Last Friday I went straight from work to the Train station, and met up with the wifely one- and we headed off for Heathrow! woop woop! and I had ice-cream for dinner at the airport, which made me happy!
The flight was a bit of a Monster one- 13 hours and overnight- we both managed to get a few hours of sleep, but we were incredibly grateful when we landed in KL. From KL we changed took a smaller plane out to Penang.
Thankfully Randi and Stu picked up up from the Airport, as we were both feeling pretty done in- I'm not sure we'd have managed to negotiate a taxi.
They dropped us off at the hotel- we stayed at Shangri La's Golden Sands and it was LUSH!- to unpack and have a wash, and then they took us to their local bar.
Bora bora.
Bora Bora is awesome- It's the only "bar" which is just a bar- it does do food, but it also does a massive range of beers and cocktails. I didn't see anyone order food there the whole time we were there!
The front of the bar is behind the night market, thats where the indoor seating is. If you keep walking past the bar theres outdoor seating under pergolas with fairly lights on. Keep going a bit more and you can sit on the beach by the fire pit- designed to keep the mozzies at bay.
We sat on the beach, drinking cocktails and beers, watching a tropical lightening storm take place overhead,in the evening heat.
And it was lush.
The jet lag on the way there is much worse than the way back- we both work up really early, had breakfast and went on the beach before meeting Randi and Stu the next day-the views made it worth the confusion and lack of sleep:
On Sunday Randi and Stu drove us to Georgetown, so see the stilt houses- ther're a UNESCO world heritage site- and pretty tourist trappy-they're also beautiful, and oddly peaceful being so far out over the water.
Ranid bought Traff a durian Puff- a pastry with durian fruit cooked inside it- I've tried Durian before and didn't like the texture- the taste is actually OK. The smell is disgusting. Traff's holiday game was "durian or bins?" Even the locals say "It tastes like heaven but smells like hell".
Traff did not like durian puffs.
We then went to little india, to the woodlands indian cafe.
:D
The best Indian food I've ever eaten.
We also went fabric shopping- so I have some Malaysian batik-y fabric to make my prom dress out of for the leavers prom later this month, and some other fabrics to make some summer skirts out of.
They then took us to the only cake shop in Penang- apparently it's a total institution- they hang local art on the walls and serve loads of milkshakes and juices as well as selling a huge range of cakes!
I was too full from lunch to eat any. that is my biggest holiday regret.
In the afternoon we mooched about the hotel, read our books and swam in the pool... and went for more drinks in Bora Bora.
In the evening Randi took us to her favourite chinese street cafe- In Malaysia, I have come to realise that everything is done to keep people cool, so just because a restaurant is a Metal roofed Gazebo on concrete hard standing doesn't meant it's not a real restaurant- or that it's dodgy either- The local people eat at the street stalls- I guess the trick is to pick one which has lots of local people eating there and you'll probably be ok!
This is Traff's monster meal- it was huge!
We mooched about in the evening and got an early-ish night. Malaysia is on the equator so you get 12 hours of daylight 7-7 and 12 hours of dark- this is a huge bonus for the jet lagged! you can go to bed at 7pm!
On Monday Randi and Stu were at work in the daytime so we were left to our own devices. We got up early to make the most of the day- and because our hotel was next door to a mosque, which has a very loud 6am prayer call.
This was when I discovered that they had dim sum for breakfast!
:D
So I had that and nasi gorneg which is malaysian fried rice.
I will miss eating dim sum for breakfast.
Traff went to a jungle walk with the hotel whilst I lazed about and read my book.
After that we had a lazy swimming pool and para sailing filled day!
In the evening we went to the Hawker centre - they're really famous in Malaysia and especially in Penang- The food is awesome and cheap- you pick a table and remember the number, then you can order whatever food you like from lost of different stalls. :D
I ordered a clay pot delight- which was less than delightful as there were lots of small bits of bone in it.
However, the satay was incredible. As was the rain!
We had another beachy- hotel- moochy day on Tuesday and met up with Randi in the evening for malasyian thai style food.
After dinner Traff got more dinner as the portions at the thai place were pretty small, and I got fried ice cream!
:D
I love fried ice cream!
On Wednesday we went to Penang hill:
And to the buddhist temple Kek Lok Se- it's the biggest temple in South east Asia and it's beautiful.
And they have a huge pond of turtles!
After that we went to a chocolate shop for chocolate tasting- Malaysians are very keen on their chocolate- We tried all the usual flavours- and then some less usual ones- including Curry, Sesame, Durian and coconut.
I also went batik shopping and got myself a new sarong! :D In honesty, I do have a sarong but I left it on top of the wardrobe in Bedford.
And home in time for an afternoon of swimming!
In the evening Randi and Stu took us to a revolving restaurant in george town for cocktails and to take in the views- you really can see all of Penang! It's so pretty!
On Thursday we had planned to go for a hike in the jungle with Randi and Stu, but the weather was really not on our side, so instead we went to the butterfly farm.An Austrainan bloke was laughing at me as one of the butterflies flew into my face and I flinched.
I'm not afraid of butterflies, only of unexpected objects coming into contact with my face!
In the afternoon we went for pizza at a pretend italian restaurant- mostly out of laziness and partly because the malay people do not seem to have "lunch" at midday- In fairness its so hot that most people are probably asleep and out of the sun- especially as most buisness transactions and shopping take place at night I guess they would be eating breakfast about then.
we followed this with more mooching about and reading by the pool- I wanted to go parasailing but it was so grey and stormy it wasn't going to happen.
It was still hot- as you can see from my sunburnt face- It was just rainy with lots of lightening.
On Friday it cheered up massively and we were able to go on our walk with Randi and Stu.
Randi had made a picnic- including pork sausages she bought from Tesco- from what she refers to as "the infidel section". Apparently the malaysian muslims working on the checkouts take a very dim view of pork and alcohol purchases.
We can't have walked more than 3 miles to turtle beach and 3 miles back- so that is less than my average daily walk- however, in the humidity and heat of the jungle I thought I'd die before we got there!
The walk itself was really interesting - we saw monkeys and mud skippers and monitor lizards and loads of butterflies and spiders.
I can't get over how loud the jungle is. everything makes so much noise that it's deafening. you can barely think over it!
We got to turtle beach about 2pm- having hiked through the heat of the day under the shade of the trees- and sat down to picnic.
We watched the rain over other parts of the coast and the sky was really interesting- Stormy and moody. We had planned to have a swim but with storms over bays to both sides of us the sea did not look inviting.
We had a look at the salt and fresh water lake- as the tide comes in the waters mix- and it's home to weird crabs with only have one mass
ive pincer. the other is small and a bit useless.
Then we hiked back- just as the heavens opened.
We didn't get any rain under the tree cover, but we did make a tasty lunch for the mosquitos. I got bitten on my face too :(.
We all had repellant on, but we must have sweated so much it was ineffective.
In the evening Randi and Stu took us out to a fancy Thai resturant in the spice gardens- the food there was really amazing, and I have a new found love for okra tempura.
After dinner Traff and I went to spend our ringitts in the night market- you can change up 50 and 100 ringitt notes but nothing less than that. I got some presents for my family, and a new back pack for wearing to work and to take when we go camping etc- having to take my handbag hiking was very inconvenient- I'd normally take a back pack on the aeroplane as my hand luggage- but my current one- which I bought for climbing snowdon 2 years ago now- is beyond battered. Traff got presents for his family too, and a new wallet.
Then we headed to Bora Bora to spend the last of our small notes.
Sad face drinks:
We got up at 4am to be at the airport 2 hours before our flight- although our 1st flight was only a local one we were worried because we had to do all the security stuff there and collect our boarding passes, as we land in Penang and go straight through to airside.
The woman on the desk laughed at us and was like "Oh, no, you only have to be here 20 minutes before" but she managed to book us onto the 5:55 flight- which was a bit of a relief as we'd only had 50 minutes between getting off the Penang plane and getting onto the KL one originally- this gave us an extra hour- Randi and Stu warned us that whilst we might make the flight, or bags might not- as it had happened to them more than once before when you land with less than an hour between the flights- Although she did also say they always turn up eventually.
The nice lady at the desk allocated our seats- both times in front of the emergency exit- so we had no Windows but a luxurious amount of leg room.
And we were right next to the loos.
This turned out to be a massive advantage, as I ended up with what can only be described as food poisoning on the plane. It was horrible. Lots of passengers were also taken ill and lots of people moved seats because the people next to them were throwing up.
I did at least manage to do all of that in the loo- not over the person next to me.
I guess it just takes one person to be poorly on a flight like that and touch the door handle to the loo, and over 13 hours lots of people will start to show the symptoms of the same thing.
When we landed I was so ill.
We just sat in arrivals by the loos for 3 hours. in the end we gave up and booked a hotel. There was just no way I was going to make it back on the tube. it's just over an hour from heathrow to Kings cross- with no loos on a packed train, and than 40 minutes if you can get a fast train from there.
I think it was probably the best £94 I've ever spent to stay the night at the Arora international hotel in Staines.
We came back this morning- we left the hotel at 7am, got the bus to heathrow then all our trains- finally getting back here at 11.
We're now having a moochy day. All our washing is on and I'm almost completely better, other than being tired and dizzy, I'm feeling loads better than yesterday!
So, in conclusion:
We love Malaysia!
If you're flying long haul tell them you're vegetarian and have all your meals especially prepared for you and reduce the risk of food poisoning.
Take hand-san gel.
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