Penang

Day 1
The flight was supposed to be in the morning but Firefly sent text telling the rescheduling to 1445hrs. Luckily as Zack was so busy we were sent to airport around noon and we found out that the flight was actually canceled and we need to board into MAS at 1310hrs to KL and then took another MAS flight from KL to Penang at 1345hrs. Well, see the bright side - we got free peanuts and drinks and hung around in KLIA.
Most of the passengers were quite happy as the tourists can escape the 15kgs max weight! Only the locals - business-people-alike - pretending that time is money (beg your pardon that day was Sunday!) that were quite annoyed and made noise to everybody telling how unfair was that to change schedule bla bla bla.

We took taxi straight away from Penang Airport to Cititel. After made ourselves coffee and tea, we decided to head the street.


We walked through Chulia Street and found a little fortune teller shop. Queued after an American couple and a Chinese guy, Pat went inside. She was quite impressed as he can tell few things in the past and present correctly. It was heavy rain but luckily after I finished my session with the fortune teller, the rain was stopped and we walked through our diner.

Pat was very keen to try dim sum as Chris - Switzerland guy staying here last year - kept telling her about how good it was. I took her to Ta Tung. It was packed but we managed to get a table and again - another feast!


We ended our dinner around 9 and walked around Chinatown Campbell Street and Red Garden. Pat managed to get few pairs of earings and DVDs. It was almost midnight when we went back to our room and took our rest. Pics below was the Red Garden with our hotel Cititel as the background.


Day 2
I had to go to clinic and a little bit surgery hence Pat spent most of the times alone that day. Went back around 2 pm, I did nothing but rested in the room. We walked to Prangin Mall in the evening and had another dim sum dinner. Pat met another fortune teller and got bit bumped out as the guy cannot even tell anything right at all of her questions.

Finished the day early as I was bit squeezy (sorry, Pat!).

Along the alley to Sunrise Beach - Ko Lipe

The alley was located next to Barracuda Restaurant and Bar, it takes you to either Fisheries or Castaway. The first one was the cheapest accommodation you can get here while the later was one of the most expensive one. Castaway has a bar and restaurant with relax & cozy ambience on the beach. With a price, of course.


This new row of shops has minimarts that sells quite reasonable price items, few travel agents, internet shop, pirates CD, trinkets and T-Shirt shops and a bakery.


The locals are staying at the picture below - in the middle of the road between Pattaya and Sunrise. Some of them are not even locals actually as most only come to make money during peak season from other part of Thailand. Bigger part of them come from east coast that is having monsoon now and will be back there again once the monsoon hit the west. It almost like the migratory of the birds. Fascinating.







Picture above : The name of the place is really "Poo"! No wonder not many people visit them - at least the days when we were there. Anyway, picture below was for Lady Pancake shop. It was one of the "must-try" in Lipe. You can choose all kind of filling of this pancake or actually in Malaysia they call it "roti canai" - from ham, bacon to pineapple etc. The lassie was perfect for the hot and heaty days when we were there.


This Nuch Thai Massage was where I and Pat spent the whole morning till 2 pm (pic above). Pic below was one type of accommodation that probably will inspire Zack somehow. Tents on the rooftop balcony. It's not cheap anyway. B200 for a tent per night. OK, you get Linking Park blasting from the restaurant downstairs at noon onwards as well. Good bargain!

Ko Rawi

Below is the ticketing counter for Ko Rawi. The rate is B40 for Thai and B200 each for foreigners. They did not believe our attempt to convince them that we are both Thai.



The puppies were the only thing that really made the trip to this island worth something. The tourists just spoiled them rotten and everybody made the pictures of them. Too bad despite the warnings and the advices from the authority etc that they should not feed the dogs, many tourists still gave them cookies and left-over lunches. While it sounds cruel, but the dogs need to learn to find their own food as from May to November there will no tourists at all and this "feeding" is make them lazy and costs death when the low season comes.





Cannot find anything to do as the water not so interesting in term of corals and fish, we decided just to laze around and had our lunch.


The tuna sandwich came with oranges and banana and a big bottle of water was our lunches. Pat quite like the bread. I thought it almost like a toast baguette!

Along Pattaya Beach - Ko Lipe

The sands here were fine almost like dust and did not really stick to our legs and body. We saw plenty of dogs and they all are very friendly. It is interesting to note that some of the locals are moslems as well as they come from Satun etc and speak Thai-Malay but they treat the dogs very nicely here.


Every huts we pass by - ok, almost - offers either snorkeling set/mask/life jacket for rental (B50 each item) or offers massage services.


Bars are everywhere. Samsong is available in bucket as well. Chill bar had jamming session with Reggae Band from Langkawi and the other local band playing there for tonight. This bar - I can't remember the name - but was quite cool with their setting etc.


The only cheap accommodation on the beach - Fora - but only rent out for divers. These huts are the common type of accommodations in Koh Lipe except for few new places such as Bundhaya (brick bungalows).

Picture below was reggae bar. The sign was "open when closed". God knows the meaning of it. Yes, you can always find Bob Marley on the beach everywhere you go. The right hut was double operated as massage hut during daytime.

This restaurant next to Fora Diving Centre is where we had our lunch on the first day. Menu was good and the waiter had tatoo with his name on it "Dear". What a name! But the best part was that the food came before an hour. Quite a surprise in this part of the world.

The boat - heading Langkawi

It had 12 seatings plus the bench at the back where Pat sat and I just lay down burning myself to toast. We still had to go with longtail boat (B50) to board the speedboat. The best part of it is that it has ontime schedule and fast. Plus we agreed that we like this type of boat rather than stuck inside with ten-ish of people with very narrow legs-space. The breeze and the water splashes were just great.





Picture above : At Telaga Harbour, we need to wait first for around 30 minutes to get our passport stamped. One boy took the motorbike with our passport to the immigration office next door and back later on to distribute them back to us - with the stamp on them, of course.

The boat - heading Koh Lipe

We need to boar the longtail boat to go to the beach costing B50 - so all of you heading Koh Lipe, be prepared! The boat will not move until you give the money. Lucky we had our baht ready. There are only 3 money changers in the island as far as I know. In Bunthayan reception counter, Pooh reception counter and one travel agent along the road to Sunset Beach.


It was only seven of us onboard Miss Charolais as the other passengers that went for daytrip boarded to Flying Fish. You can sit either inside or outside. Pat and I chose to sit outside enjoying the breeze and the sun. The sea was rough hence it was difficult to walk around or even to keep your chair still but it just made the trip more interesting.