Shopping. A woman's downfall and yet the source of such entertainment and happiness!
Julie has said throughout this trip that she was saving all of her shopping until South-East Asia because it's sooo much cheaper here. And she has pretty much kept her word, apart from a few minor splurges!
And so when we arrived in Penang and realised that there isn't that much to do apart from shop, there were big smiles on all of the girls' faces in the group. So the first day in Penang was spent visiting the massive malls of the island. Luckily, I can't spend that much money here because all of the clothes are made for Asian women, who are tiny!! I just become a human bag stand for the many bags that Julie accumulates! Okay, okay, so she's not that bad! One pedicure later and we were all set for the evening.
We dined in Little India at a local restaurant and it was, by far, one of the best meals of the whole trip. Simple Indian food, served on a banana leaf and eaten with your hands. It was beautiful!
But apart from the great food, Penang didn't have much to offer. No beaches, not much history, not very pretty and so we just spent 2 days shopping! Fun fun!
Therefore, I was quite glad when we left over the second longest bridge in the world to Butterworth and then over the border to Thailand. Then we boarded a local bus and travelled for 5 hours before reaching Nakhon Si Thammarat.
Previuosly, all of our bus journeys were on coaches and so there were set seats and enough room to stretch out. But local buses are just that; buses for locals. So 12 travellers with 12 backpacks and about 50 locals makes a long, sticky, sweaty and cramped journey! Never again! Tip; short distances only, on local buses!
But we arrived safely, albeit a little bit squashed and wet from sweat, and after a shower we visited a nearby Shadow Puppet Museum, which was really interesting.
There isn't much to do in Nakhon, so it's off to Koh Samui next for a long lie down on a beach.
Mmmmm! |
Locations Visited: Butterworth, Nakhon Si Thammarat
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