On 26th May, Yvonne and Jane headed off early in the car of a local friend they had met, and I spent the morning wandering the interesting streets of Georgetown, looking in bookshops for maps and information that might help decide on a plan after Bangkok. Wandering around at sea level was sweaty work, and by lunch time I was obliged to go back to the City Hostel to cool off in the shower.

Later on, I headed out toward the old fort at the North East end of the island. On the way I wandered into a temple. Despite this being a Muslim country, there are many ethnic groups in Penang.

Everyone seemed to be allowed to just wander in – it was all very informal.

At the historic Fort Cornwallis, which was built, of course, by the British, I got chatting to some Malaysians who recommended I later take a trip up on the cable car to Penang Hill.

Near the fort was a historic clock tower built to celebrate the Jubilee of Queen Victoria (or was it Empress Victoria at that point…?).

From the fort a bus took me to the suburb of Ayes Itam from where a speedy taxi ride led to the cable car station. It was a slow sweaty ascent in the cable car, but probably an order of magnitude less sweaty than walking up. Penang Hill was a decent height – 830 metres (2733 feet), and the view was rather better than expected. Also it was relatively cool.

Feeling a bit guilty about having got the cable car up, I decided to walk down, listening to the BBC News on my radio as I went. A local hotel owner gave me a ride in her car back to my hostel.

Jane and Yvonne were back from their outing, but Yvonne was complaining that a guy called Ramesh (connected to the hostel) had asked Jane on a date, leaving Yvonne on her own for the evening. That was enough of a hint, even for me, that Yvonne was available for a dinner date, so we went out for a spicy Malaysian meal and a long chat about Asian travel.

Next morning, 27th, we were all heading north, but Yvonne and Jane were heading for Koh Samui on the East side of the Thai peninsula. We had to all check out very early, and then climbed aboard a cross-border tourist minibus heading north towards Thailand.

After being stamped out of Malaysia, we reached the southern Thai city of Hat Yai, where we had an early lunch, then I said farewell and got a bus for Phuket. There was a stop in Krabi for a second lunch, but by the end of the afternoon the bus had crossed over the Sarasin bridge onto the island of Phuket. It was dark and rather cold when I alighted from the bus in Phuket town.

I decided to stay the night in Phuket town, and got a room at the pleasant “On On” hotel near where the bus left me. I went out for some food and ended up chatting until late in a nearby bar. It had been a long day.

On the 28th May I slept until late and then went to investigate trips to the fabled paradise island of Koh Pipi, but it sounded rather expensive. I decided to first relax for a day or two at Ao Pataong beach on the west side of the island and see what diving there was to be done. So after checking out I got a local bus down there and found a very nice bungalow for $5 per night.

The afternoon was spent going round the Patong dive shops – there were several that were German owned and seemed cheaper, but after finding that the owner of one such was totally drunk I went back to one of the 2 more serious places – Fantasea Divers – and discussed the possibility of doing a PADI Advanced training course.

At 8:30pm I went to meet the instructor – Christian Timberlake from the UK – and duly signed up for a 2 day course to certify me as an Advanced Open Water Diver. I was given the training manual, and since today is a Buddhist holiday and all the night life is closed, I came back to the bungalow, started studying my book, and brought my diary up to date..