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Travel Journal Asia 1982 Day 13

Monday June 28th 1982 We left Penang this morning, but we weren't sorry. Although it was beautiful with golden beaches and plenty of sun, there was a dark side to the island always lurking beneath the surface. That said, our day on the beach yesterday helped us rest. It was perhaps good for us that Suzie and Bernard had decided to join us. We got the ferry over to Butterworth where we decided to get a taxi up to Haadyai, rather than the bus. It was a four hour journey and there were no issues crossing the border into Thailand. On arrival in this dusty, run-down town, apparently famed for its nightlife, we were at a loss to why Suzie's father would have recommended it to us! Bernie told us to checkin at the Oriental Hotel which we did. He's going to be joining us tomorrow after taking Suzie back to Singapore. I've go ongoing gastro-enteritis so not feeling at my best.

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Travel Journal Asia 1982 Day 11

Saturday June 26th 1982 Today, we diced with death and hired motorcycles. I had never ridden a motorbike before except as pillion. I had to learn to ride in 5 minutes! Not only that, I had Bernie riding pillion. We managed to get used to the bikes and drove to the Monkey Gardens followed by Penang Hill. We took a train up a funicular railway up to the top at 2,000 feet. The journey was almost vertical – or so it seemed. There were beautiful views of the whole island from the top. Bernie and Suzie Penang 1982 Afterwards we travelled to the Snake Temple. I was disappointed there were only three snakes, but as I don't even like snakes, not broken by it! We had to drive through Georgetown on the way back and J crashed into a car. Thankfully she wasn't hurt but the car driver was not happy. As his car looked like it was falling apart – most of them did – I couldn't see what all the fuss was about! We were driving in the dark when my motorbike kept cutting out and the lights were intermittently failing. It was scary as we were driving in pitch darkness along winding roads with cliff edges. I prayed all the way down, driving as carefully as I could. I've never been so pleased to get anywhere in my life when we arrived at the hire place. Bernie had turned pale and we were all filthy from dust and fumes. We happily returned the bikes and went back to the hotel to shower and sleep, deciding to have a beach day the next day.

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Travel Journal Asia 1982 Day 10

Friday June 25th 1982 We met Suzie and Bernard at the ferry port thinking they were never going to arrive as their bus was late. Finally they did and we had a happy reunion. We found another hotel to stay at having been put of by the flasher the day before. We found a place where we could stay all in one room. This evening, we went to a barbecue on the beach. I've been having stomach issues over the past few days but managed to enjoy the food anyway. After dinner we went for a walk and paused to watch a Lion Dance which was entertaining but a bit silly at the same time! It was great to have Suzie and Bernie with us and made us feel more secure. We were all tired, though after the travelling and had a relatively early night.

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Travel Journal Asia 1982 Day 9

Thursday June 24th 1982 During the evening when we left there was tv switched on. We could see that Princess Diana had delivered a baby but didn't know whether it was a boy or a girl as the news was in Malay. Prince William had actually been born on the evening of June 21st but news didn't travel quite so quickly back then. The journey was eventful. We crossed the Malaysian border without any delays and stopped at 3:30am at a roadside stall in the middle of nowhere. A lot of people got off the bus and bought food at this unearthly hour. During the stop a guy who was clearly insane got on the bus. J pretended to be asleep so I decided that was a good option only to be bashed over the head with a newspaper! I still pretended to be asleep but he continued to whack me over the head with the paper. I was muttering to J to do something, but she ignored me. In the end, I opened my eyes and looked at him. With wild eyes, he informed me he kills people and then he left... scary. We arrived in Butterworth which is about halfway up Malaysia and well north of Kuala Lumpar which we had decided to bypass. The main reason for being here is to go to Penang. We spent 14 hours on the overnight coach arriving at 9am this morning. We froze most of the night as the air conditioning blasted through. I had almost the whole contents of my bag draped over me by the time we arrived! As soon as we got off the bus we had to fight off crowds of men trying to carry our bags! We went to the ticket office to buy tickets to go…

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Travel Journal Asia 1982 Day 8

Wednesday June 23rd 1982 Our last day in Singapore. Sad to leave in so many ways, but we're excited to be starting the next leg of our journey. We realise that we have lived a life of luxury for the past 7 days that won't continue! After saying our goodbyes to Suzie and her friends, we were amazed and delighted when, at the last minute, she and her cousin Bernie told us they have decided to join us in Malaysia. They'll get the bus tomorrow evening and we'll meet them on Friday morning. We boarded the bus to take us to Butterworth and it left at 7pm. We were concerned it might not have air conditioning – quite the opposite!

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Travel Journal Asia 1982 Day 7

Tuesday June 22nd 1982 We went to Newton Circus this evening and I gave up my brief spell as a vegetarian. I enjoyed a delicious chicken satay and a pint of pineapple juice! After dinner, Suzie took us to a country & western club where a friend of hers works. Soft drinks cost the same as alcoholic drinks at S$5.50 so J and I had Pernod. Suzie's friend Sandra appeared with a tray of drinks from a guy at the bar with a message, could he join us? Minutes later a loud and uncouth welshman called Davy. He works in Singapore. It took us a while to get rid of him, but eventually he took the hint we were not interested. Soon after another man joined us – a rich guy with a bodyguard. His name was either Harry or Henry Douglas. He offered me a job on his private yacht along with trips to New York, Peru, and/or Australia! I didn't ask what this job entailed and told him I wasn't interested. When he tried the same spiel on J and got the same response, he left along with the bodyguard. It had turned out to be an amusing evening but we were pleased to leave with Suzie. We'll be leaving Singapore tomorrow and heading into Malaysia. Numerous people have tried to talk us out of going to Sri Lanka and India, but India is one of the places I'm most looking forward to. The whole idea of this trip was to mix with people from cultures so different to our own, neither of us felt the need to change our course although, if any country would have been able to do it, it would have been Singapore.

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