Hello,

It's 6:01pm and I'm off out for dinner. I'm currently in a taxi with a Malaysian man called Tan Joo Chye and we have just laughed about being Tom and Tan! Haha!

Today I woke up early to travel down from the hills to Penang, an island off the north west coast. The journey took about 5 hours and whilst I slept most of the way the parts of the country I did see annoyed me. Again there was rubbish everywhere and the people seemed to not care! As we drove along every few minutes a bottle or packet flew out of a car window, it's just criminal!

Once we reached Penang I jumped in a taxi from the bus terminal to my hotel in Georgetown. I have treated myself to an actual hotel here so I have a nice clean double bed, beautiful ensuite to enjoy! After dropping my bag off I ventured out into the old town on a walking tour I got from my Lonely Planet book. It took me past some of the heritage sights and was perfect for an hours look around. I then paid a visit to the St George Church and wondered around a little more. When I had walked enough I jumped on one of the bike rickshaw things and an old guy cycled me back to my hotel! The poor guy was giving it his all and I'm not so sure I would have liked to have been doing the hard work!

Once back at my hotel I enjoyed some time in the pool and just chilled. I then got 'dressed up' and put my glad rags on to head out for dinner. I'm heading to the beach resort called Batu Feringghi which apparently has good night markets and many restaurants along the beach. I'm treating tonight as kind of a holiday within a holiday :)

I'm going to enjoy the little tour of Penang on the way as its around 30 mins away... I'll let you know what I get up to later :) Bye for now X

So... My holiday within a holiday continues :)

I'm currently in a very lovely, very nice, actually fantastic little restaurant called Feringghi Garden. Around me are mini waterfalls, numerous tropical plants and tables set with real cloth napkins! It really is a good find and the kind of place Tara would love! However, she's on a plane back to Dubai from Bangkok :)

When I arrived in Batu Feringghi it was a scene of mixed fortunes. Night markets line the streets before a beautiful beach that was buzzing with holiday makers enjoying the evening sun!

I walked up and down the beach looking for 'that perfect restaurant', but as with many things in Malaysia I simply didn't find it. Again, there is so much potential for nice places but there are just none here, and trust me when I say I looked! After 2 or 3 trips up and down the main road/beach I was ready to call it a night and hit the best of a bad bunch when I decided to ask someone. The lady I asked was Irish and she recommend the Feringghi Garden, where I am now. I actually saw some really good reviews for this place too this afternoon but it was a little further out than I expected. I've just enjoyed some great French Onion Soup and look forward to my main.

I'll then have a walk through the night markets before finding a taxi back to Georgetown and my hotel.

I'll be back soon :)

Good Morning... (Wednesday)

It is currently 11:24am and I've just sat down in seat 16F on my flight to Kuala Lumpur. I then have a two hour stop over before flying on to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.

The meal last night was lovely and afterwards I walked through the night markets before getting the bus back to Georgetown. Earlier in the night to get to the other side of the island I took at taxi costing 45RM, around £8.60, which I didn't think was bad for the 30-40 minute journey. My decision to take the bus back was a split second decision as it literally pulled up next to me and as there was only one main route around the island I guessed it was going the right way. I followed my GPS tracker all the way on the bus along the same route the taxi took. I was prepared to get a taxi for a short ride once in Georgetown back to my hotel but this wasn't needed. To my amazement the bus took a little detour before turning directly onto the street my hotel was on! It was a stroke of luck but it dropped me off right outside the door, if only I had seen it to get there! Not a bad ride home for 5RM!

I had a shower and sent a few messages to Tara who is now back in Dubai.

To be honest it was a really tough night and as she flew back to Dubai the only place I wanted to be was with her! I didn't really sleep and wasn't too well either. I strongly considered calling it a day and travelling home but this was never really an option as I've paid for my Vietnam Tour. I battled with my mind all night and tried to sleep.

This morning I woke up feeling much better and ready to continue my tour. I think the combination of having a few 'travel days', which in all honesty have been pretty long and boring, as well as missing my girl more than I can say and spending a lot of time on my own just got to me.

I knew when I booked this trip it was going to be a long one and as we travel down the run way during take off my excitement is building again. I'm ready to move on from Malaysia which has had its ups and downs. Singapore, Tioman and the Jungle were fantastic! I really enjoyed spending time in these places and being able to do so many new experiences was great!

Tonight I meet up with Martin, a college friend from home, for the rest of my tour. It will be great to have a travelling buddy and see some new places together. He has been in Australia for a few months and recently was doing the Thailand Islands in the south.

As I fly to KL I want to take some time to think about how travelling now is different to travelling when I did my 'World Trip' in 2011. Apart from the obvious things like being older and having a little more money behind me, it is definitely different this time round.

5 years ago today I was in Kenya and half way into my month long volunteering project. Since then I have seen a lot more of the world and a lot in my life has changed. I have lost loved ones, become a godfather, moved out and moved country and have started building my career. This time round I feel more mature and the desire to share it with someone is bigger than ever. I'm really pleased to be joining Martin as I think it will really take my mind off being away from Tara, which as I'm sure you can tell by my blogs has been tough recently!

In the next part of my tour I look forward to traveling a part of the world I haven't been to before as a backpacker. I was lucky enough to visit Bangkok with Mum and Dad when I was younger but something tells me it might be slightly different as an adult when I get there at the end of my trip.

First it's a visit to the second largest city in Thailand followed by travelling down the Mekong River in Laos. Then it's the main part of my trip, the 20 day tour of Vietnam as Martin and I will join Vietnam Backpackers!

It promises to be a good few weeks and now I'm over the little blip of the last day or so after a chat with T before take off I'm looking forward to it!

All in all it is a real positive that I miss Tara so much... I would be worried if I wasn't feeling like this and having travelled leaving a girlfriend behind before it's 100% different and great in a funny way to be so head over heals! We all know what happened last time and it's probably around 5 years to the day I called things off from Kenya! The girl in question is now very happy with two kids and our lives couldn't be much different!

As I touch down in KL and await my transfer to Chiang Mai I look forward to the next few weeks and look forward to 20th August with excitement and a big smile on my face!

Tom X

Ps... Sorry this one was a little deep!