Today we entered Malaysia, that's another country we can include in our passports, there is a definite difference between Thailand and here I think - Malaysia seems more developwed and technological, they are upgrading the railway line and the stations are very modern.
(View from our window of northern Malaysia)
Our route took us to the region of Penang on the west coast, most of the region is an island and we crossed the 13 km bridge by coach to explore after leaving the train at Butterworth Station. Penang Island has a strong trade history, it was an important East India Company base in the 18th century and there are loads of British colonial references, (for example; the island's capital is Georgetown).
("Make way! Jan coming through!)
Penang is a very multicultural place, Chinese, Indian and Malay people, Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic and Christian faiths, really interesting and atmospheric. We went for a short visit to a Chinese temple and then had a "tri-shaw" ride which was great! A tri-shaw is like a rickshaw except the guy pedalling is behind his passengers rather than in front. we ended up at the Eastern and Oriental Hotel for a drink and a comfort break (!) This hotel had wi-fi so I fed my Internet addiction for 20 mins as well...
(The coolest character in this picture is the tri-shaw driver!)
Last full day on the train, so time for some thoughts... The whole experience has been great, Jan was worried that she was going to be bored "just sitting on a train for 3 days", but it hasn't been boring at all, it's been very relaxing and we've enjoyed the classy style of the journey. This style does come at a price however; $40 for a bottle of wine, $10 for a beer! We couldn't bring our selves to pay that and were probably the only folks who had no restaurant or bar fees at the end - the chilled water was free!
Meal times were always entertaining, we met and dined with some really nice people, from all places and walks of life. There was David the South African from California and his niece, two different Swiss couples - one now living in China, one of them was a scuba diving wrist watch company executive, a young Australian-Japanese hotel waiter who was a train geek who knew all the about the Carlisle to Settle railway although he's never been to Europe, and finally a lovely American couple from Chicago - Steve and Victoria, who have travelled "massively" all their lives, since their retirement they take 6 week long global trips continent hopping! I told the latter folks about this blog and they've promised to take a look!
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