JaJaJeEv

We depart Krabi and head overland down through ‘troubled’ southern Thailand. After 4 different local minibus services, we end up being chaperoned over the border into Malaysia by two elderly Chinese gentlemen.

Their willingness to pick-up and drop-off interesting looking boxes on the way suggested we were not the only goods. And then it’s on to Penang.

George Town, on the island of Penang, is a great little place. There’s a high Chinese population, an old colonial feel, and it all seems to be fairly laid back (at least, as south-east Asia goes). Perhaps this is what Singapore could have been like in a parallel universe.

Penang has a few notable attractions. One is the precipitous railway up the top of the hill, covered with beautiful colonial residences that appear to have been lifted in from leafy Surrey. Try not to think about the astonishing phenomenon of the British empire when you’re sipping tea in an English country garden looking out over the Malay straits…

Another is a temple draped with soporific snakes (whose main role appears to be photographic rather than at all religious):

Finally, George Town is known for its food. Vibrant dining courts, a multicultural blend of cuisine, and, ah – fabulous satay on the streets.

And it’s en route to one such court that we stumble onto a (fairly gratuitous, it seems) street parade, complete with child-scaring dragon.

Not to mention, more curiously, a troupe of acrobatic flag throwers.

A super town and a few great days.

I am surrounded by native New Zealand bush, trying to catch up on the episodes of our trip so far. But here goes!

Heading south from Bangkok, we settle near Krabi for a boutique week or so. Yes, it’s “Man With The Golden Gun” country.

We take a trip over to the left-hand-most of the archipelago: Hong Island. Crystal blue lagoon stuffed with snorkel-worthy fish, precarious limestone cliffs, and sand to die for.

Oh, and a 6ft-long Monitor Lizard who roves around looking for unfinished sandwiches and unwary 4-year-olds.

Heading inland, the island shows its scars. The parties of cheerful tourists who headed to the same beach on 26th December 2004 did not all make it off. Their boats have been left where they landed – up in the rainforest, almost 100 yards from the beach – as a sober memorial.

Full set of photos here.

First stop on the trip: steamy Thailand.

After re-acquainting ourselves with the fevered pace of a city whose central focal point seems to be a strip of approximately 39 modern shopping malls (not pictured above… this was a side street), we head up the river to go and see assorted temples and palaces.

En route, Jayne gets her fortune told. “You will meet a tall, handsome stranger”.

Lo and behold… a few minutes later, there he was:

… the giant reclining Buddha of Wat Pho.

If you haven’t been to Bangkok, it’s possible your preconceptions are wrong. Admittedly we arrived from India, (so it may as well have been New York or Geneva to us), but it’s a thrusting, modern, commercial city – and quite apparently a powerhouse of Asian consumerism.

(The traffic could do with some attention though).

Although the tail end of Typhoon Ketsana managed to inundate our apartment and waterlog James’ laptop mid-stay, we loved it. All the photos here