Wednesday 20th December

Can you believe that we have spent this morning trying to send a parcel back home, the hotel would arrange it but would add on an extra £25, so we decided to look for a post office. One receptionist said it was on street 23, the concierge said on street 21, we couldn't find it on either side. We ended up at a department store called Robinsons where they had a counter that sent packages by UPS - cost for 4 kgs on Economy air was 2100 Baht, about £30. Hooray, we got the parcel off with half an hour to spare before we had to check out of our hotel. Picked up at 12.30 for a train journey to Butterworth (ferry terminal for Penang). We boarded our train packed up with "bits and bobs" to eat and a couple of bottles of water. Same format as before, Ron would sleep in the overhead locker, Linda got the bottom bunk. As our journey started earlier than the last one, we found that at every train stop the locals came on selling food of all descriptions, sticky rice, curry, chicken, unmentionables and iced coffee in plastic bags with a straw sticking out of the top (this appeared to be the local way of drinking coffee). Once again the train attendant had us bedded down by 8 p.m.

Thursday 21st December

Well we made it through the night again, a bit uncomfortable, but a few snatches of sleep. We had ordered breakfast this time as we were not due to arrive until 12.55. The breakfast was 2 fried eggs, a piece of pineapple, a slice of chicken ham and half a smoked sausage, then 2 slices of toast, cup of tea/coffee and orange juice. That was fine, it was just that it was served to us at 7 a.m. - bearing in mind that we had to put our watches forward 1 hr, so in fact it was only 6 a.m. We arrived at the borders with Malaysia at 8.30 (already 1 hour late), we went into the Thailand departure office followed by the Malaysian Arrivals office and then through customs, everybody in from of us was having to empty their case. Luckily for us, we think they had enough of smelly clothes by then and waved us through. Back on the train and we just sat there for another 1 hour. We realised later that there is only 1 track between certain stations so we had to wait for an incoming train. Finally we arrived at Butterworth 2 ½ hrs late, making a total travelling time on the train of 23 ½ hours. We had nothing to eat since breakfast, we were starving.

Off the train, short walk to the ferry and finally a taxi to our hotel. The board in reception had our name on it to welcome us, it made us feel better. We also had our first Xmas cards and parcel waiting for us (from Sandy & Tony). There was a great restaurant at the hotel looking out over the sea, so after the confines of the train the previous day it was totally relaxing whilst we ate our evening meal.

Friday 22nd December

Wash day beckons again, the hotel has a laundry on 23rd floor, so we loaded up and took the lift up (our room was on 14th). Washing done and time to walk along the beach, the tide was coming in and we had to ensure that we didn't get cut off anywhere. There were notices up about the dangers of swimming in the sea (jellyfish), it was also not far from the main shipping lane into Georgetown so it did not look none to clean for swimming - churned up with the sand. In the distance you could see a "floating mosque", the roof glistened in the sun, not seen one of those before. Swimming pool was gloriously cold as it was quite hot laying out on the sunbeds. Bought a phone card for the first time since we have been away (11 Malaysian Ringgits) about £1.60 for 50 minutes, what a bargain. Rang up our lads and Linda's mum and got caught up with all the gossip from home. We also rang George and Carol who we had met during the Summer at the Carriage House, they had moved out to Penang to live the previous year. We met up with them in the evening and they took us to a local hawkers "restaurant", where we had a sizzling plate of noodles with meat and veg for 6 Ringgits each (less than £1 each). We also met some of their other friends and arranged to go out with them all on Christmas evening to a local hotel where they were having a Xmas buffet and entertainment.

Saturday 23rd December

Decided to take the hotel shuttle bus into Georgetown (the capital town of Penang), where we were dropped off at KOMTAR, which is a 65 storey shopping complex -only the bottom 5 are for shopping, the rest are offices etc. Whilst we were there Linda decided to try the local hairdressers, a wash, cut & blow dry cost 15 Ringgits, they also throw in a head, neck and shoulder massage. Back to the hotel and onto the beach to relax again, this sort of life wears you out.

Sunday 24th December

Christmas Eve, what a strange feeling with so many different cultures around you. The hotel corridors hum with Christmas carols but you are sharing a lift with women who wear the veil, covered from head to toe in black, whilst their husbands and children wear Western style clothes. Lots of children here though and they seem to be enjoying the Christmas spirit - a bit too noisy for us Spent the morning on the beach again, the sea is really calm and it is the hottest its been so far - about 36 degrees. The shoreline is full of tiny starfish, we have never seen so many in one place, there are also loads of miniscule jelly like things about as well - they look just like a peeled grape or a slug with no skin. Later on we thought we would check out the Butterfly & Insect Farm, the taxis from the hotel will take you there, wait as long as you like and bring you back again. The butterflies were the best we have seen to date, some were absolutely huge- bigger than the span of our hands. There was also a very good display of reptiles, all sorts of shapes of lizards etc, and the most amazing insects that are almost undetectable as they sit on the leaves of bushes and trees.

Back at the hotel Santa visited every room bearing gifts (gingerbread and a candy stick) and we got ready for our Christmas Eve Buffet party which was to be held in the hotel restaurant. Again every guest was given a package as you went in, this time with party poppers, masks, light sticks and lots of other things). All the seating had been arranged to intermingle the guests, we were put with a local man from Penang and the entertainment group. We had turkey and Xmas pudding as well as many other dishes to eat, it was a good night. Back in the room we could see fireworks lighting the sky.

Monday 25th December

Xmas day, we woke and opened out solitary presents (Ah) from Sandy and Tony, they had sent Ron a "Grow your own Xmas tree" - see the picture on the website, Linda had a much more sensible present of some jewellery and tee shirt. To be fair we had several presents before we left the UK and Linda's mum had also paid money into our account. Ron bought a new Nintendo Game Boy (which we have played with) and Linda had some Black Sapphire earrings set in white gold. Well we had to spend Xmas day on the beach (we put on our Santa hats for a very short time - just to take pictures), today was even hotter than yesterday and the sand just burnt our feet as we went for our customary stroll. Normally we would just paddle through the water but as its full of "jelly" bits floating around it puts you off. Around 3 p.m. we went to the local café to have coffee and HUGE cakes and got talking to the proprietor who informed us that he had been to Italy when he was younger to learn the art of making ice cream, so of course we sampled that as well. Woke everybody up back in the UK (well only Andy & Jemma), to wish them Seasons Greetings from very hot Penang. We were picked up at 6.20 p.m. by George and Carol to go to Batu Ferringhi for our Xmas day party. Once again it was a buffet with a free bar, the food and drink was just endless, we were also given a free raffle ticket and Ron won a prize of 2 bottles of wine (which incidentally we gave to our hosts)!! Back to the hotel at midnight so that we could ring Ron's mum and sister Chris.

Tuesday 26th December

Thought we would try the local busses today and visit the Tropical Spice Gardens that were about ½ hr away (by bus). The busses run approx every 20 mins and we only had to wait about 5 mins, the cost was 2 Ringgits each (about 30p each). The bus going was air conditioned and quite comfortable, the return journey was a different story, the bus was old, rickety and the air conditioning was the old fashioned way with the windows open. On arrival at the Tropical Spice Gardens there are bottles of mosquito spray for you to use as you are actually in a "jungle" area. As you walked round the trees and plants had information telling you about their "medicinal" uses and plenty of them were to help with wind problems (Tony please take note). By the time we got back to our hotel (after the bus journey) our clothes were just stuck to us. Time for the beach again and after our usual dunk in the pool to cool down Linda talked Ron into having a go on the Parasailing. This was good fun and whilst Linda was taking a "movie" picture on the camera, she just managed to run out of the way in time before Ron landed right next to her. Whilst Ron was in the air, he saw a BIG EAGLE below him, with a huge wingspan of about 4 feet, we saw this pair of eagles many times from our balcony window.

George and Carol had invited us for a meal at their apartment today, so George picked us up at 6.30 p.m. Their apartment was quite close to our hotel, up a hill, and they were on the 21st floor. The views were spectacular, looking over to the mainland, the beach, and Georgetown. Their apartment was also very spacious and they made us very welcome, Carol cooked us Chicken Supreme followed by fresh fruit, we would like to take this opportunity to thank them tremendously for their hospitality to us, it was so good to talk to English voices.

Wednesday 27th December

Its dark this morning, its raining (what's happened) somebody has turned the lights out, never mind the sun was shining again by 10 a.m., but it became very muggy. It was also strange that all the starfish and "jellies" as we fondly called them had disappeared, the waters edge just seemed so strange without them. We had a quiet day just wandering about until 6 p.m. when we got the local bus to Batu Ferringhi, it was packed, standing room only, no air conditioning, only a 5 km journey though. After a steak dinner we went to the night market to look for bargains, in other words some games for Ron's gameboy.

Thursday 28th December

Time to pack again, the last 7 seven days have flown by, the hotel extended out check out time until 1 p.m. We then went for the "cheap lunch - 8.80 Ringgits" at the hotels bistro restaurant, we had soup & a roll, pasta with chicken & garlic bread and finally ice cream & chocolate sauce, what amazing value at just over £1 each. This was to be our last meal of the day as we were due to leave the hotel at 6.30 p.m. We took a taxi to the ferry terminal, and waited for the next ferry (only 10 mins) and arrived at the train station at about 7.30 p.m. Our train was due to arrive at 20.55 and leave Butterworth at 21.29, it finally arrived at 23.30, by then we were rather hot and bothered. At Asian train stations we have found that most of the family come to see relatives off, so the waiting room and platform was rather crowded to say the least. We fell into our first class (ha ha) bunks just after midnight, ready for our 9 hour trip to Kuala Lumpur.