Our host very kindly let us keep our bike until we had been for breakfast in the morning. Once we had eaten breakfast I gave him the keys back and had a little walk down to the boats on the adjacent river mouth. There is a little foot bridge which brings you out by our local shops saving about half your walk if you don’t have transport.
I love all the little home made wooden walkways and some are better than others. It reminded me of the three little piggies story.
We were a little surprised at the size of the ferry port facilities but they only had 3 restaurants. Well, not really restaurants, KFC, Roosters and a local one. We looked in all 3 before Claire decided on Roosters. You should try this place if you like baked potatoes that have been in a 50C oven for at least a fortnight. They served a muffin with all their dishes and I said to claire that it was so you were not totally disappointed.
I spotted the famous Eagle of Langkawi but it was under renovation, just like the cable car.
We had been told that you could take a bottle of spirits or a bottle of wine each so I took a bottle of Gordon’s Gin while Claire chanced a 5 liter box of Australian wine. We managed to get through no problem at all and I wished that I had chanced a bottle of rum as well.
The fast boat stopped at another island for a very brief pickup and the time went very quickly giving me a chance to catch up with some of my podcasts. I also read a little but Claire managed to read an entire book and get some shut eye.
We arrived at the port and walked through to the taxi area being greeted by lots of drivers. We were both very surprised to see the size of Georgetown and how many high rise blocks that it could support. I said to the driver that they must have a lot of business to support that amount of hotel rooms and apartment blocks. He said that it was mainly import export with a monopoly controlled by government ministers.
Malaysia used to be a British colony only getting its independence in 1957 some 10 years after India. I think us Brits must have brought lots of Indians over to build this place up and most of them remain. Please don’t get the impression that I don’t like Indians as its not true. We spend a lot of our holidays over there and they are lovely people but sometimes when abroad they seem a little pushy; unlike when they are at home.
The traffic was horrendous and it took us some time to get to our hotel but we were very happy when we finally got there. Its really humid and misty everywhere and as we must spend the next 4 nights here I’m pleased that we have a nice retreat. We are on the 13th floor and have a sea view split in two by a huge apartment block. Our driver told us that they sold for 2 million Ringits each. Thats around £400,000; no wonder they are occupied mainly by foreigners and ministers.
We decided to have an easy life and eat at our hotel for our first night. They charge about £3.50 for a small local beer which I suppose is not bad for a hotel like this. Claire got a real good deal at £100 for 4 nights stay; amazing, its cheaper than our last place. You wouldn’t get bed and breakfast in England for that these days.
We have a nice pool and a nice balcony and best of all, I have a nice desk and chair that is the right height to work from. If its going to rain, bring it on now. In Malaysia they have English sockets so you don’t need to bring adaptors. They also drive on the left, just as they do in Thailand as well.
We are staying at the Copthorne Orchid Hotel in Georgetown Penang. They have a conference on at the moment consisting of 130 guests. We don’t have wifi in our room but have to go down to the pool or bar areas to pick it up but it is free.
I snicked out of the hotel to have a look for a shop with soft drinks and found a wine shop across the road. I went in to check out the prices and was greeted by a really nice helpful chap that showed me all around his shop, telling me the prices of almost every bottle in there. I settled for a bottle of water and soft drinks for my gin. We had already got a bowl of ice from the restaurant and were ready to go. The shop is called Exclusive wine and the owner told me that the government charge 400% on wine and spirits and 300% on Beer. I said that we had come from Langkawi and had brought some with us and it was a shame that they didn’t have a few more duty free places in Malaysia. Ho told me that there was one more; a place called Labuan Island in the north of Borneo. What a result, we are off to the north of Borneo next, and have yet to book a hotel. Maybe we need to spend a little time in the bar with the internet before we fly!
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