Malaysia/Thailand: Monkeys Everywhere

After enjoying a few days in George Town, the largest town in Penang Island, we were keen to explore more of the island so we booked three night in Tony’s Guesthouse, a hostel with great reviews in the village of Teluk Behang on the northern coast of the island. It was about an hour by local bus from downtown George Town, passing lots of high rise buildings and enormous shopping malls on the way.

Tony’s Guesthouse was down a dusty laneway, backed by forest and jungle. Ceiling fans whirred over the hammocks and the selection of battered sofas in the communal area, circulating hot air from the tin roof in the open-sided, barn-like structure. A couple of beige coloured dogs slept on mats outside, caged birds sang from a wired enclosure while the free birds sang their hearts out from a few palm trees.

Mina, the manager and chief bottle washer, cooked fried rice and noodles and made egg sandwiches for anyone who wanted but there were cooking facilities available. There was also free coffee but unfortunately it was the  popular sachet type with coffee grains, sugar and creamer mixed together….as disgusting as it sounds. But there was free filtered water and bikes available to rent for about €0.30 a day – the bikes were old and battered, no gears and flaky brakes, but handy for a trip around the village or to get to the beach.

When the sun shone, the waters around Penang Island were a mesmerising turquoise colour but they were not the cleanest or the cleanest. Those milky, murky waters could also be hiding a large variety of jellyfish, even the infamous box jellyfish at certain times of the year. The beach near the village was known as the Cat beach, as it was beside a cat rescue station and the cats had the beach to themselves……..and the stink was ferocious.

The best beach in the area was Monkey Beach, which could be reached either by boat or by a hiking trail through jungle, which took about an hour and a quarter.  After hiking there early one morning, we realised that the beach was aptly named, at first we were entertained by the antics of the monkeys, grooming each other, swinging on the branches and strolling down the beach. But when we turned our backs to stare at the sea, wondering whether any jelly fish were lurking in it, a monkey snuck up behind us, opened the zipper of Caoimhin’s backpack and grabbed a green plastic bag out of it  and ran.

The bag contained our breakfast, two portions of Nasi Lemak, (rice with a hard-boiled egg and spicy sauce, wrapped in banana leaf and newspaper which is really popular street food all over Malaysia). Caoimhin ran after the thief who scurried up a tree, Caoimhin threw some stones, yelling like a mad thing,  and the monkey dropped the bag, one portion of Nasi Lemak spilling open and raining down a shower of rice but the other portion was intact. We had envisaged a tranquil picnic on the beach but we ate the remaining portion as fast as we could, standing up and clutching our belongings, surrounded by monkeys who were ready to grab food out of our hands and make a dash for it. Eventually they lost interest and ambled down the beach and into the trees.

Sometimes photos of ‘paradise’ don’t tell the whole story with thieving monkeys and jellyfish lurking in the water. Although there weren’t too many jellyfish and none of the really dangerous kind, I did get stung……on my face. This was a weird sensation, both numb and tingling at the same time with some swelling.

There are many ways to get to Thailand from Malaysia as they share a 600 kilometre land border. We didn’t want to fly – with the approach of the Chinese New Year, there were reports of huge queues and delays at Penang Airport. We opted for a minibus operated by Beh Travel which we booked online the day before. We were picked us up outside a shopping mall in downtown George Town and dropped us in Hat Yai, a large Thai town about an hour inside the border. We were pleasantly surprised by the trip  which cost about €12.50 each for the four and a half hour journey. The minivan was very comfortable with a calm competent  driver. There were nine passengers of various nationalities Japanese, German, Polish, British and us. It was the easiest border crossing that we ever had, no queues and no hassle. Our passports stamped with a sixty-day visa. The German girl, who was volunteering in Thailand as a teacher, and who had been on a ‘visa run,’ spending a few days in Penang to renew it, was detained for a while but eventually got through.

At first Thailand didn’t feel that much different to Malaysia except that the signs in the Thai script were completely unintelligible to us. We had gained an hour with the time difference between the countries and it was now the year 2569 BE because Thailand uses the Buddhist calendar which starts in the year of Buddha’s passing, 543 years before the Gregorian calendar.  Cars were still driving on the left, the same as Malaysia and home, it was hot (about 34C) but very green with lots of motorbike traffic on the roads.  In Hat Yai, our trusty driver dropped us  at the bus station where our first task was to take out some Thai currency, the Baht (100THB = €2,70). As soon as I inserted my card, a colour photo of the King of Thailand filled the screen. We soon realized that his image was everywhere.

The local minibus driver bundled us into the back of his crowded van to take us to Songkhla, a town by the coast about an hour away where we had booked a guest house for a few nights The driver, who was quite old, shouted ‘Hello, hello’ into his mobile phone as his drove. He was obviously also hard of hearing as each of the passengers had to shout at him a number of times to tell him when they wanted to get off. We stayed quiet as we weren’t sure where the minibus was going or how to pronounce our destination. The van continued until Caoimhin and I were the last people left and our driver shouted at us to get off. He wasn’t too happy when we handed him a 1000 Baht note (the ATM had given us large denomination notes) but he proceeded to pull wads of cash from inside his shirt to give us change.

Tourists, or at least Western visitors, weren’t that common in Songkhla and many people waved to us or if they had English said ‘Welcome to Thailand.’ Our guesthouse was lovely, a traditional Thai house full of dark wood floors and antique sofas with a lovely serene host, who spoke no English There are also signs apologising for the racket that the monkeys that live in the nearby forests can make and warnings to keep windows closed to prevent them from coming inside.

After a quick rest, we wandered around in search of a drink and a restaurant. Sunset was around 6,30pm (an hour earlier than Malaysia and sunrise was about 6,30am). A bar with some seats outside looked promising – it was called Stoners – but when we pushed open the door and sniffed, we knew what its name signified. The smell of weed was overwhelming with and about two dozen jars on the counter containing different type of leaves. The glassy-eyed ‘barman’ laughed when we said we were after beer.

The beach in Songkhla was long and sandy but the tideline was full of rubbish, plastic bottles and bits of fishing nets. A couple of fishermen were hauling in nets which had a few shellfish  but mainly broken shells and bottle caps. But then we discovered other beaches, Songkhla is on a peninsula, surrounded by water on three sides. The most popular spot was down by the Golden Mermaid Statue, a place with beachside restaurants  facing the water, ponies for pony rides and relatively little rubbish.

The warning about monkey racket in our guesthouse was certainly warranted. About thirty of them ran around the tin roofs jumping, swinging and chasing each other until we thought the ceiling would fall in. Although some regarded monkeys as pests, they are not only tolerated but revered and considered sacred, descendants of the Hindu monkey god, Hanuman.

Songkhla was made up of many parts. There were wide boulevards lined with magnolia trees and lots of imposing government buildings, there were busy roads that were almost impossible to cross, there were narrow laneways where people lived closely with open doors, communal washing machines outside their doors, benches and chairs for chatting to neighbours, there were lots of sculptures and street art, an old town with a few trendy shops, there were food stalls for cheap delicious food, and one café serving iced coffees that had queues of office types although the prices there were only slightly less than home.

There was torrential rain one day, prolonged and unusual for February. After sloshing around and trying to dodge the downpours, we decided that a massage would be a good idea, and fantastic value at about €6.50 for an hour. I opted for a face and head massage, in an effort to reduce the swelling on my face from the jellyfish sting. It certainly seemed to work wonders. The longer we stayed, the more we liked Songkhla, this university town with its friendly vibes.

After three days, we moved on up the coast of the Gulf of Thailand, to a beach resort (Reboot Retreat Beach Resort) with a gorgeous infinity pool and rooms with sea views.  We have been spending our days swimming, walking the beach with the two resident dogs, doing some yoga on the airy rooftop and lolling around. It’s a little remote so when the bus dropped us at the Klai intersection, the manager of the resort collected us in his car, driving while holding his baby daughter in his arms. It’s  very quiet, rural and the most relaxing place we’ve stayed in, with the sound of the sea and bird song. The only thing that makes us sad are the couple of monkeys which are chained to a tree, outside a house up the lanwway, such a contrast to the freedom of the monkeys we have seen so far.

But really we are on a countdown, a countdown to the long overdue reunion with our three children and their partners on the tropical island of Koh Phangan, which is due to happen on Monday.

In the meantime, Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone, be sure to pamper yourself❤️😍