The coldest train in the whole world!

It's voting day and the youngest sister's birthday back in the UK so today really feels like we're missing out on not being at home. Luckily our proxy vote applications arrived from Thailand in time so my parents are voting on our behalf today. It's time to say farewall to the busy Kuala Lumpur and head to the island of Penang. Our train was leaving at 11:30am so this gave us enough time to get ready, have breakfast and use the cheaper public transport to get to the station instead of the quicker more expensive taxi. We boarded the train with no hiccups and found it was very modern and spacious with plenty of leg room which was nice. The journey lasted 4 hours and it was the coldest 4 hours of our lives. The air con was on so high that it was bitterly cold and basically like being in the UK in winter! Luckily and I mean really luckily Nick had packed not only his hoodie in his hand luggage but also his fleece too. I'm not sure we would of survived without them! Having arrived at a place called Butterworth we met a fellow traveller and worked our way up and down a very stair heavy route to the ferry dock. With a bag weighing 20kgs on your back and dodgey knees this was not a fun trek but at least we had our new companion to talk to about her travels. Sadly when we disembarked after 15 minutes on the water we lost her in the hustle and bustle of people getting off the boat so we didn't even get to say goodbye or find out her name. We walked to the guest house which is only 15 minutes away and no matter how much you look at the pictures and read reviews it's always a surprise when you enter a new accommodation. We'd chosen this place as it said it had a private bathroom but turns out non of the rooms did. Being a bit tired I disputed this and said on the website the room we booked does not say it's a shared bathroom to which he went to check and came back offering us to leave and that he'll have to inform booking.com about this. He was very apologetic and the room is the best value we saw here so we decided to stay. It made it a little awkward when leaving later for dinner but he seems okay with us and showed us where all the essentials are on a map. We headed out to find some dinner but soon realised we should of researched it as it was all street food places. Penang is known for its street food but after being so ill last time there's really no way I'm risking losing two days of doing things again. After a bit of wondering we found a lovely modern bakery and bistro. They had lamb shank! I cannot tell you how happy this made me and so of course I had to order it. Back home you can pay anything from £15 to £30 for this dish so when the price of this main was £5 it had to be done and by golly it was beautiful. It was in a tomato sauce but it was so rich and flavourful that it went surprisingly well. Nick had a baked rice dish which he was also impressed with so maybe we'll head back there before we leave. Georgetown where we are staying is know for its street art so tomorrow we plan to fully explore the area on foot.Read more