On the move again, this time on the bus and first to KL for my glasses! I left Laura at the bus terminal (luckily the one we needed for our next bus!) and managed to find my way back to the hostel on the LRT - only one stop! The glasses were there waiting for me with the nice people behind the reception desk! I still can't believe that a) they turned up and b) we were able to go back to get them - normally we only go one way!

After I found my way back to Laura, we managed to get our bus tickets to Penang from one of the counters for 35RM each (about £7) - not bad for a five hour trip! Getting out of the bus station turned out to be a bit of a nightmare - first the bus was delayed so we were waiting around for a while on the platform, not knowing for sure whether we were in the right place! Eventually a bus pulled in and we were ushered onto it by one of the station staff. Then we got stuck trying to get out of the station - the buses could only go one way through narrow exit channels which were all blocked by other buses. The driver and his mate tried to solve the problem by driving right to the end of the station, but sill no way out! So instead they got off the bus and went for a wander, presumably to find the driver of the bus that we were now stuck behind. Eventually, about an hour late, we got on the road, and we were on our way to Penang!

Halfway through the journey, the TV came on and we watched Rogue - an Australian film about a killer crocodile in the Northern Territory. It started off OK, but got more and more ridiculous as it went on - the ending included the 'hero' saving the leading lady from the crocodile's lair, despite the fact that she'd been chewed in half and would surely have bled to death! Anyway, by the time it finished, we were almost in Penang!

Penang is an island off the West coast of Malaysia, joined to the mainland by a huge bridge - one of the longest I've ever seen! It's famous for its good food and we were looking forward to trying it out - we don't think we've had enough to eat on the trip so far(!)

When we got off the bus we negotiated a taxi, which turned out to cost 50RM as we were staying in Batu Ferringhi, which is at the opposite end of the island to the bus station - we didn't check that when we booked! We arrived at our hostel - Lazyboys, tired and hungry but were made to feel very welcome by the owner / manager Aslan. We were shown to our double room, which had a very child-like bedcover (see picture!). Aslan was busy cooking noodles for everyone and we got a massive helping each which were really good! We sat around chatting for the rest of the night, mainly to an American guy called Cody who'd shaken my hand before we'd even put our bags down! Looks like it's going to be another good Malaysian hostel - we're doing well here!