Malaysia

Leaving Tonsai: I took the boat to Ao Nang, local taxi to Krabi, and bus to Hatyai...transferred buses and crossed the border into Malaysia, making it to Penang that evening. After 5 attempts to find a guesthouse that wasn't full, I got a basic but clean room on the main strip, and in the morning moved my stuff into Stardust (still very basic, but really friendly and helpful owner).

Spent the morning exploring Penang - what really strikes as interesting is the total mix of cultures & religions. A buddhist temple, muslim mosque, and catholic church on the same street, and evidence of Chinese, Indian, Thai, Malaysian & Western influence everywhere.


Met up with a super nice American couple (Mike & Emily) and have spent the last couple of days exploring with them. Unfortunately the weather's been rubbish, but we rented bikes to follow the coastal road yesterday and had a really good laugh. The butterfly farm with plasmid garden (stick insects) was a total highlight, and our fairly unsuccessful game of "git" (Vietnamese game a bit like hacky-sack) in the botanical gardens was fun. Very aggressive monkeys though...




Trying to fix my bike (no such luck) was hilarious. The wire to the back brake snapped and flew off, which was a shame considering the front brakes were nonexistent. My running shoes are so versatile though, and they're already wrecked so they just became my brakes for the rest of the day.

We got the bus into the Cameron Highlands yesterday, but it poured with rain all afternoon. A bit disappointing, and no bikes to rent anywhere in town (very disappointing!) but we did a jungle trek today and visited a strawberry farm which was good fun. Found this restaurant in town with a really great name...