Bangkok to Penang

Vientiane to Bangkok Because the train saw full we booked a VIP bus. This is air-conditioned, reclining seats (with toilet on board) and takes the same time (about 12 hours). We ahd arranged to be picked up from our hotel and were somewhat surprised when our transport arrived.


















Thankfully this was only a transit to the bus station. There, a somewhat dilapidated coach takes you to the border. After the normal formalties and the reassuring sound of rubber stamps on passports, we transferred to the VIP bus. The Thailand road was excellent and you clearly are in a more prosperous country from the moment you leave the border. We arrived an hour early.

Bangkok

If Beijing was vibrant, and Vientiane was calm then Bangkok was hustle.

There is also bustle, but it felt as if there was more pressure in Bangkok. Pressure to take a tuk-tuk or taxi, pressure to buy, pressure to have a massage. The poorer environs are quite grubby and coupled with the pressure it felt a bit seamy. (no doubt we will have floods of emails saying we got it wrong and missed the good bits, but this is our opinion).

A typical food vendor - this type of food is very cheap and usually excellent.

We have seen many 'strange' examples of English. This was just one ...

We did like the Grand Palace – very very sparkly - and the Emerald Buddha.

We did like the river boats – surely the best bargain in Bangkok. For about 25 pence you can have a trip on a boat that goes so fast the waves splash you. It is a good way to view Bangkok without effort. The breeze is a nice change from the humid heat (or air-conditioning). It is interesting how the passengers all go for one side of the boat until you realise that all the empty sets are on the sunny side.

We saw people bathing in the river (the Chao_Praya) but it looked about as mucky as the Thames at Wapping. We did like the enormous number of “wats” (temples) and reclining Buddhas, but became overwhelmed by the sheer numbers.

What did impress us was the way people actively used the shrines in the streets, or shopping malls. These are not in extravagant tourist locations, simply somewhere holy right on the street. You often saw people leaving offerings of fruit, or flowers and there were lots of places on the side streets where women made marigold garlands to place on the alters.

The Thais are also enormously respectful of their king. Each public building has a huge photo of him or the queen smiling beatifically. Some of the grand boulevards or roundabouts.

But in the side streets we saw lots of sweat shops with women working on sewing machines making up things to sell in the nearby shops.

Now if you like shopping Bangkok would be heaven on earth; we have never seen so many retail opportunities of all shapes and sizes. We saw acres of shoes in the Siam Centre, Jeff did not believe that there were enough women on earth to wear all the shoes we saw. (He IS pretty innocent).

In one mall we were swept along by a group of determined women, who were buying wholesale to take back and resell at their beach stalls or small out of town shops.

All in all, not our favourite place. But we did make it to the train station about 2 hours before the train was due, and watched the orderly waiting of Thai families preparing for a journey under the watchful gaze of their king.

The journey to Butterworth was second class but it was a delight. The carriage was open plan with double seats that converted to bunks at night, (and were made up for you by the carriage steward).

The toilets were a challenge – it takes some skill for a female to use a squat toilet on a moving train.

In the berth opposite us was Juliet; she is also on her way overland to Australia. She was following a similar route to us, having done Cambodia, not Laos; but it was good to compare notes. She was much more organised than we were and was knitting a Shetland shawl as a way of passing the journey. We shall follow her blog.

Sleeping was not really open plan as each birth had little curtains around it. What did make sleeping difficult was the temperature. Whilst it was 30 degrees C outside, inside the air conditioning must have been set at near zero. We slept with our fleeces (and socks) on.

The next day, just after we crossed the Malay border, a party of school children boarded the train. It was like a swarm of ants. They surged forward, ignoring their teachers and gradually a seat was found for all of therm. They looked at these white people with some concern. But within ten minutes the “Billy Bunter” of the party announced he was hungry; we shared our crisps, which did not go far amongst 30 children, but we made a lot of friends. Then out came the photos of Cirencester and the wedding, and we became celebrities.

More and more children wanted to see the photos; we held simple English lessons. They shared their lunches. Things got a little out of hand when they asked to see English money. Then one bright spark asked if we would swap ringgits (the Malaysian currency) for our money. We ran out of 20 pence pieces fairly quickly and had to call in the teacher to stop them wanting to change up £20 of ringgits at a time. Mind you she was interested in the money changing and the English lessons as well. By the time we got to Butterworh where we disembarked, we were being asked for our autographs, email, blog address ...

Penang

From Butterworth we took the ferry to Penang, a Malaysian island. Here we have had four days R&R in a beach resort hotel (the Shangri-La Rasa Sayang) - which is like paradise. We will forward details to all interested, but the hotel is truly out of this world. Staff appear to anticipate our every need; buffet breakfasts to die for; thick white bathrobes; fruit and 'iced' towels are offered as we lounge by one of the three pools. Even the scales in the bathroom read low. As a sign of where we have come from Jeff's first remark was 'look! toilet paper!)

The view from our room ...

Here is our beach - somewhat lopsided

But Georgetown ( the main town on Penang) despite being a world heritage site seems a bit run down; Cirencester has more history and beauty.

Today we picked up our hire car which we will drive down to Johor Bahru at the foot Peninsular Malaysia. This will enable us to see more of the country, visit the Cameron Highlands and visit a family in Melaka.