The new Bangkok airport. If you're a
fan of polished steel and cement as an
architectural statement, this place is
pretty nice. Otherwise...I was up at 2:30 a.m. and at so-close-to-precisely 3:30 a.m. as to be just plain weird (for a Thai person), my driver arrived to pick me up and drive me to the airport.
The nice thing about going to the airport at this time is that there is literally no traffic. We drove the Sukhumvit Road the entire way to the raised highway on the far side of Chonburi, and made it to the airport in a leisurely 90 minutes. (This doesn't compare with my driver from New Year's Day, who got us there in 60 minutes at 100 miles per hour, but there is no need to hurry.)
So I was at the airport at 5:00 a.m. for a flight that boarded at 6:50 a.m. I browsed through Duty Free, had breakfast (Burger King and Starbucks), and then sat in the waiting area. The polished steel chairs and the prison-block like ambience make a good book necessary if you have a long wait.
My room at The Oriental Hotel, which
is a standard, middle-of-the-road
two-star hotel typical in Asia.Anyway, the flight boarded right on time. Today, I would be flying Air Asia, Souheast Asia's discount airline. Instead of a gangplank out to the plane, we walked down some stairs and onto 2 big busses without seats. Then we were driven about 5 miles out past the cargo terminal to our plane. No assigned seating... it's first come, first serve seating.
City Hall in Penang is a great example
of British Colonial tropical architecture,
very similar to what one would expect
to see in Jamaica or The Bahamas.We flew south from Bangkok to the island of Penang, which is about 200 miles south of Phuket, and arrived without problem. Immigration was a breeze for a change (compared to Cambodia and Laos), and took all of 30 seconds. Outside of customs, a group of Indian-looking men was waiting with placards... all from visa run services. I found my guy, and I (along with 7 or 8 other people) was stuffed in a van, and we were then driven off to the visa run office (a run-down but — I'm told — reputable place) where I handed in my passport, and the sealed envelope given to me by the visa run agency. I then put in a request with the visa run people to rent a motorcycle, and then was driven to my hotel. In short order, I was in my room, and then back down to the street where my rented scooter was waiting for me, and I was of on a tear around the island of Penang.
The view looking down the
hill on the incline train to
the top of the 800-meter high
Strawberry Hill.After a quick drive arond the old English trading port of Georgetown, looking at all the old colonial architecture, the first place I went was up to the top of Srawberry Hill to get a view from the highest point on the island — 800 meters up. You get to the top by incline train, and it is about a 45 minute trip each way. At the summit, I had lunch, and brought T-shirts for myself and Pot. (Pretty much every place in Penang accepts Thai Baht... no need to change currency if you don't want to. Always a rule of thumb when you are winging it on vacation: Don't jump at the first chance to do anything... hotel, currency exchange, shopping... always wait a little while.)
The far side of Penang Island is a
beautiful tropical paradise compared
to the hustle and bustle of Georgetown.After riding back down from the hill, I got on my scooter, and proceeded to do the 60-kilometer lap of the island. I started off in Georgetown, which is in the northeast corner of the island and headed West out along old Victorian boulevards with Victorian houses, and then out past modern skyscraper condos with boutique shopping centers. After about 10 kilometers, the road started to get twisty, and eventually I found myself rounding the northernmost point of the island and turning southward, going past grand resorts and the beach area.
The road through the jungle
on the West side of Penang
is in excellent condition,
and makes for a fantastic
bike or motorcycle ride.
Every bend in the road brings
a georgeous tropical scene.After passing the beach area (called "Batu Ferenggi") the road turned up into the mountains, and I left civilization behind. After the dense congestion of Georgetown, it was really suprising to find myself alone on the pretty mountain road, with only the occasional car going in the opposite direction.
I drove out past a monstrous resevoir in a dammed-off valley, and then further up and up and up, having a blast on the little Honda going through patches of sunlight through the dense jungle, enjoying grand vistas when the road went around a promontory of the mountainous side of the island, letting the jungle fall away, and leaving me gaping at aquamarine-blue ocean for a minute before driving on.
I stopped at a roadside shop made entirely of bamboo, and bought myself a Carlsberg, and bought Maid Go a bottle of nutmeg oil. The owner of the shop had one of those priceless good-luck Chinese Arowana swimming around, and was quite astounded that I knew what it was. (Thank you Stan.)
Fishing villages down on
the plains are built along
rivers leading to the sea.After that, the road started to come down out of the mountains and came to a vast plain on the back side of the island. There, I found myself in several little Muslim fishing villages, plus a technical school, a middle-class housing development, and a lot of school kids walking home from class.
Upon reaching the south end of the island, it was back up over the mountains. However, this time, the small turning road wound its way through a large construction area: A massive highway riding on vaulting cement spans that soar over the chasms and great cuts through the earth were being built. Obviously, the quiet serenity and peaceful slow nature of the west side of Penang is going to be coming to an end someday soon.
The views out over the island from
the occasional gap in the dense
jungle canopy are also stunning.Coming down off the south mountains, I came to the airport on the southeast tip of the island where I started my day. It was then a ride back up through the leafy suburbs of Georgetown, the late afternoon sun kept from my eyes by the ever-present massive and ancient trees that seem to line every street and highway you drive on.
After my 2:30 wakeup, and then a 3-hour ride around the island, I was done for the day. I stopped at a McDonalds and bought a cheeseburger, and then went back to the hotel, and spent the evening relaxing before going to sleep.
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