Penang was our first destination in Malaysia, and somewhere that I visited on holiday as a child and had very fond memories of. They were of a lovely beach resort, swimming pool and beautiful sandy beach. This time I got to see a different Penang as we were based in Georgetown, and it was full of historical colonial buildings. I didn't get to see much as spent most of the time at the local hospital with Aoife as she had her hand sliced open due to the coral that had got into her hand and infected it.
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| Banana shop in Penang |
We tried the hawkers fair food which was raved about and it certainly was an eclectic selection of food that was on offer, and it was good street food, but not the best we'd had as we'd been spoilt over the months with great foods. Penang is where Aoife also had her hand opened up at the hospital to remove some coral that she'd got stuck in her hand from being in the sea in Thailand and her hand was seizing up with infection. The doctor wanted to do a general anaesthetic on her! We immediately said no, a local anaesthetic would do - no matter how much it would hurt!
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| Out for dinner in Penang |
The overall consensus was that we should stay longer in Penang as there was more to discover, but we had a schedule to keep so it was back on the truck and we hit the road once again, this time across the other side of Malaysia to the
Perhentian Islands. We left the truck and got into two speed boats that took us over to one of the islands, a fantastic ride, bouncing across the waves in an exhilarating journey, until our little resort came into view. An even smaller
boat had to come out to the speed boat to collect us, and soon we felt sand between our toes again. What a lovely feeling!
The lovely feeling soon dissipated once we were shown to our less than lovely digs for the next four nights. They were terrible, a room with beds and a toilet/cold shower over the toilet/sink coming away from the wall, and a terrifically bad stench coming from the drains in the loosely named "bathroom". You felt dirtier coming of the shower than when you went in!
That night and first thing the next day, over half of the group de-camped and found better accommodation just up the beach, Zoe, Susan and Mandy and Keith and Sandra bagging beautiful beach side bungalows. We ended up spending all our time their instead.
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| Zoe, Susan and Mandy's swanky pad on the beach |
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| Mandy with the resident kittens |
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| View from the girls' bungalow |
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| What a vista! |
Apart from out digs, the Perhentians were amazing, warm seas, white sandy beaches, no roads, so no cars, and the most incredible wildlife. You didn't have to look far as it was all around us. Monkeys, flying squirrels, monitor lizards,
humongous bats, and of course the sea life.
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| Flying squirrel |
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| Flying squirrel |
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| Lizard with a belly full |
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| Lizard |
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| Cute monkey |
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| Lizard by our accommodation |
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| Monkey that wanted to join us for dinner |
A group of us went snorkeling for the morning and came across hundreds of colourful fish as well as a couple of sharks! The highlight for me though, was swimming alongside the turtles, they were amazing.
After relaxing for a couple of days, it was Zoe's birthday, and the last of the Odyssey trip, so to mark this occasion, Zoe put together a great afternoons activity on the beach,'The Odyssey Olympics'. We were put into three teams,
red, yellow and blue and an energetic afternoon followed, and a lot of fun was had, although I do believe some cheating was going on, and that is why my team, the yellow team got the bronze medal. Anyway, moving swiftly on....
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| Zoe, the birthday girl looking pretty in her birthday t shirt |
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| One of the Olympic games, the mermaids |
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| The kittens with the bronze medal |
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| Boat back to the mainland from the Perhentians |
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| Emily and Aoife |
The peacefulness of the Perhentians was soon forgotten as we rocked up into Kuala Lumpa. We were originally going to another national park, but not one of us could bear another couple of nights in the rain forest, where no doubt as
the name suggests it will rain and we will be in huts with cold water showers, so the idea of a nice hotel was preferable so we ended up in KL for an extra night and then an extra night in Malacca.
We did the obligatory hop on hop off, and visited the Petronas towers, and watched the base jumpers fling themselves off the sky tower which was near our hotel. We also had a night on the town and headed to Hard Rock Cafe to sate
Mel's appetite for some Hard Rock action and she added to her collection a shot glass from them. A local band came
rest of the night.
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| The Petronas Towers |
Another night out whilst in KL was Ben's comedy gig which we had been looking forward to for months. We were all nervous for him and turned up at Dirty Nelly's and took our seats for the evening entertainment, which was cracking.
Ben did himself and us proud and it was a top night.
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| Ben the star on stage |
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| Mandy Emily and Me |
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| Mel and Aoife |
Leaving Kuala Lumpa for our final journey on Calypso, we reminisced along the way to Malacca, and remembered all the highlights over the past six months. Calypso had also done us proud and hadn't once broken down or misbehaved,
although a few leaks had started to appear over the last few journeys! She definitely needs a rest!
Malacca was a lovely little city to explore, with less hustle and bustle that KL, and we went up the rotating observation tower to get the best views of the city. We also went on an evening boat tour along the river, with the maddest tour guide ever! Mad as hatter.
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| Ben springing a leak in Malacca |
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| Having a snooze |
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| Taking in the view from up high |
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| Mel's new hair do |
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| Sign in the toilet! |
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| Art work on the side of the building in Malacca |
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| Me eating dinner with my hands |
We also ended our Gavin and Stacey gatherings here, we all used to gather in someones room, and over time we watched all three series, ending with the last one in Malacca. I had never watched it before, and it was great watching a Welsh/Essex comedy programme with an American, Kiwi and an Aussie! we have been saying things like 'Tidy' and 'Genuine' ever since!
On the last evening in Malacca, all of the Odyssey crew gathered by Calypso in our new T Shirts for a final photo session and to say goodbye to the old girl as we were to leave her there and head on to Singapore in minibuses.
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| The Odyssey 2011 girls by Calypso |
It was rather sad, but what an amazing journey she has made over some extremely rough terrain, all the way from England! Fantastic.
