Panang

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  Panang, Malaysia
Monday, October 6, 2008

The morning we were due to leave Singapore to go to Taman Negara, we spoke to the consierge in our hotel to ask him for the best way to get there i.e. bus or train, instead we spent the next 2.5 hours with this guy who was really helpful (almost to helpful) he got us some prices.... "$129" straight to Taman Nagara on the east coast Leaving that night and arriving in the early hours of the morning at taman nagara. we were all set, but typical us, we had no money on us ,so a trip to the cash machine was in order. The hotel offered to take Helen to the cash point as they were taking some people to the metro station. On the way back the driver was talking to Helen and was very shocked to find out that it would cost $129 for the bus, in fact he was so shocked that he asked if it included a hotel !!.
We were expecting the guy to put a little bit of money on top but it sounded like he was being greedy ( this is maybe why he was being to helpful ).

When Helen got back from the cash machine she told me about her conversation with the driver, so we decided to do a runner luckily the guy had gone for his lunch so we disappeared pretty sharpish

Beach and hills at batu ferringhi

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We headed off to the metro then went straight to the bus station, when it started to rain cats and dogs. We eventually found the bus station but we were both soaked through to the bone ( we were now wishing that the guy in the hotel had come to get our tickets ) we talked to the girl behind the counter, and asked if we could buy two tickets to Taman Nagara, she shook her head and said no not until next week ( now we were really wishing that the guy from the hotel had come to get our tickets ). So we huffed and puffed for a bit,then got out the map, and  decided that a bus to some where close would be fine then all we would have to do is to take a connecting bus trip (easy).

 So we booked our ticket to a place called Taiping, on the west coast,, the bus left at 9.30pm and it was 3.30pm so we had a nice long wait. ( now were we really really wishing that the guy from the hotel had come to get our tickets )
We found a great little restaurant called the Lighthouse which had WIFI this was brilliant so we both sat down and enjoyed a lovely mug of hot chocolate which manged to last us for 1 hour, then we had an early dinner which also lasted 1 ½ hours then it was followed by another mug of hot chocolate also 1hour. Time was really flying by and before we knew it we were on the bus and ready for the next day

Beach at Batu Ferringhi

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The next day came, and at around 5am we got off in Taiping, Well i know it was dark but there was nothing to see or hear and it was raining,so we were standing at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere ( we were now really really really wishing that the guy in the hotel had come to get our tickets ) Day light came and we headed off towards a few buildings and with luck one of them was open and it was a bus ticket office, we managed to decipher from the lady who was speaking broken English on the other side of the counter, that the bus was leaving for Taman Nagra in 15min, brilliant, but wait...... we weren't in Singapore any more, so our money was no good! so we watched our bus drive off into the distance. ( we were now really really really really wishing that the guy in the hotel had gone to get our tickets) we had to wait for a few more hours before any taxis would start running backward and forwards towards the town where the cash machines were.

We eventually caught a taxi to the nearest cash machine then headed back to the bus ticket office armed with loads of money, we had to wake up the lady behind the desk who decided to have twenty winks , only to be told that the next bus goes at 9pm to Taman Nagara via Kuala Lumpur ( we were now really really really really really wishing that the guy in the hotel had come to get our tickets) so we both sat down a bit disappointed , tired, hungry but laughing at our selfs for running away from the man in the hotel in the fashion that only school kids do when they have been naughty..

Entrance Hall into our hotel at Georgetown, Penang

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We get the map out to see whats not in Taiping but amazingly there is a tourist information center in the town, so back in the taxi and into Taiping we go. The man in the office couldnt of been more helpful and he was really glad to be doing his job, he also really wanted to know why we were in Taiping "so did we!" he spent about 20mins on the phone trying to get us some tickets to Taman Nagara but everything was fully booked,unless we wanted to go all the way back down to Kuala lumpor, this is when we found out that it was their holiday time which is why everything was fully booked.
Some other older holiday makers came into the office who were trying to trace their parents footsteps, from years ago when there was a lot of British armed forces in Malaysia. we got talking to them and they under stood our muddle,which is when they talked us in to going north to Penang, which sounded nice and there would be more transport heading towards Taman Negara, the man in charge made a few phone calls and found out that there was a bus leaving in 1hour, so quick as a flash we headed off to the station to buy our tickets,we even had 10mins to spare.




We arrived in Butterworth bus station a little less tired,not so hungry and excited to be in a new place,we knew we had to catch a ferry to an island called penang which was suppose to be a really nice place then we would head north once on the island to a little place called batu ferringhi.
When we got to the ferry terminal and the queue for the ferry was huge. People were queuing to change their money to get coins to put into the machine. Then from that queue you join another to go through the actual gates. We thought that we had a long wait in front of us, when suddenly a policeman (with a truncheon and gun on his belt) shouted at us 'you, come here,' GREAT! now we are going to die! SO we walk past about 120 people to this guard where he smiles, says 'welcome to Malaysia' and lets us skip the whole queue to the front!! OH MY GOD we love Malaysia!! Of course it is a sure fired way to stir up hatred between the locals and tourists.... but hey, we saved about 45minutes to our day!


When we arrived in Batu Ferringhi we asked ourselves "what the hell are we doing in this place" to some it up in one sentence its a costa del sol for the aussies. We went for a lovely walk down the beach which looked very beautiful from afar but when you got.... closer boy oh boy was it filthy,such a shame. We decided that two nights would be more than enough time to recharge our batteries then we would be on a bus and heading towards Taman Negara (will we ever get there we kept on saying to each other) we checked out and headed off to the bus ticket office which was miles away from where we were staying,once we got there we asked a lovely young lady who spoke really good Engish, if she had a bus going to Taman Nagara today, she replied "YES" oh wow we were so happy to be on our way to the rain forest at last she told us how much it was going to cost, "great!"...........BUT... we were short on cash, no problem she said the cash machine is 5min walk that way, so off we trundle,by the time we return, guess what ? thats right the tickets had sold out and there wouldn't be another bus until 4 days time ! ( we were now really really really really really wishing that the guy in the hotel had come to get our tickets) Oh dear, we both sighed and chuckled a little bit. we headed off back to George town and decided to have a few nights there instead of the dreaded Batu Ferringhi, we spent the best part of 3hours looking for somewhere decent to stay. Most hotels were either fully booked or disgusting,we decided to go down one last street because their was suppose to be a nice hostel, it was nice but across the road was a much nicer place,that was not advertised as a hotel or hostel it had only been open for 2days. There was a charming old man in the doorway asking us if we wanted a room,we were invited in and the place was amazing it was an old 1950s building that had just been given a lick of paint, it had only been open for one day and we were the 6th guests to check in.
It was so nice to just sit in a really old building and watch the day go by. Four days later it was crunch day and we were dead chuffed to finely be going to the rain forest so we got to the station early so we wouldn't miss it, only to be told that the time was wrong on our ticket! so instead of the bus leaving at 9.45pm it would now be leaving at 10.30pm, so a longer wait in the dingiest bus station in the world. Finally the bus turned up at 10.45 and then left at 11.15pm.

It was exactly 10 mins before we both flew out our seats ( we had evil Knievel as our driver ) we both looked at each other and thought oh dear we got another 8 hours of this, but then the driver decided to calm down a little bit, then we got some sleep, until "the cough ness monster" started to cough non stop. this old lady just did not stop coughing all the way,she would stop when she had some cough medicine but then she would have a fit of the burps ( merlin style ). So we waited 6 days afterleaving singaporee before we were on our way to Taman Negara......if only we had paid the $129!! Oh well. About 1 hour from our stop, it was just us two left on the bus, and the driver stops in this town, and says right you now need to get a local bus for the rest of the way! Even though we had the name taman negara on our ticket!! After a lot of arguing and shouting we said that we were not paying a penny for the next bus which they agreed to..... At 8am we eventually arrive very tired at our destination.... YEY!

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