Living in St.Petersburg (Russia): LAST STOP IN MALAYSIA: PENANG

When we got to Penang as you've probably read in the previous very long blog it was 5 in the morning. Still dark. Becase we were dropped way off the destination we wanted to go to, we started asking people around how to get to Georgetown, after walking back and forth we met a couple of German guys who were on their exchange program in Malaysia and were traveling around it. It was good that we met them because gruelling hours of waiting were much more interesting. To make it short we were waiting for the wrong bus for over hour and a half and eventually took a ferry over the sea to Georgetown. We ended up in the same hostel with Sasha and Jourge (I'm not sure about spelling of their names...), checked in and because we had to wait to get our rooms cleaned up, we went for breakfast to one awesomely cheap Indian restaurant. We had a huge plate of bread, vegetables and curry for about U$2 each, although Sasha ended up paying $2 for only one shrimp. :)

After that we rented a little 100cc engine scooter and went around the town. I was really glad to get back on the bike. It was nice to just drive around and see some interesting architecture. The room we stayed in had no windows again, but this time it was very spacious and lights were good and the airconditioner worked fine. So, it was good. The hostel also provided all kinds of travel agency services, so, we ended up buying a bus ticket for Bangkok from them for about 40 dollars each. When we left we were unsure how we're going to get to Bangkok because we didn't get any tickets, just a receipt, but it was all fine. I did get hustled again at the immigration border control on Thailand side. Although I had visa they still wanted to check my credibility. So, when we said that Katy was my wife, their tone became for friendly and later on when they wanted to check if we have money, they saw our travels checks and they started laughing at the wad of cheques I had. After that the senior officer just waved me through.. After arriving in Hat Yai not far from Malaysia-Thailand border, we transferred to a double-decker bus from the minibus we arrived in. And from then on it was about 13 hours till we got off in Bangkok at 5 in the morning. I was in BAngkok about 5 years ago and I stayed in a diffirent area, so, I didn't quite see all the the backpackers' scene. Bangkok promises to be quite a diffirent experience for us, because if in Malysia and Singapore we tried to take more photos of local people, Bangkok has more crazy foreign people. I'll save it for another blog.

Again, Katy's account of Penang~~

Penang is wonderful mix of Indian and Chinese culture predominantly, set against a lush background of the kind of tropical rainforest we had hoped to see in abundance in North Borneo. I don't think I could find a better cultural mix if I was to order a city just for me. I was delighted to drink a fresh lassi for breakfast and have eaten curry for almost every meal since we left the Nature Lodge. You can find zongzi, eat Chinese noodles and rice and find outdoor markets "from some time in the middle ages" joked Sasha, who has a reasonably well developed sense of humour for a German, and was referring to the level of hygiene. The fish are cleaned on the street and hang there collecting flies until sold.
We rented a scooter for 25 ringit a day (an equivalent of US $9) in order to make efficient use of our day here. Whether it was the nostalgia of riding a bike again, or suddenly being in more complete and direct control of our travel movements, Vlad and I both felt quite uplifted. A light rain fell as we drove off, cooling us down and after visiting the remains of Fort Cornwallis, we drove around Penang like crazy kids, me clicking the camera on the back like an Olympic photographer.

Katy on the ferry from Butterworth to Georgetown.

The Tower clock, Town Hall and Tax office in Georgetown, Penang. All are remnants of colonial times. Lots of cool old buildings are being restored at the moment.