, but there really aren't any other options and it's no more or less dangerous than anywhere else we've been to. Our minibus dropped us at another travel agency where we dropped our bags and had about an hour to kill. We were starving and after 2 weeks of nothing but incredible Thai food were ready to slip back into our western fast-food ways in the form of KFC.
It was a nice experience though, you get plates and knives and forks and get served at your table and it's an altogether more civilised affair than the teenage delinquent's playground that it is back home. The coating tasted a bit funny though, and the chicken was a bit grey, but the chips were better than the lousy ones back home!
Restaurant review over. The time came to leave Hat Yai and we got in yet another minibus with 6 or 7 other travelers and off we went.
It was about an hour down to the border where we hopped off the bus and the driver mumbled something to us about seeing us on the other side. So us two, two Swedish girls and an Australian guy walked up to the Thai immigration for our exit stamps, then walked a few hundred metres down to Malaysian immigration and waited on the other side for the minibus....
And we waited, and waited, and after 45 minutes we thought we might have a slight problem. Fortunately someone had a receipt with the number of the company who's minibus we were on. I called and explained the situation...
'you're in MALAYSIA?. What you doing in MALAYSIA?' screamed the woman on the end of the phone.
'erm, sorry. We thought he said he'd see us on the other side.'
'Yes, other side THAILAND!'
They contacted the minibus, but we had to walk back through the customs hall with our bags (which had been in the bus) on our backs.
Anyway, after some fairly dirty looks from the driver, who spoke next to no English, we were back on our way.
We arrived in Georgetown, the 'capital' of Penang only slightly later than planned at around 9pm, found a room and met up with our fellow passengers from the minibus for a bit of Penang street food, including some fantastic watermelon fruit shakes that only cost 20p each!
We only had one day to see Georgetown and so we got up early, starting the day with curry and roti for breakfast in Little India. Sarah ordered an Ice Tea, expecting to get the usual yellow can of Lipton. Instead what she received was a glass with loads of ice and hot tea poured into it. A very strange sensation at first, but eventually the ice won the battle and you're left with authentic ice tea, much better than out of a can!!!
We wandered around town to see what there was to see. We visited the museum hoping to learn about the British occupation but it seems they don't want to shout too loudly about that part of their history. It was rather nice all the same and had some great old cars parked outside.
We stopped off in Chinatown for lunch, went to the cinema and that was more or less that.
Oh, except that on our walk we heard a splash in the open sewer that runs a bit like a river along the pavement. I went to investigate and the source of the noise was, I'm pretty sure, a baby dragon!
Now, I'm sceptical as to whether dragons really exist, but this creature was like nothing I've ever seen before. It was long, much longer than a lizard, probably about 2 feet in total....and it swam. It also had a long tongue which slithered out of its mouth and will probably one day shoot fire.
Anyway, if you go to Penang, watch out for dragons!
We left the next morning, walking to the ferry that runs across to the mainland and catching a train back down to Kuala Lumpur to meet Debbie and see in the new year. Unfortunately we weren't booked on the Orient Express, which was sitting in the station, but the rather plain blue and grey train next to it!
