I officially 'back packed it' yesterday. For starters, I took an 11 hour mini-van ride from Krabi to Penang, Malaysia in order to save $150 on a hour-long flight. I have officially lost the time-value-of-money concept. About 5 hours into the trip, the driver stopped, got my backpack out of the car and placed it on the sidewalk. He pointed to a cafe across the street, I think, and mutter something in Thai. I asked him to hold on while I struggled to get my ever-growing, 50 pound backpack on to my back. He decided to get back in the car and leave. I knew I was still in Thailand, but I had no idea where. I am only able to idenfity the town as Thailand's extra-large, stuffed hello kitty doll capital. Luckily when I got to the cafe, they seemed to be expecting me, put me in another car for about 4 blocks where I transferred to another car and was asked to hand over my passport for a few minutes. Sketchy, but it all worked out just fine.

When we got to Penang, I was going to head to the beach, but I met some English people on the ride down and decided to stay in Georgetown for a night or two. Penang is full of rich Malaysian and Indian food that Lonely Planet (aka the bible) raves about so it wasn't a hard decision. It had been a long day, it was hot and I was starving. The mini-van does not stop for food. I looked at a couple of guest houses, and found the best option within the time limits I had established to dump my backpack and get some food in my belly:

Please notice the seductive poster on the wall on the right, it was a nice touch and not even an advertisement, it was there for guest's viewing pleasure. What you don't see in these pictures are the gaps between the wall and ceiling, the electrical tape holding up parts of one wall while the adjacent wall is falling apart. Maybe I am just getting more used to traveling, but it wasn't really that bad until the Monks started chanting at 5am. That was the deal breaker for me. I found a nicer hotel today and will be leaving tomorrow to go to Sumatra, Indonesia.

For anyone coming to Penang, I must recommend Mr. Jim. He is a local who runs a guest house on Chulia Road (its a dicey area but many people like it). He is an older Jamacian guy who can, and will, do anything. He'll get visas, exchange your money, get you a ticket out of Penang, and even get you a beer and some food. And he does it with lightening fast speed, which is not typical for Asia. And, he just might be the happiest person I've ever met. Meeting Jim has been a riot!