Alor Setar (12.05.22 - 14.05.22)
Thursday 12th May 2022
Sadly, I left Langkawi today, I have had such an awesome few days with Fiona, I always seem to have the better times when I meet people and hang with them, not that I don’t have a great time on my own, but experiences always seem better when shared. Unfortunately my time in Malaysia is short and so I got the ferry to Kuala Kedah. I had booked a window seat but some big fat angry looking Muslim woman was in it so I decided it easier not to kick up a fuss – I slept the whole journey anyway, and then got a taxi to Alor Setar, which is the capitol of this region. The taxi driver appeared nice, we had a good chat but then when I got out he said ‘you have very big titties’ – really – I hadn’t noticed.
My motel room is small, but it does have aircon, and that is it – the wifi doesn’t work in the room so I have to sit in the corridor if I want internet, the outside of the toilet bowl has shit round it, the floor is covered in hairs and to top it all off I had to ask for the duvet and pillow cases to be changed. Not only were they covered in stains but stank of BO. The cleaner guy insisted they were clean, but they really weren’t, you could see they had been slept in, the only clean thing on the bed was the bottom sheet. Eventually they changed the bedding and the difference is amazing, the duvet cover even has creases in it from where it has been ironed and folded. I am happy to say I am only here 2 nights so will bear with it. I am actually beginning to wonder if the hotel receptionist took one look at me and decide to put me in the shittiest room that they had – well I hope you read the shitty review I plan to leave you. Tomorrow when I head out for the day I will take my laptop, there must be a coffee shop nearby, bar Starbucks in the shopping mall, where I can sit and book my coach and room for the island of Penang, which Aman says the Malaysians call food paradise.
This evening I had dinner served to me by a robot – lol. I did head out in search of traditional Malaysian food but got side tracked by the Black Canyon restaurant, which serves Thai food, and the robot. So I sat at a table and they came over with the menu, a piece of folder paper and a pencil, so being me I wrote the numbers of the food I wanted on the paper, only for the waitress to come over and unfold the paper and low and behold, there was a list of everything where you simply tick what you want and state the quantity – lol – well how was I to know. Then before you know it the robot comes along singing a tune and brings you your drink
and then a little while later it comes along again with your food. How does it not bump into people and tables – ha ha – the computer science teacher knows all about sensors – in fact these robots are glorified versions of the Edpy robots that I tried to get the girls to program at school – bloody awesome. Before dinner I went to see the tower, it was lit up beautifully and the kids in the area were driving around in luminous buggies. I was going to eat here but used Google translate to read the menu of one of the stalls said it was all innards – sorry but I am not into eating intestine and such like, and where I ended up, with the robot serving.
Friday 13th May 2022
What a glorious day it has been. It started out a little frustrating, but I worked out that if I opened the door to room and sat in the chair, using it to keep the door open, I could access the internet. I managed to book myself a room in George Town just around the corner from the road that Aman suggested I stay on to access all the best food stalls and watering holes. I had to go for a room with a shared bathroom as all the rooms with their own bathroom were wither either sold out or else well above my price range, then the internet started to play up. At that point I stationed myself downstairs and booked my coach to Butterworth, which is where you catch the ferry to Penang. I couldn’t find a site to purchase a ferry ticket so am keeping my fingers crossed that they are not all full and I can get one at the jetty.
After that I went for a lovely walk to see the Masjid Zahir Mosque, which was stunning, and the Kedah River, which was a gloriously dirty orange brown colour. I sat by the river for a little while and listened to a group of 4 guys, the other side of the river, clapping their hands and singing a tune, which was bliss to the ears. After that I walked around the heritage site area, which is a conservation area, the building are not that spectacular architecturally wise but they are beautiful and it is awesome that they are being saved and in many cases restored. It was here that I had some lunch, or rather a piece of burnt cheesecake and a raspberry juice at the Café Diem and noticed a bar across the road. Yesterday, when I did a Google search for bars in the area nothing came up, so I was pleasantly surprised and returned this evening. I had dinner, read my book and the music weas good – 3 beers later, well 4 as I had already had one in my room (Malaysia having the most expensive in SE Asia so far) I was feeling quite merry and left a rather generous tip – won’t be doing that again in a hurry.
I must admit I was very disappointed with Malaysia not having any street food stalls, but my walk around tonight proved me to be mistaken; they do, and plenty of them, but unlike Thailand and Cambodia, they are in designated food court areas called Hawker Courts. All the street food stalls are round the edge of the court, with table and chairs in the middle, so you can choose to sit in or take away. I look forward to exploring a couple when on Penang, and hopefully reducing my food bill at the same time.
