Day 57
There is a monsoon happening outside the window of our hotel right now. Literally buckets of water. Kelly, Kelsey and I just barely made it inside before it really started coming down. We also narrowly avoided our imminent death.
Last night we slept on the boat. Tonight we had made reservations at the Towné House Hotel. But it was a dump. It reminded me of Trainspotting. At first, we thought it would be okay because we were just going to be sleeping there. We left our overnight stuff there in the morning and went about our day. But when we came back, we realized that it just wasn't going to work.
It smelled like my basement. There were red curtains that made it look like a prostitute house. The toilet did not flush. The shower did not have a curtain. Everything about it was sketch. I'm sure someone was killed there at some point.
We quickly went back over to the Hotel Continental to ask if they had any rooms available. They only had a room for tonight, but we wanted tomorrow night too so we wouldn't have to carry our stuff around all day. Plus, there was a higher price for the weekend. The hotel next door, however, was cheaper and could give us a room for both nights. We seriously lucked out.
This room only across the street, but it is a world of difference. The view is amazing. The beds are comfy. The door hasn't been previously kicked in. I feel so much relief that we are staying here instead. I really saw a reenactment of Vacancy at the Towné House.
We woke up this morning to go to the beach, but our plans fell through. We ended up getting off the boat too late. Instead, we went for Thai food at a place that our teksi driver recommended. He was amazing. We asked for cheap Thai food, and he took us to a perfect place. The food was delicious, and it was super cheap. I think it was three dollars per person for four dishes and drinks. We had originally gone to a food court that had been recommended by a tourism agent. But it was gross. I was sure we would get sick from the food. Plus it had a hair in it.
After our lunch, the teksi driver told us we should try the chocolate factory. Good idea. I had thought it would be chocolate tasting and coffee paring. That's the idea we had gotten from the brochure. But it was just a normal chocolate shop, except we could taste the different kinds. No big deal. Each of us bought three handmade chocolates and three for our driver.
Next, we went to the Queen's Bay mall. It is Penang's biggest mall; also the most expensive. The big let-down was that it had all the same stores as an American mall. All we got there was a passport photo for Kelsey to go to Cambodia and a new memory card for my camera. And Starbucks.
The teksi driver had waited for us. He was simply fabulous. His name was Kenny, and we called him king Kenny because his teksi number was 1570, which apparently is the number for durian, king of the fruits. He thought it was hilarious. Kenny would take us anywhere we wanted no matter how vague we were. He knew the best cheap restaurants and places to see. He even knew exactly which jewelry shop we were talking about.
Kelly wanted to go back and buy the ring she had been eyeing yesterday. They couldn't convince me to buy an opal ring, even though they were giving me the birthday discount. Kelsey bought some earrings.
We asked Kenny to pick us up in the morning after he dropped us off at the hotel and take us to Batu Feringgi. That was before we decided to get out of that horrible place and come here. We'll just have to walk over there in the morning.
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