Rangong

Went over to the other side of the peninsular to Rangong, a few road blocks on the way, checking the buses etc.. probaby looking for illegal imigrants, rebals or something. This is very close to the southern Bermese (Maraymar) border. A lot of people come here to cross the border for a day and get a stamp and then come back into Thailand with a renewed 30 or 60 day visa.

Nice little town.. a bit cheaper, lots of markets and yum food.. they even have thermal pools/springs and surounded by mountains. I had a nice room for 200 Baht.. I down graded to one for 100 Baht... has shared showers instead of one in the room.. it is a bit older place but it is comfy enough.

Well.. I just had the first meal I could not eat...
It originally looked like chicken curry so I said hmmm... I will have some of that.
Then as they were dishing it out I realised it was fish and thought.. hmm.. looks like nice fish, I will give it a go.
I walked up the road to a place where I sat to eat... as I opened the packet, it had a smell which I can't quite describe... not off, but not good... there was some sort of fruit inside.. had a piece of that... that was where the funny smell came from... what ever fruit it was.
Then I looked deeper into the sauce and pulled out something which looked like a ball with little bumps all over it... I think it was a type of sea erchin... put my teeth into it to see what the texture was like.. was like a marshmellow.
I dug deeper and pulled out something that looked a bit like a witchety grub with no head.. actually it looked like a small finger... didn't try to taste that one.
Had to try some fish so I got a piece of that... the fish was good but it was over powered by the taste of what ever that fruit this was... Oh well, there's a wasted dollar!!!
I should have taken a photo.. to late now and I won't be buying it again.

Here are some pictures of the public hot springs... This is a nice swiming hole I found.. went for a swim here one day... It was very nice.

And a sunset from the centre of town...
Near this wooden built stryctue....

Ko Phan-gan

Ko Phan-gan (Ko meaning island)

Went and put my gear on the boat.. WOW!! it is an old boat with an upper deck where there looks like about 60 people are going to be sleeping tonight... leaves at 11pm.. takes about 8 hours..

Ended up being OK.. only a few people on board and I had quite a good sleep.

Up early and off the boat.. all the taxi drivers trying to get a fare. I walked past and had a look around town.
Ended up sharing a taxi with a couple and headed up the west side of the island where I got a bungalow with self contained bathroom (cold shower) over looking the beach and islands...

Here is a sunset from the bungalow...
Walked into a place call "Mr Matt, rooms, food, drinks."
I found out why he is called Mr Matt... he was flat out on the floor sleeping. Decided not to disturb him.

Not a lot else here.
The island people don't want to know you unless you are going to give them money.. very greedy bunch and the island is fairly dirty....

Here are some Pad Thai noodles, Watermelon juice and garlic bread... yummm...

Fairly expensive (Au$3 - 4) but hey I am on a resort island.

There are some nice spots, but they are in the off season and they are bulding all day.. banging, sawing etc etc... and good thing you can't see the beach up close... bags, cans. and lots of garbage.. fairly disapointing really... you would thing the island people would know a little better.

Spent 4 days here with a fair bit of walking.
Hired another M-bike.. went for a zoom around the island..

Hat Yai and Saren Tani

Finally made it to Thailand... first stop is"Hat Yai".

Got into town, got some cash (Thai Baht), found a guest house and got myself a feed of tom yum soup... very spicey but nice.

Had an afternoon nap and then went for a big walk around town... almost got lost and didn't get back until late that night... stopped into a shop on the way home and had some nice noodles.

The room I had there was on the third floor but it was fronting a main road and it was damn noisey all night. I don't know how a small town of around 200 000 people can be driving around so much... what are they doing all the time?

Decided to leave Hat Yai on Tuesday morning and head up to Saren Tani ...

Woke up..had breakfast...a girl sat at the table beside me and smiled... I looked and thought nice boobs... they look a little bit big for an Asian girl... I was right...once again she said "hello" in his manly voice. We had a bit of a chat... she works as a lip singer in a caberet bar...another lady boy. Wanted to kiss me as I headed off for the bus, but I avoided and shook his hand and went out side.

Caught a mini-bus out of town heading north.
The minibus stopped on the way for a fuel top up and a pee stop... I got some red chicken curry and rice there... it was my first taste of Thai food... gee it was good... wish I got a larger container.

Got into Serant Tani and looked aroundfor quite a while for a room...



Luckily I found some street markets here tonight and guess what.. more chicken curry and rice.. this time it was green, with lemongrass and ginger... ohhhh... so good!!!

Went for a walk this morning looking around town...down to the river...

Nice bit of rain here this afternoon.
Almost time to go out for dinner again... so much nice food... I have to have a health check when I go back to Australia.

Lots of these little cars in Serratani.. they are Taxis.. they call them TukTuk.. then again they call anything with a motor a TukTuk...

Penang

I took a bus from KL to Penang and then I didn't get off and ended up in Butterworth (the other side on the mainland), had to catch a fairy across to Penang (George town) again.
This is a boat harbor near the ferry terminal...

Bit of a long day but was OK after I spend 1.5 hours going from Hostel to Hostel looking for a good one to stay at.

Staying in the Chinatown region in Georgetown paying a bit more for a room here Rm20 (AU$8) Nice room with bed and fan and fairly quiet.. it is pretty good.

Out for Breakfast had coffee and 2 eggs on toast for a change.. was good.

Saw a temple with some of the largest incense sticks I have seen...Very smelly ritual.

Then met a fellow in the street and he showed me around to an Indian place the cheapest he said... it was too... RM1.80 ($Au0. 70) for a tea and Roti (Fried bread like naan and Dahl dip)... will be back there some time.

Having a look around George Town...
Gardens..
Pier..
Fishermen and their boats..A bit of a storm brewing over the mainland..Here is a picture of my room...
It is not really that yellow.. for some reason my camera takes yellow pictures under fluorescent lighting.

Another mosque..

There are lots of different and very cheap foods to eat... Noodles/Rice for RM3 ($Au 1.20) and very cheap drinks... Honey Dew or Watermelon juice for RM1.60 ($Au0.70).

I hired a motor bike on Sunday for RM20 ($Au8) to go around the island to have a look at the beaches...

And waterfalls where some people were swimming...and Islands...
Had an accident on the bike too...
I was riding along and I saw the traffic light turn green and the cars started to move so I kept going... then when a car came out of the intersection I looked again and realized the green light was to turn left.. not go straight. So I ended up doing a nice little skid.. should have got a picture of the mark.. and I ended up on the bonnet of the car... got a scratch on my ankle.

It was a driving school car and it was the ladies first driving lesson... wonder if she will go there again? I paid the fellow RM50 ($Au 20) after a bit of negotiating and continued on my way.

here is the photo of the car with the bumper bar fallen off and the indicator lense missing!!
the other dint was already there... I couldnt see the lense on the ground either.. I think that was already missing too... they might hit a few tourists!!!

Kuala Lumper 2

I have just spent another week in KL.

Zooming around with Kay in her car...
And yes... eating lots more food...
These are a long thin fluffy dough... good to dip in soup or coffee..Mmmmmm... chilli.. and soy...Soup and veggies with rice ...Home made pancakes...Fruit salad for breakfast...And lots more yummy stuff to eat...

Cameron Highlands 2

In these parts they call me Bond....

Well Kay and I got a new camera each in Kuala Lumper... best price for the best we could find.. a couple of things I don't like about mine but overall it is a pretty good camera.
So lets see how it performs hey???
Here we are taking a photo of each other.. testing our new cameras...
Leaving Kuala Lumper one more time with Elaine, Fiyon, Pauline and Kay...
We drove up to the Cameron Highlands We had a nice couple of days looking at flowers, tea plantations

Ohhh and don't forget the food...
The girls ate... and ate
and ate...
and ate...I don't know why they are not fat!!!

Got caught in a traffic jam for quite a while...
but yes we made it to a place where we could get more food... very lucky we all didn't starve!!!

Kay doing her usual peace sign picture...
then she had to decorate my hat!!!
More of Kays artistic work...Another waterfall between Tanah Rata and Bringchang
And some nice looking buildings on the hills around the region...