Heading Home

So on Wednesday Mum and I spent the day hanging round the island before getting a flight to Kuala Lumpur and then a 13 hour flight straight through to Heathrow. I didn't manage to get a single wink of sleep.  We landed at 5:05am UK time on Thursday morning and were picked up by a taxi and dropped home around 7:30am. Dad was up and ready for work and it was lovely to see him. Leila also popped round. Then at 8:30am I went to the doctor and she referred me to the hospital.  I spent 11 hours there answering the same questions over and over again, hanging about, waiting for various tests to be completed. In the evening around 6pm I had an MRI scan and I fell asleep in the machine as I was just so tired. We eventually made it home around 9:30pm, having to go back today to collect a prescription and check results. Now I'm just waiting for an appointment at the first fit clinic.

I've had the most amazing 5 months travelling and I'm so gutted it ended like this, but whatever will be will be. I'm just lucky I got the chance to do the travelling I did. Thank you for bearing with me and reading my many posts, and thank you for all your messages and comments.

Not Quite The Ending I Had Planned....

Apologies for the delay on posting. On 11pm on Friday night I woke up to see Irene, the hostel manager, and some grown men staring at me. Apparently I had been unresponsive, having a fit, with blood coming out of my mouth. Irene had called an ambulance after being alerted by Amy, who was on the bunk bed above me, as the bed was shaking like mad beneath her.

I was taken in ambulance to Langkawi hospital. Amy came with me. The paramedic was really nice and started following me on instagram (lol). I had a CT scan and a chest x-ray

Amy, who came with me, was great. Unlike the British NHS I had to pay upfront for the scans, the ambulance and being admitted. She went off and sorted those for me while I lay on a bed. I couldn't remember actually having the fit at all. All I could feel was a very sore tongue, presumably from where I'd bitten it during the fit, which lasted 20 seconds or so. The doctor who looked at my brain scans first said there was some swelling but the latest the blood tests were normal. This doctor then asks again what happened and Amy described again what she saw. When she described the shaking bed the doctor asked if I was definitely alone.

Around 3:30am I was admitted into the ward and had a drip fitted, and Amy went home. It was very painful to talk and swallow at this point and I sounded very strange. I manage to fall asleep for about 3 hours. When I woke up I was given green hospital clothes to change into and I sat on my bed alone, next to 3 other patients who all had their family with them.

At some point during Saturday afternoon, I had another fit. I'd woken up covered in blood and noticed I didn't have a cannula in my hand anymore but wasn't really aware of what happened. Later on when going to the toilet, which was just a hole in the floor, I saw myself in the mirror and saw I had cuts on my face and neck. Not really sure how helpful a hole on the floor would be for some people in hospital but oh well. 

I spent two days in hospital in total before I was discharged after my mum arrived. I was given pills which seemed to be preventing the fits. I was discharged on the Monday and we checked into a little place on the island for the night. We found a place to have dinner; (I only had soup as my tongue still wasn't healed) and then retired to bed.

This morning we got up and packed our stuff and ventured out to find breakfast. We found a little place with a pool that did breakfast and I got pancakes and mum got eggs and toast. After breakfast we moved to a hotel near the airport, and from there we headed to Langkawi's sky bridge. We got a cable car up and wandered about and then a cable car back down before gate crashing a fancy hotel resort for visiting the beach and having dinner.

After dinner we had a drink before heading back to the hotel for the night.

Goodbye Georgetown

I woke up before my alarm that was set for 6am. I'd had 2 and a bit hours sleep. I'd woken up several times paranoid about sleeping through my alarm after what happened in Kuala Lumpur. Thankfully I didn't. I hadn't done any packing as I had been planning on doing it yesterday evening, not thinking I'd be out. I had to very quietly just shove things into a bag and take all my stuff outside the room so as not to disturb anyone. I left the hostel at around 7:40am and got a taxi to the port. It wasn't really that far but I couldn't be bothered to walk in the heat. I got some food at the port as I was pretty hungry despite yesterday's midnight snack. We boarded the boat around 7:45 but it didn't leave until half 8, right on time.  I've really enjoyed the past few days in Georgetown. It's a nice little place full of cafes, bars, amazing food courts and awesome colonial architecture. The people I've hung out with have also been pretty awesome. But it was time to get away from the cities and back to the beach.

We arrived at Langkawi just before half 11. The journey had been long and boring and not particularly comfortable.  As you can see from the photo I had a great view. As we approached the plans the weather out the front windows looked grey and miserable but I was pleasantly surprised to find when I got off the ferry that that was just an effect the windows created. It was boiling and blue skies. I walked towards the arrivals hall of the pier and could see the queue of taxi drivers all lined up ready to pounce. It was kind of helpful that they were as apparently there is no public transport on the island and I needed on to get to my hostel. It was a 35 minute drive to the hostel. The driver dropped me off at the end of the road (which was more like a dusty concrete track) and I wandered down to find the hostel, which is actually a guesthouse.

When I arrived I was too early to check in so I just dumped my bags and went and got some lunch. I ate more fried rice than is reasonable for one person to consume. Then I went back to the hostel and hung round for a bit before changing into my bikini and heading to the beach. The nearest beach is about a 2 minute walk from where I'm staying which is nice. It has quite white sand but the water is kind of murky. I went in anyway. The second time I went in I stood on something sharp that felt like I was standing on a hedgehog.  I have no idea what it was but I didn't go in the sea again after that.

I returned to the hostel around half 4 and got a shower and then I was invited to go with a couple of people from the hostel to the nearby food market. It was like a bigger version of the one at the Cameron Highlands, selling all the same sort of stuff. I got a chicken kebab which was really spicy. As we drove home we could see the sun setting. It looked like a giant red orb. It was kind of beautiful. Unfortunately it was gone by the time we got back to the hostel. I spent the rest of the evening chilling on my bed. I'm looking forward to getting a good night's sleep tonight.

Penang Hill

This morning I met Kerrin at 10:30 outside my hostel and we walked to find a bus stop we had been told was on Union Street, outside a fancy church. We found Union Street no trouble, but there was no church. We asked a couple of people who have us varying directions and then set off down a street. We saw the number bus we want go past down the street so went to the nearest bus stop a couple of metres down the road. We weren't really sure which direction we wanted to go in but it turned out the side of the road we were on was the right side to be. The bus driver was quite grumpy and was getting stressed at us and others about the lack of small change we had, but eventually we were on the bus heading in the right direction. We chatted to an Australian couple on the bus who were also headed to Penang Hill.

After around 30-40 minutes we arrived at the last stop, which was the lower station of Penang Hill. Kerrin got a student ticket first and then gave me her student card to use, as student tickets were half the price. The ticket guy, who was the same guy that Kerrin got her ticket from, looked at the card for an awkwardly long time before sort of signing and giving me a student ticket. Then we got the train to the top. We sat at the back of the train on the way up, looking out the window at the view as we went. It was a short ride that offered us glimpses of the view we'd receive at the top.

When we got to the top we took pictures and wandered round looking at the view. From the top of the hill there was a really good view of Penang Island, although it was an tad hazy. After a while of admiring the view we got the train back down the hill and then wandered along the road to find food.

We reached a little food court type area and got some lunch. I had Wanton Noodles, which was very similar to the Wan Tan Mee soup I have last night,  only less broth. It was pretty nice. We sat for a while eating and discussing everything from politics to elephants, before heading back out to get the bus. As we started walking towards the station we saw the bus coming and hailed it down. We just so happened to be at a bus stop so it pulled up and on we got, back to Georgetown. We arrived back in Georgetown around half 3, heading to our separate hostels with plans to meet up for dinner, as Kerrin wanted a nap. I went back to the hostel and showered.

At around 6:30pm, Kerrin and I, along with an Irish girl called Tara went to the Red Garden food court, where I had dumpling and satay. Then we ventured out to a few bars. At one of the bars, we were sitting enjoying live music from a dude with an awesome afro and his guitar, when a whole load of people in army uniforms turned up at the bar we were army at and handcuffed three of the bar tenders, before leading them out. We were told they were immigration. Apparently it happens quite often. We felt bad for them arrested guys as they had been so nice to us and helped us escape from a creepy drunk dude earlier in the night. Tara got chatting to some Malaysian dudes who were up from Kuala Lumpur for work and they offered to take us for food. So the 3 of us, plus some dude who tagged along squeezed in the back of these guys car and they drove us to a food place that was still open at 1am for pork soup and rice, before they dropped us off back at our hostels. Now it's gone 3am and I have to get up in 3 hours. Tomorrow will not be fun.

(Sorry for the late posting, WiFi issues!)

Street Art and Street Food

This morning I checked out of the hostel I was in and checked into a new one. The first hostel was a party hostel and they played loud music and had people coming in drunk and noisily at all times of the night (not that I'm innocent). I had known this when I booked which is why I hadn't booked 4 nights there despite planning on staying in Georgetown that long. The new hostel was literally just down the road so I went and dumped my bags at reception as I couldn't actually check and went and got a cream cheese bagel at the place I went yesterday morning.

Then I followed the map to the places that had street art marked on them. There was one road that was meant to have loads of pieces on but I was having trouble finding them all. I found a few but apparently my powers of observation are lacking. There was one of two kids riding a bike. I thought one of them looked terrified but I'm told they're screaming with joy. I quite liked it though. Some seemed to be original and we're marked on the map, some to have been edited (see pictures) and some I think had just randomly appeared. There were different pieces in different styles. There was a particularly interesting 3D anti-smoking one.

On the way round I made a visit to Chew Jetty which was a collection of wooden huts and shops. It was quite cute but looked like it might collapse at any minute.  After the jetty I went back down the road with all the street art and still couldn't find any more. I was very hot and sweaty by this point so stopped for a drink.

After having a drink I walked to the northern end of Georgetown as it was marked as a beach on the map. It was not a beach at all. There was a good view of another part of the island though with a whole load of skyscrapers.

I returned to the hostel around half 1 and checked in. I chilled on the bed for about 2 hours and then went out for a snack. I got a bag of crisps and sat on the church steps to eat. It was in the shade as semi-peaceful which was nice. Then I returned to the hostel to shower.

At 7:15 a group of us from the hostel went on a street food tour, led by a Mexican guy from the hostel. It wasn't very informative. He just took us to different stalls to try different food. First was a dim sum stall where I had two pork dumplings. Next was a stall that made a noodle dish similar to Pad Thai. I didn't have any. Despite being starving when we left the hostel, two pieces of dim sum had left me pretty full and I'd had Pad Thai many times.

At the next stall I got Wan Tan Mee Soup. It was basically pork broth, with noodles, sliced pork and pork wontons. The guy recommended sharing between 3 so I was awkwardly sharing a bowl of noodle soup, using chopsticks, with two strangers, as we awkwardly took it in terms to lean forward over the bowl to shovel noodles in. The last place was in Little India. Most stalls were shut but there was one open still. It sold vegetable curry and freshly made chapatis. I was too full. My stomach has started hurting whenever I put food in it and I didn't want to tempt fate so passed on this course.

The last course was dessert, which was Durian ice cream. Durian, for those who don't know, is a fruit that absolutely stinks. I've not actually smelled it myself but it's been discussed on many occasions and other people in the group has tried. The taste is also strange apparently but I figured if I was going to try it, having it as ice cream would be the best way. It did not smell good and the taste was even worse. I had one mouthful and then gave it to someone else to finish. The taste lingered in my mouth and made me feel slightly ill.  After this, around half 9, we returned to the hostel and I just relaxed on my bed.

Not sure this is how the piece was originally....

A lazy day in Georgetown

Today has been a fairly relaxed day. I met up with the girls I was at the bar with last night for breakfast at half 9. I had a really nice cream cheese bagel. We sat and chatted for a while and then around 10:45 we split off as people have places to go and people to see.

I stayed with Hollie and Izzy, who I went on the longtail boat with on Phi Phi, and we wandered round the town a little bit. It was very hot. We saw a very white church and a fort, before stopping at a cafe for lunch. I just had some chips as I wasn't feeling great and just wanted some carbs. Then I said goodbye to those two as they had to go catch a flight.  I wandered back to the hostel and chilled on the bed go about an hour.

Around half 3 one of the other girls, Kerrin, messaged me and invited me to go and hang out at the hostel she had its started volunteering at, as she was just sitting round doing nothing. I went over there and we chilled for a while before heading to a food court type place called Red Garden to get dinner as Kerrin hadn't eaten all day. Only we got there at half 4 and it didn't open until half 5. So instead we did a tour of the chocolate factory next door, which wasn't really a tour or a factory at all and tried some free samples in the shop. That killed about ten minutes. So we went to a cafe and got a drink and sat and chatted until half 5.

At half 5 we went to Red Garden and got food. We had dumplings and crispy duck. It was delicious. Then we went back to our separate hostels. I had planned to shower and then join in with the socialisation downstairs, and Kerrin was going to come for beer pong but I ended up just chilling on my bed to give my purse and liver a rest.

Arriving in Penang

Today I got the bus from the local bus station to Aman Jaya at 9am.  I arrived just in time to get the 9:30am bus to Butterworth. It took about 2 hours.  I was the only passenger to get off at  Butterworth. I walked over to the ferry which took about it 15 minute to get across from the mainland to Penang island. It was just a car ferry with seats in the  middle.  When I arrived I got a taxi to the hostel. 

I went for a short wander and saw a little of Georgetown, which is where in Penang I am staying. I had lunch at a noodle cafe and had some really nice chicken in black pepper sauce noodles. They were really spicy though and made my nose run. 

I spent the day alternating between the hostel and wandering round. It was so so hot. I went to a cafe round half 6 and had chicken satay skewers for dinner. I wasn't really that hungry. 

At 8pm I went down to the hostel bar to get the two free drinks offered to all guests each night. Some of the girls I was hanging out with in the Cameron Highlands came and joined me and we spent the evening at the bar. We entered a beer pong competition and won the first game but were beaten in a close game in the next one. I eventually went to bed around 1am.

I apologise to anyone who read this post previously. I have no idea what I was on about....