A sling through Singapore... and a few other places.

[somebol]

your writing style is very enjoyable. Please keep going...

 

[markis10]

Any particular reason why you chose the mode of travel to PEN?

 

[sjd]

Selamat datang ke Malaysia! You can add another mode of transport - the new funicular up Penang Hill (Bukit Bendera)?

Yes I can.


Penang has been a great experience. Spent three days wandering around Georgetown discovering markets, characters, cultures, architecture in various states of repair (there is something magical about Chises Art Deco) and food, glorious food. Just tried string ray for the first time at the Guerney Road Hawker Market, it was delicious. This place certainly is a melting pot and the stew in the pot, probably some sort of curry (nasi kandar) is delicious. It really is all about street food, from Kopi houses, street stalls and Hawker markets. That said, I do recommend Teksen restaurant in Lebuh Carnarvon just north of Lebuh Buckingham. We were the only round eyes there and the only ones who needed to look at a menu. Great fish curry, tasty blackened twice cooked pork belly and one of the best iterations of mapo tofu.

For breakfast I've got hooked on kaya toast and the local coffee (this from a single origin espresso snob).

Yesterday we did indeed go up Penang Hill on the funiculee-funicular. Just as we reached the top, the weather closed in and the spectacular view down to the Straits of Malacca vanished behind the clouds. Then the mist drifted in amongst the trees, it was lovely and cool and very atmospheric. When we got back down the hill, it was clear the it had been a very heavy storm and there was some flash flooding.

We had one night of the three at the rather easy to take Eastern and Oriental Hotel and two nights in more basic but pleasant backpacker digs in an old building the heart of Georgetown, Red Inn. Great location, but I want my room at the E&O back, it's bigger than my two bedroom apartment in Brisbane! If you do choose to treat yourself at the E&O make sure you book in the original wing rather than the new Victoria Annexe extension, any additional cost for those rooms is worth it.

Tomorrow we are off to Siem Reap on Malaysia Airlines. Two flights and two lounges to report on, then lots of temples. This sis my second time to Cambodia. Last time I only had one day at Angkor and it was not nearly enough.

 

[sjd]

Any particular reason why you chose the mode of travel to PEN?

What's that old quote, "it's not about the destination, it's about the journey"? Well in this case the destination has more than made up for the journey. The next time I visit Penang, I'll fly, no question. This time, well, I'd never travelled by train in Asia and there was something about catching the train all the way up the Malay Peninsula that appealed to me. On reflection arriving at 5:30am at Butterworth was not such a great idea, fortunately they looked after us so well at the E&O that more than made up for it.

 

[markis10]

What's that old quote, "it's not about the destination, it's about the journey"? Well in this case the destination has more than made up for the journey. The next time I visit Penang, I'll fly, no question. This time, well, I'd never travelled by train in Asia and there was something about catching the train all the way up the Malay Peninsula that appealed to me. On reflection arriving at 5:30am at Butterworth was not such a great idea, fortunately they looked after us so well at the E&O that more than made up for it.

I thought as much, will be in PEN in a months time for some tailoring and a short holiday and looking forward to the food again.

 

[sjd]

Picking this report up again, now in Vietnam after a great few days in Cambodia.

Very amusing check in at Penang Airport. There was only one Malaysian Airlines counter open for J/Premium and the lady in front of us became increasingly impatient. She kept going to jump in the web check in/bag drop line but each time she did a new wave of passengers would get there just before her. Her husband, stayed in line and sighed. He become more resigned as she became agitated. Nothing she did made any line go any faster.

The check I agent apologised for the wait, acknowledge OWE and was very pleasant. Soon we were in the Penang Golden lounge which was better than I expected. Despite a delayed earlier departure to KUL, there were only half a ten of us in there, including my sister and another Australian family with young kids ("Mum, Henry just frew up!"). I counted five lounge staff, so the ratio was impressive. I wonder if not many Malaysian FF have enough status, or just not on this route.

They had a few breakfast options, I tried the Nasi Lemak which was fine, and a manned espresso coffee machine counter. Oddly they has to issue each device with a different Wifi password, which seemed like a complicated way of doing things. They announced our flight and off we went to KUL.

 

[sjd]

Penang Golden Lounge.


If only it was this easy to get a seat in the BNE J Lounge.

 

[sjd]

MH1139 on a B734 was pleasant enough, with only a drink offered on this short sector. The blue leather seats seemed new compared to an MH B734 flight I took a few years ago... I think. More importantly we were quickly through immigration, on to the train to the satellite terminal and in to the MH Platinum lounge, where we were the sole occupants.

Now it is a quite nice Emerald/Platinum/First Lounge, with a nice view of the planes, nice seats, nice cutlery, nice staff, nice tablecloths, nice bathrooms, nice buffet food, nice drinks but WHERE was EVERYONE!!!!! There were plenty of MH flights going on and few Cathay, but it was at least half an hour before one more passenger joined us and when we left for our flight, he the had the lounge to himself. I could not help but think there was something going on over the other side in the J Lounge that they weren't telling us.

This is supposed to be Malaysia Airlines' premiere lounge (apart from there invite only Platinum something else thing, which we walked past and also appeared empty). So why is no one using it? Is it because the Emerald level is relatively new in MH FF scheme and they are making everyone get there the hard way? Is it near impossible to reach their Platinum level? Had we just missed a flight with F and in the hour before one of their new a380's boards in bedlam in there?

So many questions, I did the only thing I could do. I had a four course morning tea (it was also my birthday).

 

[sjd]

Empty Platinum Lounge


Nope, no one hiding in the smoking room.


Oh well, second breakfast it is. Followed by elevenses.

 

[sjd]

I'd been to Cambodia once before but not in the wet season and boy do they know how to do a wet season here.

Pub St, Siem Reap


Only slightly flooded in Siem Reap


Angkor Wat from the east


Bantey Srei


Preah Khan, the only way in was to wade across this bridge.

 

[sjd]

This mean that the cloud cover precluded the famous sunsets and sunrises, but the greenery was vivid and occasionally lurid.

Moss at Preah Khan


The last time I was here there was only the opportunity to see Angkor Wat and one other temple. This time I got around to all the temples I wanted to see over three days in the next form of transport used, a Tuk-Tuk. Not this one, which was making claims it could not substantiate:


Whist the great Angkor Wat is one of the most important and impressive human assemblage of stones into important and culturally significant ways to say how important and impressive we (that is us and probably not you, but certainly him - the king/emperor/big fella) are, the other temples are in many ways more beautiful. The are certainly less crowded which means you can take them in and get close to the intricate carvings and details.

Rush hour at Angkor Wat.


North Gate of Angkor Thom

 

[sjd]

So then to Vietnam and their national carrier on VN838, an A321 service. Despite no status of any kind (no I didn't do the Sky Team status match last year, so no Siem Reap lounge report) we were offered row 15 exit row seats at check in. This turned out to be sitting next to a Flight Attendant. Is this common on a321's or a VN specific configuration? (Photo below).

That said the legroom was great, the meal unidentifiable and so uneaten and the flight uneventful. Row 15 was only five rows back from J, so we were amongst the first off the plane and quickly overtook the others to get to immigration ahead of our flight and two others that landed around the same time. Of course a queue avoided meant a wait elsewhere as our flight was the last of the three to have its baggage offloaded.

There was a Korean gentleman standing next to us at the baggage carousel waiting anxiously for his briefcase. This was one of the old 70's ear black plastic lockable ones that I thought were now only used in Hollywood heist films. Not so, apparently very common in South Korea, that or that flight was part way through several ongoing heists as there seemed to be about a dozen of these briefcases communing of the ex ICN flight. He checked every one of them and rechecked them as they came around again. He also called out to colleagues when he identified one of their bags drifting past. I wonder what was in his case...

 

[sjd]

Our seats and crew seat amidship. Interestingly no specific exit row briefing was given, perhaps due to the crew presence.


What processed meat is that?


I'm yet to have a bad meal on this trip and I think not eating the one above has preserved that record.

Soon more Vietnam: Hanoi, Ha Long Bay and the next few modes of transport.

 

[sjd]

Not a mode of transport, but I can add Typhoon to the list of experiences. Will report more later.

 

[sjd]

Had fun in the streets of the Old Quarter in Hanoi. My favourite street was the one with a dozen bamboo ladder shops. But our first priority day one in Hanoi was to buy our train sleeper tickets to Da Nang. We found the train station without any trouble thanks to very good directions from the hotel.



Following what appeared to be instructions, we took a number and sat down and waited. Eventually our number came up, but then a whole bunch of other numbers and nothing appear to get allocated to a ticket desk. Took a deep breath, remembered this was Asia and went up to a window to find what the real system was. It appeared that once one person was being served every man and his dog would then look over their should at what was going on. Could not figure out how this helped them, or me, and eventually one of the ticket clerks took pity on me and sold us two top level air conditioned soft sleepers on the train to Da Nang the night after we arrive back from Ha Long Bay. Worked out at about AUD$48 each. Again, we could have caught a flight for this, but I still had that whole journey/destination thing going on, despite the not so good train sleeper experience in Malaysia.

 

[sjd]

A few days and a few Bia Hoi later we checked out of our hotel and got on the tour bus for Ha Lang Bay. This was the only part of the trip where I had booked a tour of any kind. Not normally my style of travelling (I prefer to try and learn from my mistakes and hopefully spend enough time in a place such that the learn outweighs the mistakes) but short a private yacht it is the only way to see this part of Vietnam.

The less said about the bus trip, the better. Nothing wrong with the bus or the driver, but the road is under some sot of construction almost the whole way. It takes about four hours travel the 150km and those four hours contain a bump every 5 to 20 seconds. Once on board, the difference could not be more remarked. The bay was like glass for the whole three days (in its flatness, not its tendency to shtetl when dropped). Of this I was very grateful as I can get seasick on a pier and had not allowed any contingency.

Our vessel was the Treasure Junk, painted white, like all the boats in Ha Long Bay because of a recent government ruling.


The poop deck (no responsibility taken for correct nautical nomenclature, I just wanted to say poop deck).


The twin room I shared with my sister was in the prow and as such a bit more spacious than the other cabins.

Sunset.


I'll spare you the upload of endless photos of the bay (I took several hundred) but everything that is said about it is true including:
See it at sunset it is sublime.
See it at dawn because the water is so still that the reflections of the islands are almost perfect and the light is great for photos.
There is a lot of rubbish and it is noticeable and if things don't change then this will spoil it.

We did a three day (two night) trip and this was a very good decision. The two days trips spend half of the first day on the unpleasant road getting there and then half of the second day on said road getting back to Hanoi. Having the full day on the bay, most of which we spend kayaking around the islands, was fantastic and a highlight of the trip.

 

[sjd]

So boats done, it was time for more trains. Boarded SE1 at Ga Ha Noi around 7pm and found our beds in a four person air conditioned cabin. We had the top bunks which were a bit awkward to get up into, but had good storage in the shelf above the door. The beds were very hard despite being the soft option but were otherwise fine and were already made up for sleeping.

 

[sjd]

Luggage stowed and almost enough room to stretch the legs

 

[sjd]

I slept much better on this train than the overnight KL to Butterworth in Malaysia, but it is not train does jerk around all over the place and it does constantly wake you up. That said, I don't sleep very well on planes, buses or cars either (but can manage boats in very calm waters as I discovered).

Between Hue and Danang, the train hugs the coats and the scenery really gets going.






Made a nice change from looking in to the living rooms of the poor sods who live along the train line.

 

[Simo]

Great TR,

Some memories of a trip with your sister.