Paramount Hotel Georgetown

... is Fort Cornwallis which was the site of the British administration when Georgetown was first settled. It makes for a pleasant wander around.


Our overland adventure was now ending. To do justice of any sort to Indonesia we needed to speed up so we finally boarded the morning shuttle flight to Kuala Lumpur and guiltily enjoyed the pleasures air travel, namely not having to spend a whole day on a train.

... uphill hiking in about +35 degree weather. Our shirts didn't have a dry patch left on them after the first 30 minutes of hiking. One of the Norwegian girls was in the front and all of the sudden broke into a dead sprint when a large snake went slithering in between her legs as she was walking. Once we finally reached the top, we ate, viewed the temples and then took a very slow and hot trolley down the 880 meter hill. For ...

... off with their little croaks. I could watch them for hours. If they weren’t so quick I would have caught one and attempted to bring it with me as a pet. Wicked creatures.

It was much nicer here by the sea, but it was only a small snippet of what I could have and I knew I needed to venture onwards. Unfortunately, despite my trawlings on the interwisp, I was unable to find any accommodation on Koh Lipe which was available without ...

... aware that there were various train options. The direct flight from KL to Tioman now seemed favourite, but this was eventually ruled out, over the next day or two, as Berjaya Air's web-site appeared to be down, and similarly none of the telephone numbers elicited a response. As we found out later, this may have been a blessing, as we eventually met a couple on Tioman who had had their flight cancelled at nine p.m. on the night before their scheduled ...

we left samui at 6.30 am and took the ferry to the mainland then buses to malaysia arriving in Penang at 8.30pm it was the longest most boring day ever and the bus was so slow and uncomfortable and i had to sit next to this stupid man who smelt really bad and kept snoring i was so ****** off.

anyway the next day i took the walking tour of penang which was claimed by england for the east india company by a man from Dallinghoo, Suffolk ...

... take and when they start to murder Pink Floyd … well …. It doesn’t bode well for a good nights sleep.

Our first day in Penang we visited the old colonial quarter which consisted of some impressive old colonial buildings and fort Cornwallis which we took a look around and enjoyed dressing up with the colonial hats and rifle. Whilst in Penang we dedicated one of our days as a ‘ Temple bash’ Originally we were only going to Snake temple and Kek Lok ...

... stopping moment, as he was a reasonable size with big teeth! In the evening, I chatted to two of the nicest English girls I'd met on my travels so far, and we went out for dinner with another girl they met earlier, a Mongolian who has grown up in Edinburgh! Also, a Swiss guy that I met a few days ago on Kho Pha Ngan that I bumped into in the street joined us. We went to an Indian restaurant, which was so authentic ...

... ei mennyt ihan korottelyna, kun sattui pari pienta vastoinkaymista tielle. Georgetownissa hypatiin aamulla lauttaan ja tultiin maan puolelle bussiasemalle. Siella kaikki meni viela hyvin, kun (kuten taalla usein muuallakin) mies tuli radiopuhelin kourassa ohjaamaan meidat suoraa oikeaan bussiin, joka oli juuri lahdossa Ipohiin, kaupunkiin missa pitaisi vaihtaa bussia paastakseen Tanah Rataan. Paastiin Ipohiin mukavasti aikataulussa ja loydettiin lippuluukku, mista ...

Penang's okay, hardly typical Malaysia, more like Thailand really, with lots of bars and nightlife and such, with an added element of multiculturalism that comes from being a member of the Commonwealth, i.e. ethnic Chinese and Indians for the most part. The only problem is that everybody speaks English, so that’s hardly inspiring. Not all the ethnic Malays do, but that’s still no more than half the population ...