I was planning to go to Ko Lanta after Ko Phi Phi, unfortunately, there is no overnight bus to Penang and I had 6 days of beach already, so I decided to skip Ko Lanta for Penang. I woke up at 6am yesterday morning to see sunrise fromthe highest point in Ko Phi Phi (also happen to be the Tsunami evacuation spot). Unfortunately, it was cloudy so the day just turned bright and saw some sunrays peaked out of the clouds. However, the view alone is worth the 15 minutes of nothing but uphill climb. The view was gorgeous, two white sand beaches surrounded by crystal blue water on two side and green mountain on the other two sides. I can't wait to share the pictures with you guys.
After I got on the 9AM ferry to Krabi, it started pouring. This was the first time I see rain since I got to Asia. Since I have to spend the whole day on the bus to Penang, I was kind of glad it is raining :) On the bus, I met a very interesting Englishman, whom is currently teaching scuba diving in Thailand for the last four years. He left home at 18 for traveling and never went back. He usually worked very hard for 6 months (during busy diving season) then travel for another 6 months. He been to every continents already and still traveling. He is just doing a visa run via Penang, so he knows exactly which hotel is clean and cheap. We got to Penang at 10PM, so I followed him to the hotel so I can book my hotel stay at Penang.
Georgetown is very small and I just finished visiting all the interesting sites in Georgetown (downtown) of Penang Island. The highlight of my trip today is visiting the Cheong Fatt Tze's Mansion. Cheong Fatt Tze is a super rich merchant from China and he built the grandiest mansion in Penang for himself and his 7th wife. The tour lady was hilarious, she made the entire tour worth the 12RM (other historical sites charge 1-3RM, very cheap). Tomorrow, I am taking the bus to go up to Penang Hill to visit the biggest temple in Malaysia and its Botanical Garden. Hopefully, these places are interesting enough to fill up my day as my overnigh train to Kualu Lumpur doesn't leave till 9:30PM.
I did 2 several unnecessary damage to my budget at Penang.
- I stayed at budget hotel (69RM or $20 per night) instead of guest house (18RM or $6 per night). However, since I arrived late, I don't want to risk my safety just for a few bucks; which is why I tagged along with the English guy since he seem to know where he is going.
- I booked an overnight train to Kualu Lumpur (43RM) instead of taking a VIP bus (27RM). Plus, I would either need to walk 20 minute to the ferry terminal or take a taxi. VIP bus pick up is just right next to my hotel. VIP bus leave Penang at midnight and arrive KL at 5AM. Again, for safety reason, I rather not do that. With train, I would leave Penang at 7:30PM and arrive KL at 6:30AM.
There are a lot of Chinese here. I got so excited during breakfast when I heard the restaurant playing Fukienese(Taiwanese) music. I thought that means Hokkien is the same thing as Fukienese and I couldn't understand the waitstaff because they speaks too fast. Turned out that is not the case. The waitstaff looks at me weird whenI tried talking to them in Taiwanese. Fortunately, everyone also speak Mandarin, so I just talked to them in Mandarin. Hokkien dialect is from Hui An (also part of Fu Jian Province) and although I can understand a few words here and there whenI try really hard, it is quite different from Taiwanese.
Although there is no language barrier here, I miss the Thailand beaches. Too bad the wound is not heal or else I would go back to Ko Phi Phi.
No comments:
Post a Comment