The hostel we booked is called Daniels Lodge and it is right in the centre of the town. It's only 15 ringgit per night ($4.80/£3.20) with powerful hot showers too! It is a simple place, you walk up some steps and it's just one long room with beds lined up but it's all good fun and the beds are fairly comfortable too. Dinner was a yummy, big, filling curry - Cassie and I shared a naan & dips, a veg dish, a chicken dish, 2 tea tariks and a Chinese-style c...

How to describe Penang...I'm not so sure. It did not feel like I was in Asia as it's much more modern and developed here; no tuktuks (just ....), no people trying to sell you fruit or insects on the side of the road, hardly any scooters about, no wooden huts on stilts where the locals lived, no kids running around the streets...I could go on. The place was very developed with big European looking buildings, parks, a botanical garden and very posh hotels (eve...

So the transport from Koh Lanta to Langkawi (an island West of Thailand/Malaysia mainland) was long but easy going. We left at 8am and arrived about 6pm including the 1 hour time difference. We travelled on a 14 seater minivan that took the ferry across to the mainland where we then waited for over half an hour showing our tickets about 10 times to prove that we had paid for our ticket to Langkawi as we had 13 people and only 12 seats - overbooked, ops! Even...

n the morning I woke Cassie up and we jumped on the boat to Koh Lanta. Had a good chat...like all of our chats have been with her J She's great company, a great laugh and we seem to get on really well. We strolled around the village and down the beach; stopped for a drink and ended up chatting there for 3 hours...we grabbed some dinner and chatted back at the hostel. She also attempted to teach me guitar - I now know a few chords. YEY. The following day was m...

So the ferry/bus was an interesting experience. It was an overnight ferry that left at 9pm. I did not expect to see tiny thin mattresses covering the entire two floors of the ferry/boat. I was stuck right in the middle by the engine. It was roasting, extremely noisy and to top it off I was sleeping next to some crazy frizzy haired old lady! I was not too pleased. I think this is the first time I got a little frustrated with the transport situation. I could...