We sleepily got up at 6:30am to our alarm and quickly got ready as our friendly taxi man was picking us up at 7am to take us to the jetty. As I lifted my backpack onto the bed my favourite insect of all was hiding underneath it, a cockroach! It was either dead or scared by the look of fear on my face as it didn't attempt to scuttle away. We saw the sunrise above the mountain peaks whilst in the taxi and it looked like it was going to be a nice day until grey clouds suddenly filled the sky! We just missed the 7:30am ferry so had to wait another hour and it looked as though there was no place open to get any breakfast. However, we went into Starbuck's and they were just opening so we got a nice coffee and I had a warm banana and chocolate muffin which was to die for whilst Andrew had a warm croissant. We probably spent half of our daily budget on our breakfast but it was definitely worth it! We got on the ferry and had to watch karaoke on the TV followed by a terrible soap opera. We made it to Kuala Kedah port and asked at the ticket counter for directions to the bus stop but they only directed us to the taxi rank. We decided to walk in search of a bus stop and asked a local along the way who pointed to the end of the road where a bus was just pulling up, so we sped up but it pulled away. We had no idea whether it was the right bus anyway and knew they weren't very regular so just got into a taxi for the journey to Alor Star Express Bus Station. We then had to wait forty five minutes for a bus to Butterworth. Our bus pulled up late and it looked a little worse for wear! We stood around for a while as the driver disappeared, eventually returning so we could put our backpack in the baggage compartment. It was the worst bus journey yet, as not only was the road a little bumpy but the bus itself was so old and shabby that every second or so you were lifted off your seat! I was so agitated and shed a tear as I felt like the air was being knocked out of me at every bump! We made it to Butterworth in one piece and got the passenger ferry across to Pulau Penang. The only reason we were returning to Georgetown was to go to the hospital as I had a very bloodshot eye and a clump of blood under my eyelid. We got a Rapid Penang bus from the jetty to the General Hospital and finally found the correct counter, after a local lady offered her help. It was RM15 to see a doctor and we weren't waiting too long before the doctor diagnosed a burst blood vessel and sent me to a different room to have my vision checked out just as a precaution. I could see fine and so I just needed to pick up an eyewash from the pharmacy. We got a Rapid Penang bus back to the KOMTAR building and stopped at KFC as we were starving, before catching a free shuttle bus to the jetty so we could get the passenger ferry back to Butterworth.

We bought a bus ticket for Taiping and the bus was complete luxury in comparison to the bus we had from Alor Star . There were a total of three other passengers on board and we had huge seats that laid right back and had a leg-rest. We were almost falling asleep just as the bus pulled up at the express bus station which was 7km outside of Taiping so we had to get a taxi into Taiping itself. We got dropped off right outside the 'Fuliyean Hotel' and collapsed on our bed as it was around 9pm, so we had been traveling for about fourteen hours in total. I fell asleep almost instantly but Andrew stayed awake to watch a film as we had a TV, which was a novelty!