In Penang in Malaysia for a recovery day between train journeys. We started our journey south three days ago with a bus journey from Nan to Den Chai in N.Thailand to catch the overnight train to Bangkok. Den Chai is literally a rail station and not much else. The bus kept going until the railway got in the way & stopped - it felt like the end of the world. And it was. Arriving at 7pm the town had gone to bed & we had to resort to raiding the local 7/11 store for crisps, cake & soft drinks to fortify us. Thai trains are efficient & great fun. We had air-con bunks, which the staff made up for us when we were ready to go to bed & woke us with coffee at 5am the following morning - very civilised. We had a wait of a few hours at Bangkok to pick up our overnight train into Malaysia (23 hour journey!!) and passed the time watching a film crew record some shots which seemed to involve a girl, a lot of Buddhist monks and a bunch of incompetant crooks. And our first cappuchino for ages! Another interesting train journey. Fab sunset over the paddy fields as we moved south & a wonderfully camp steward who served food and drinks. Across the Malaysia border which involved filing off the train, though a door, past Thai exit control, across to the other side of the same room, through Malay customs, then back through the same door onto the train! Penang was a bit of a shock, heatwise, after the cool of N. Thailand! We caught the ferry across to Georgetown & are staying in a rather nice colonial lodge & ate laska (a sort of soup) & drank beer in the street market last night. Today a (slow) stroll around the sights befire a 5am taxi back to the railway for the next hop of our journey to Kuala Lumpur.
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