Friday 3rd February 2006 Another long journey ahead of us. We get up early ready to leave at 7.00am - we are due to arrive in Penang at about 5.30pm and we will be getting three different "air-conditioned" minibuses on our journey. The first minibus takes us from Koh Lanta to Trang, next is from Trang to Hat Yai (near the Malaysian border) and finally from Hat Yai to Penang. It doesn't begin well when our first minibus is late in arriving. Amy begins to get agitated with the lady at reception who doesn't seem to think it is a problem that we only have about 10 minutes at Trang to catch our next minibus. Amy was even more infuriated when she said to the lady that if the bus wasn't here soon we would miss our connection - to which she replied "yes, yes" AGHH!! Amy had to point out to her that actually that was a BAD thing. Now we are really looking forward to getting to an english speaking country where you can be understood when you have a complaint!!! Anyway, the bus finally turns up at 7.30 and we set off on our way. We end up waiting over an hour (for some inexplicable reason) at one of the ferries and that is when we know we have missed our connection. We figure there is probably another bus going to Hat Yai that day so aren't too concerned, just hope we don't have to wait too long. Finally arrive in Trang over an hour late and are immediately ushered into a tiny tuk-tuk (no idea where we were going, but hopefully to a bus going in the Hat Yai direction). We are dropped outside what looks like a bus booking office and are told to wait a few minutes for the bus. Amazingly, only a few minutes passed before we got onto our next minibus - things were looking up. Especially as this one really did have air-conditioning! The journey to Hat Yai took about another 3 hours and we were dropped again at another travel office. Unfortunately this time we had to wait a couple of hours for the next bus to Penang. We decided to have a bit of a look around Hat Yai, but didn't get far as it didn't seem like a very nice place at all. Got some food and waited for our final minibus. Fortunately this bus left on time (though it was now 3.30pm so the chance of us getting to Penang by 5.30pm were non-existent). Hopefully should be there around 7.30pm though.. Unfortunately it was Friday afternoon/evening and it seemed that everyone wanted to cross the Thai-Malaysian border at the same time as us. So, for the first time in nearly three months, we sat in a traffic jam. For ages. The well known Malaysian tourist slogan came to mind "Malaysia truly conjested!" We queued to get into Thai border control, out of Thai border control, and into Malaysia. 7.30pm was getting less and less likely and we started to hope for 9.30pm so we could at least have some sort of evening with Sam. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be, and (after a very scenic ferry ride across from Butterworth to Penang) we arrived in Georgetown at about 10pm. We were knackered. Sam had given us instructions to get a taxi straight to her place, but first we needed some Malaysian Ringit so we had to wander and find some dosh. Finally found an ATM and after a lot of waving at full taxis we eventually got one that was empty. Arrived at Sam's at 10.45pm, tired and very smelly. However, we were still determined to have a night out, so we had a quick shower and then headed out to find a bar. It seems that the Malays like to spend their Friday evenings not in bars, but in coffee shops, and the area around Sam's apartment was choc-a-block with coffee shops overflowing with people (this is 11.30pm at night!!?!). Fortunately we find one that sells alcohol and settle in with a bottle of wine. Three bottles later we decide to call it a night. Saturday 4th February 2006 Have a great night's sleep in Sam's air-conditioned spare room where there are no insects to be seen (or heard). Spend the morning relaxing in the apartment before heading to the nearby shopping mall which is nicely air-conditioned (it is 34 degrees and pretty humid outside). We meet up with Sam for lunch (unfortunately she had to work Saturday morning) for some Japanese food. We over order and are completely stuffed. We decide it is time to explore Penang (Sam too as she has only recently moved here) and head into Georgetown. We have a look around Fort Wallis which is where the British first landed in Penang and then have a wander around Little India. A lot of the buildings around town are very attractive colonial building, but unfortunately most of them are in a bad state of disrepair. We then head east of Georgetown to investigate Sam's nearest beach which is very pleasant and we have a fruit juice on the beach. We decide to sample a bit of Georgetown nightlife that evening and start with a fantastic curry in Little India. Amy has Lamb Masala served on a banana leaf! (Saves on washing up I suppose). We are all pretty knackered by now but are determined to find a bar so head off towards where we think the nightlife is. We walk for about 10 minutes before giving up and going into a strange looking bar - but at least it serves beer! Have a couple of drinks and then give up for good - time for sleep!! Sunday 5th February 2006 Manage to sleep through most of the morning in Sam's very comfortable bed. When we finally get up we head off to Penang Hill where we take the furnicular train up the hill to see the fantastic views of the island. Fortunately it was a little cooler at the top of the hill so we wandered a little further and found a restaurant with a view where we had a very tasty lunch (and Stu beat both Amy & Sam at scrabble!) We had a bit more of a wander (seeing more views as well as the local monkeys) before heading back down again on the railway. We head back to Sam's flat for a quick dip in her pool before heading out for dinner. We head just down the road to a seafood hawker centre aptly named "If it swims, we have it"!. We have a great meal of crab, deep-fried squid, prawns and the best seafood fried rice ever! We head further down the road and find a really nice (but empty) bar where we persuade them to put the footie on the telly and we settle in for the game with our jug(s) of beer which we enjoyed immensely (Spurs 3 - Charlton 1)! All in all we had a great time in Penang. It was fab seeing Sam and exploring her new home with her. Thanks again Sam!