Saw a few sights including an interesting tour of the Blue Mansion. The sun even came out for a bit this afternoon.
And I took a bus to a hawker centre along the waterfront on Gurney Drive for dinner, which while 1/3 closed (why?), still had a good 70 stalls to choose from.
Malaysia is still nowhere near a Top 10 favourite country.
And not just because it’s pouring rain right now. Maybe it’s the gray skies yesterday, my phone not working, the stress of falling behind on this blog, needing some downtime…
Yeah, the lack of sunshine definitely isn’t helping my photos or my disposition.
Walking around yesterday evening looking for dinner, I could barely be bothered to pull out the camera for anything.
And sidewalks are a disaster, when they exist, uneven with exposed deep runoff (sewer?) concrete ditches.
Hawker stall was tiny compared to Singapore.
Admittedly, my char kuay teow (flat wide rice noodles with fried egg and seafood) was much tastier here than in Singapore.
And the rojak penang was good too: cut up fruit & veg in a sweet and spicy peanut sauce (a “salad” of sorts).
Penang is supposed to have the best food in Malaysia (people fly here primarily to eat).
And there are some fine colonial buildings and a mish-mash of religions and their places of worship…
Update on my phone: after googling, this Android-hanging-on-startup problem isn’t uncommon, though the usual fix (clearing the cache) doesn’t work since that seems to hang as well.
I can probably fix it at home (via usb connection to my computer which has the right drivers and software) but I’m stuck for now. Though I may forego buying a new phone…
Immigration was quick and easy (no forms again) at Penang (although they used a fingerprint scanner on my two index fingers), used an ATM (though the network symbols like Plus were hidden on the side of the machine), and waited for the bus into Georgetown (the airport is in the southeast corner of the island). Snother bus driver said it would take another 30 minutes, so I organized two more tourists and we split a taxi into town for RM45/US$15 total (I was willing to pay it all myself, but I figured I’d see if they were interested. Good conversation in the 35 minute taxi ride (bus is 40-60 minutes).
We were all going to the same backpacker street, which was convenient.
My hostel here is nicer than in Singapore, about 2/3 the price, but better on several fronts (only 3 people in the room, power points at each bed, wifi that works in the room, lockable room)
my phone crashed on way to airport. it won’t start up – it freezes during the boot up
good thing I decided to take my netbook with me to Penang, Malaysia.
Yesterday morning I finally bought a few bits of clothing.
Called baggage and United Airlines several times over the 2 days, each time correcting some bit of info that was wrong (bag colour; my local mobile phone number had one wrong digit etc.).
Even when I called last night, they didn’t know where the bag was. Just as I was going to bed at 1:00, my phone rang and it was the local baggage office saying they had my bag and would be delivering it in the middle of the night (the UA117 flight from Hong Kong landed at 0:30, just like mine did).
I find it a little troubling that the system didn’t show last night that my bag was in fact on a plane at that very moment.
When I woke up this morning, indeed the concierge had my bag!
Just in time for me to head to the airport (carry-on only) in 5 hours (going to Penang for 2 days). Hopefully there’s some clean laundry in there or I’m in trouble…
Note: this would seem to indicate that the bag was not grabbed by accident by someone at Singapore airport.
Leaving Wed afternoon, returning Fri early evening. It’s only an 85 minute flight.
About US$160 round trip on Jetstar Asia (with basic seat selections, but no checked baggage – both of these cost extra). Also includes the S$18/US$14 booking fee that didn’t appear until the final confirmation screen. It could have been cheaper if I had booked a few weeks ago (e.g. I saw a one-way flight to KL for $2 + tax on one day).
And as a bonus, it looks like I can do a day boat trip to an Indonesian island from Singapore, which would make it 5 countries this trip
Arrived last night and didn’t see my checked bag.
Though there was a very similar one belonging to someone from Toronto (my flight originated in Newark) so I suspect they grabbed the wrong one by mistake while I was in the washroom.
Funny, I’ve always had a nagging little fear of that happening if I’m not at the luggage carousel when bags arrive.
So it took another half hour to wait for all bags and then talk to Lost and Found, and I didn’t get to bed until 2:00.
Hopefully it will show up today.
I’m disappointed though that they couldn’t see where my baggage tag was last scanned, i.e. did it in fact make it to SIN or was it still in HKG?
Just finishing my coffee, will go buy a SIM card next at a convenience store and am planning on spending the day relaxing and catching up on blog (plus reading/planning on Singapore and my likely little 2 day jaunt to Malaysia). Quite gray out and a chance of thunderstorms today.
Update: my bag arrived 48 hours later, though UA was never entirely sure where the bag was (and they didn’t know it was on a plane when I called).
