Bron and I spent a day in Georgetown on the island of Penang before going our separate ways. I’m sure there were lots of interesting things to do and see but I’m pretty much at sightseeing saturation at the moment so we simply walked around the historic district, strolled through Little India, shopped and snacked. The day we left we did get a bus out to the Kek Lok Si temple, an attractive if overly elabroate Buddhist monastry that stands stop a hill outside the town. There is a beautiful pagoda reaching up from the hill that was sadly shrouded in scaffolding when we arrived so we entertained ourselves with walking around the huge prayer halls of massive gold buddhas, ornate tiling, and decorated courtyards. Further proof that they have no understanding of the word kitsch in South East Asia!
Ah, feels good to be back in Bangkok. It’s always nice coming back to a city when you have an idea of how things work, how much they cost and how to get around. I arrived in Bangkok on Wednesday evening and dumped my stuff before heading up to Kao San Road to have a reunion with Mary, Mika and Rob who all arrived yesterday. Typically the evening got very messy, there was a Thai acoustic guitar duo playing very good covers from the Killers to the Beatles, two Spanish guys making balloon animals, I definitely recall a lot of buckets, dancing on tables, stealing a guitar from a busker on the street so I could play ‘Proud Mary’ and eventually passing out in Rob and Mika’s hotel room. Kao San road, cheesy and cliched, but fun! “Take me home, Kao San Road, to the place I belong…”