We were up early to get the bus to Malacca. It was about 500km and we were on a bus leaving at 9:00 - or so we thought. In fact we joined the bus in the centre of town before it set off via the bus station and then over the bridge to the Butterworth bus station. So we ended up a taxi ride and short ferry ride from our hotel! We eventually left at 10:45 and we felt cheated of about 2 hours sleep. The bus ride itself was very good. It was a luxury bus and the rout...

After lunch, we were off on the train from Bangkok to Butterworth in Malaysia where we would transfer to Penang. That meant a leisurely start to the day. After breakfast, Fran went to get her nails done and I went off to do some shopping. The train journey was OK - if a bit long. We got on at 14:45 with it due in Butterworth at 11:55 next day. We were in 2nd class - no separate first class compartments on the train - which was OK apart from the lights were kept ...