These dawn starts are really beginning to get on my wick. I'm supposed to be on holiday!
Sadly, given the minibus driver wanted to be back in the Camerons for his tea and Penang is a four-hour drive away, it was the only option. Still it was nice watching the sun rise over the mountains.
Initially it was just me and the driver, but we stopped to pick up the boss - boss of what I never found out - who wanted dropping off on the way.
If the driver felt the need to impress the boss with his driving his skills, he went about it in a very strange way. Overtaking on blind bends at speed is not my idea of fun - even the boss got his prayer book and worry beads out.
We stopped at a service station when we got back to sea level, not an interesting event in itself, I just thought you might like to see what a Malaysian motorway service station looks like - not a Burger King in sight!
The deal I thought I'd made for a transfer to my hostel in Georgetown on Penang island turned out to actually be a transfer to Butterworth ferry station on the mainland. Oh well.
The hostel was in the old Chinese district of Georgetown, much like Malacca but on a bigger scale. It seems the Chinese have cornered the tourist market in Malaysia.
Although the scenery was much the same as in Malacca, it was still pretty nonetheless and I spent a couple of days wandering the backstreets taking it all in.
Georgetown has a delightfully delapidated feel, which gives it real character.
There's an old East India Company fort in Georgetown, Fort Cornwallis, which aswell as being historically interesting played Mozart from loudspeakers over the whole site - presumably in an effort to lend it an authentic 18th-century feel. Weird, but not unpleasant.
The food in Georgetown was delicious and cheap, as it had been throughout Malaysia. I'd struggled to find a definitive Malay dish, as the restaurants either serve Indian or Chinese-style meals. Presumably, given the ethnic mix of the country, that is what actually makes up Malay cuisine.
And for two quid a pop I had some of the best curries I've eaten outside of Brick Lane - and even the local places served Chicken Tikka Masala!
The toilets in Penang were some of the worst I've seen anywhere in the world though - this one being a particular highlight.
And there's nothing behind the door, that was it, just a grate in the floor.
While I'd been hiding in Kuala Lumpur I met an English couple, Matt and Christine, over breakfast and they'd given me their email address to get in touch when I got to Penang as Christine has family there.
Throughout this trip, I've never ceased to be amazed at how immediately open, generous and helpful other backpackers are to each other. But it hit me again when I emailed Matt only to find I was invited along to meet the family, join them for dinner and generally be made to feel welcome. I'd only talked to them for five minutes over breakfast!
I was taken to one of the hawker food markets in Georgetown, where we enjoyed a lovely dinner of satay, noodles, chinese sausage and fried tofu in the company of the local buses and taxis. Fantastic!
And I tried the delicious Apom for the first time - a kind of sweet fried pancake made with coconut - made for us on the spot.
That was my last night in Georgetown and after trying but I suspect failing, to express my thanks to Matt and Christine and her family - they hadn't let me pay for a thing - I set off back to the hostel.
Only to find my headless nemesis had followed me from a fridge in Patagonia to a fridge in Malaysia. And brought his mate.
Devious bastards.
