Day 8: George Town , Saturday 15th June 2024
Cloudy/Fine, 31°
NZ$1 = MYR3
MYR1=NZ$0.33
Up at 7:30, went over for breakfast then back to the room to pack/relax for a bit.
Left at 11:00am checked out, ordered a Grab to the Bayview Hotel ( MYR7/$2 ). Arrived at the new hotel and tried to check in; our room was not ready so we left our bags with the concierge, paid for the room ( MYR260/$85 including breakfast ) then walked into town. The hotel is at the northern end of town in a more of a modern area than the previous one, with court buildings and churches around it. We walked southwest along Love Lane then in to “Armenian District” around Lebuh Armenian. Walked around looking at the shops / architecture then northwest and had coffee on Lebuh Campbell at “the Caffeine Cartel”. The Old Town seems quieter today than the other days; could be because it is Saturday? We walked northwest to Jalan Penang ( Penang Rd ) then northeast back towards the hotel.
Drew some money at an ATM ( MYR200/$65 ) and back to the hotel just before 1pm. Checked in, got our bags and up to our room on the 15th floor ( 1504, second to top floor ). The room is massive ( almost too big ) with a view to the southeast over town and across to Butterworth.
Relaxed for a bit then headed out for lunch at Higher Ground on Lebuh Leith ( MYR 80/$25 for 2 small dishes and drinks ). This seems to be where the cool kids hang out as it has evening concerts and a relaxed vibe. Walked back to the hotel at 2:30pm.
Relaxed ( again ), then had a planning meeting to plan the next part of our trip after Hat Yai.
The plan was to catch a train to Surat Thani for 1 night then catch a train to Chumphon ( which is a seaside town with resorts ) for a couple of nights then on to Bangkok on a sleeper train. But getting a train from Hat Yai north is proving difficult as the local trains that run this route are non-air conditioned and take 5 hours to Surat Thani ( and can’t be booked in advance ), and the modern trains are are sleeper trains running through to Bangkok, so it proved difficult to book only a part section of the route on the sleeper trains ( there are 5 sleeper trains each night than run from Hat Yai to Bangkok ) as priority is given to longer trips. The bottom line is we could get a train from Surat Thani to Chumphon ( a short local train journey ) but getting from Hat Yai to Surat Thani was almost impossible, and a train from Champhon to Bangkok was also impossible. So we parked that problem to see if we could book something once we arrived in Hat Yai.
But while we were in the planning mode we organised the end of our trip; flights from Bangkok to Siem Riep ( 29th June , Air Asia $277 for 2 ), accommodation in Siem Reap ( Crown Hotel and Spa, $286 for 4 nights incl breakfast ), and flights back to Singapore via Bangkok ( 3 July, SIem Reap to Bangkok, then Bangkok to Singapore, both flights are with Air Asia, $741 for both legs for 2 people ).
Out for tea at 6:15pm, went to Nyonya Lah, on Love Lane ( Chinese, /Malaysia style restaurant, 1 main, 1 side dish and 2 beers MYR50/$16; very nice ), then walked back to hotel at 7:15pm
Watched the sunset from our Hotel room.
