Ectoplasm

'Popping' to Malaysia wasn't originally on my itinerary but it makes sense to visit peninsular Malaysia so I can re-enter Thailand and get another thirty day visa as I have visitors coming to see me in Thailand over the Christmas period. Before I reach Kuala Lumpa, where I'll fly back into Thailand, I have two weeks to explore the country so I caught an overnight ferry from Koh Tao which I heard one man describe as a 'slave ship' because it consists of a large cabin with row after row of bunk beds. After two subsequent bus trips and two rides in the back of pick-up trucks, 22 hours later I arrived at the Malaysian island Penang, which is not far from the border, and I made my way to a hostel recommended to me called Reggae.

My hostel room had 12 beds all inserted into the wall with a curtain for privacy and your own light and plug socket.

Georgetown in Penang has lots of street art that you can walk amongst (it mainly depicts cats and nobody seemed to know why)

I was in Penang for three days and each morning when I came down for breakfast the old man working there would give me a hug and babble away in what I thought was Malay but later found out was extremely strong-accented English; his name was Charlie and he arranged a trip to Penang's Monkey Beach with me and some other people from the hostel.

'Uncle Charlie'; I thought he was earning money out of the excursion but it turns out he just likes hanging around with young people!

Monkey beach.

Here's something about monkeys for you: they are aggressive and thieving!

My bandaged leg prevented me from swimming (boohoo poor me...).

Malaysia is known for its eclectic mix of cultures, namely Malay, Chinese and Indian, and Penang's street food famously exhibits the culinary best of these cultures and I was determined to try some before I moved on so I went to a food hawker stall area with some other people from Reggae hostel.

The food court was a collection of tables surrounded by food stalls from all around the world from Japan to Armenia.

I was so excited to try a prawn Laksa after hearing people rave about Penang street food but I'm sorry to say it was foul and reminded me of the Myanmar 'monkey poo soup'...

Bag snatching by motorcyclists is common here so imagine how scared I was when a man on a bike grabbed hold of my arm on the street as he rode past! Thankfully he was just warning me to wear my bag across my body which I usually do but I'd got distracted because I'd bumped into some people I'd met in the back of a truck two days before. That time I was lucky. What wasn't lucky was when another man on a bike spat all the way down my back, covering my arm and my top with a massive, stringy, slimy gob (how is it possible for that much ectoplasm-like-goop to come out of one man?!) in between gags I stumbled into a shop to buy something to clean myself (bleach? petrol and a match??) and just at that moment the radio played a public service announcement advising people not to spit in public...