Resort time

Onwards to Penang

We landed in Singapore on-time around 0430 with a long taxi to the gate, getting us there at the scheduled time.  My connecting flight to Penang was about 3h later from Terminal 2.  Getting there by train, the gate had just been changed to Terminal 3.  Fortunately, the inter-terminal trains here are super-frequent.

At the lounge, I went crazy for local food because I’ve had Turkish (or similar) food for the last month in Azerbaijan, Balkans and Turkey.  Laksa, chicken congee and then vegetarian curry!

The Boeing 737 Max 8 left for Penang on time at 0750.  A snack and drink was served and the internet worked perfectly this time (when I didn’t need it at all). Arriving at 0920, I was out pretty swiftly and ordered a car to take me to the Bayview Beach Resort at Batu Ferringhi.

The driver chose to take the back roads rather than the highway and took just over an hour.  I nearly fell asleep towards the end of the ride.

That completed the usage of my Singapore Airlines super-cheap flight from Kuala Lumpur – Singapore – Zurich, and then Istanbul – Singapore – Penang for MYR1797.  That’s about NZD650 for Asia to Europe return. About NZD375 Kuala Lumpur – Singapore – Zurich and NZD275 Istanbul –  Singapore – Penang.  It balances out the expensive tickets I spent with them during the pandemic.  I took a risk booking this ticket back in April as the world was still an uncertain place with Covid-19 but fortunately all has ended well.

Settling in at Batu Ferringhi

My hotel’s official check-in is 1500 but I was lucky enough to get in at 1100!  There’s a power cut till 1800 (estimated) so it was better to not be indoors, since the air-conditioning wasn’t working.

The room was ginormous, accommodating the biggest bed I’ve ever had, made up of two doubles joined together as one.  This large high-rise resort hotel was dated in style but reasonably well-kept and clean.

Intent on making the most of this resort hotel beyond my usual price range, I was in the pool soon.  It was an overcast day and I questioned my choice of hotels, in case the weather doesn’t fine up.

Once sufficiently refreshed from my flights, I assembled my dirty clothes for a trip to the laundromat about 12 mins walk away.  With my load in the wash, I had a meal of pasembor and mee goreng from a hawker.  Half an hour later, I transferred my wet clothes into the tumble dryer and had a haircut.  It’s rare for things to work this well!

I spent the rest of the afternoon in or around the pool and had dinner across the road.  The road here is lined with shacks and shops.  They’re mainly restaurants, convenience stores, massage and laundry service (not self-service).  But it was awfully quiet during the day, not helped by the power cut.  It does liven up at night a little to give sufficient choice to guests who don’t want to eat in at the hotels’ extortionate pricing.

Having missed a night’s sleep, I fell asleep immediately after climbing into bed around 2100.