Penang

Our journey out of Thailand was supposed to start at 22.45 by train from Chumphon down to Hat Yai where we would attempt to buy tickets to take us over the border and into Malaysia.We checked at the station and found that the train would not arrive at Chumphon until 3.30 in the morning.

If only we had known we could have stayed in the hotel room as we had already extended our stay there to 10pm however after spending a restless night on the station in the VIP room....hey who said travelling first class didn't come with some benefits!

The journey was supposed to take us to Hat Yai in around 8 hours where we would have to purchase a ticket to take us on to Butterworth which is the Malaysian mainland station serving Penang. The very helpful ticketing staff at Chumphon extended our ticket through for us subject to an additional fee . Phew that saved us messing around in Hat Yai ,a city of dubious charms that doesn't have many western visitors.It is also on the edge of a region which is undergoing some security issues due to on going ethnic rivalries so the less time spent there the better was my feeling.

There were many trains passing through Chumphon that evening along with the accompanying bells, whistles,alarms and shouting of food sellers, taxi hawkers etc so sleep was of an interrupted nature as the time passed by.Then earlier than anticipated an announcement that train train 35 , the Special express was arriving about half an hour earlier than anticipated so from restless bum numbing dozing we were into a frenzy of trying to find the correct coach, which just happened to be the very last one of the ten making the train.

We were accommodated in upper and lower bunk berths in our own cubicle along with a sink of a very questionable nature and after the attendant had remade the bed from the last occupier who we had happened to pass on the platform, we climbed into our beds.

The gentle rhythmic motion soon helped us to fall off to sleep and surprisingly we slept through till about 8 o'clock when the first sounds of breakfast being called roused us.We eventually arrived at Hat Yai at about 11 in the morning and because the train was separating we had to sprint the length of the station to the first two coaches which were the ones due to go forward!. Relieved to be in the correct seats we were looking forward to completing the rest of the journey however because of the lateness of the train the connection with Malaysian Railways was not made.So after a shorter 60 minute journey to the border station of Pedang Besar we had come to the end of our stay in Thailand.This station is undergoing a massive modification worthy of a Chunnel station we completed Malaysian border controls and were loaded on a bus to take us to Butterworth.Immediately the differences between Thailand and Malaysia were noticeable, roads had proper kerbings , roundabouts and proper looking directional signs and especially a 'tidy' appearance, but then we had just passed through the railway sidings at Hat Yai where rail flatbeds had been reclaimed by the jungle so all things are relative I suppose.It reminded me of the difference David and I saw on a journey once from US to Canada by train where as you crossed the border into Canada the scrapyards looked tidier and more organised than the inhabited areas we had passed through.

I had expected Butterworth station to be a rather imposing colonial station but we were dropped off in a un marked construction site car park with what appeared to be a couple of portakabins and no visible indication as to where to go or what to do!

We took up the offer of taxi ,taxi calls made by a very tall African  driver shielding his head from the sun with his newspaper.He swept up our cases and took us to his car,a wreck of a vehicle. By the time we had forced the rear doors open I was beginning to think was is this a good call.He said is car was very old but very reliable and then set off up a winding ramp that took us onto the ferry.....we thought we were heading for the very large bridge that connects the island of Penang with the mainland...wrong again! The ferry which again looked rather old gave us a pleasant arrival onto the island .Whilst we we waiting for the ferry to start he asked us where we were from and when we said England he said very good English people, Premier league etc...he supported Manchester City and I refrained from calling him a glory hunter!He proceeded to tell me that Villa were in 12th position from his newspaper.We discussed the upcoming Chelsea Villa game and he said that part of Chelsea's problems were that the Africans in the side were ganging up against Torres and would not play with him.Well that's encouraging then!. After a drive along the ferry terminal we did a short tour of Georgetown as he took us to Standard Chartered bank to pick up some Malaysian ringgits to pay him, he showed us Downing St, Buckingham St (with a large mosque on it!) through Little India into Armenian St and Chinatown.Just shows how racially intertwined this place is.

Our stay here was the Straits Heritage Boutique Hotel which has just two suites the Paeony and the one we had called the Phoenix suite which was on the top floor of a delightfully restored Chinese terraced house in a street that was originally occupied by Armenian merchants.Our driver insisted on coming in to see what it was like so that he could recommend it to others and the property manager called Tee seemed quite non plussed as this very tall African ran the rule over his ground floor!