OUR LAST FEW POSTS HAVE BEEN REVISED- PLEASE VIEW AGAIN

Welcome to our blog (am really clutching at straws when looking for new way to open posts)

We are now in penang staying in an newly refurbished hotel with wifi that does not work. We are pleased with our lot this night as it is our first reasonably priced accommodation at 55 ringets for a family room. It is at this point we realised we have been completely ripped off everywhere else.

The view from the middle station of the funicular railway was pretty good but we are well aware that it could have been a lot better if we had been able to get to the upper station which was closed today because of the broken train.
We were lucky to make it to the railway, at penang hill, anyway as several of the people we asked for directions tried to put us off the scent and one taxi driver even told us that the railway was not longer in use. other than that we have found the malaysian popluation very helpful.
They are also just as friendly and laid back here as they are in thailand.

The whole wood camp is now most excited about going to the cameron highlands tomorrow as the average temperature is 16- 21 degrees C. This will be a lovely cool respite for us. We hear the weather in England is lovely. We are also hoping to be able to find a scenic camping spot where we can stay for a couple of nights whilst exploring the strawberry and tea fields and generally soaking up the English-village-in-malaysia feel.

Have been taking some pretty scenic routes already and see many rice fields that are mechanised, unlike in china.



A View from Our Side of the Bridge- the tale of a man, his car, his trailer and a bridge:

The longest bridge in asia runs from the mainland to penang and is 13 km.
We thought it would be nice to go on it to say we had done it.
The sign said it would be 7 ringets.
We got to the counter.
The man asked for 45 ringets.
Chaos ensued.
Upon principle we refused to pay, that and the fact they were trying to charge us the price for a car with a boat on the back.
Much manovering took place as daddy turned wilma and larry around.
The queue had to be backed up and people had to wait ages for us to get off the major section of the road.
Daddy continued to argue with the bridge manager (that he had called for) and even lifted up larry muscle-man style to show that he should not be charged 45 ringets.

We got the ferry for 7 ringets.

Congratulations to daddy, who gets upset that I don't compliment him enough on a public forum. Does he even know that he's my hero?

the internet cafe closed an hour ago so this is not very detailed/ good- outstaying our welcome

Hai! (we have been assured that this is how to say hi in malay by a malaysian man)

The first thing we would like to do today is say thank you to graham and family, tim and family and our new spam fan- goooooood girl.
We would like to say thank you to these people as they have heeded our vague threats and posted a comment on the blog thus making as feel as though this exercise is bring a little bit of light into some people's lives.

At lunch time we got back from the island of Lankawi where we stayed in an over priced hotel as the ferry we took to the island left an hour late and we only arrived in the main town at 21:30.
however, we did stay in a full sized family room and rent a sick-green air-coned car for 50 bahts- oooooo, ahhhhhh.
did manage to swim a little bit but the beach was average although there was an amusing man who prevented us from parking under a coconut tree for fear of concusion.

tonight we 'landed on our feet' (as daddy loves to say) yet again as, although we did not managed to find an non-silted up beach we are staying in an entire house for 100 ringets (20 pounds). actually above our budget but really rather cheap for a whole, massive three bedroom house all to ourselves.


We are currently been unable to properly arange the photographs that have been displayed recently as the computers in malaysia only show the photographs on blogger when you have actually loaded them. At all other times the the photographs merely take the form of a series of words, dots, dashes and slashes that are only intelligible to computer geeks or other like-minded people.

tessie has been sent home in a cab- not drunk but attacked by mosquitos

in trang for the night,which is a little way inland and not too far from the border with malaysia.

we are hoping to cross the border tomorrow and tessie is really gearing herself up for the imminent singapore-fest.

have had lots of trouble with the internet today and am getting a tad frustrated to say the least.
when writing the blog the photographs only come up as the script that is only intelligible to computer geeks. next time this happens we will need to see our new best friend graham and his family (driving from croydon to cairns)- self-styled 'king of the computer'.

this is the graham and family from the previous post- still stuck in malaysia. had a lovely time with them but little did we know that they would sell us the most useless guidebook known to man. also- our car has never been the same after graham was in it- the very same day we had to change two tyres (one burst,one bulging). have now discovered that the pulley for tensioning the auxillary belt has probably been siezed up and causes various suspicious smells (usually attributed to team tessie tay and lewis wood). thanks graham.


a little message to janice wilson,
as being sober at work must be a new a distressing state of affairs for you we suggest that you might numb the pain by writing a comment on the blog. we know that you now have plenty of time a work.

to those who read janice's special message- it was a subtle hint at writing more comments on the blog. take the hint lest ye be similarly named and shamed.
please.


time to go back to the station inn. well past daddy's bed time. he has to drive in the morning.

Vehicles

we love the new vehicles we see.
none of them live up to the infamy of the wilma and larry duo though.

Impressive Buildings

we are getting well in there with our impressive building photographs but we have so many to sort through that we have only be able to put up a few at first.

Houses

Border Signs

really trying to get in there with our themed albums.
don't worry,this is only the beginning...