Day 5, Saturday 26 October 2013 - Pantai Cenang

More decisions..... Today I am late waking up with no clear after effects from last night. Easy Hotel provides mugs, instant coffee and lemon/ginger tea with milk and creamer. There is a kettle to boil water, something that appears to be standard in most accommodation here. However I have not arranged a breakfast. Two things need to be settled today. I want to check out from Easy Hotel to get a better rate. 100 Ringgit per night is barely sustainable. The other concern is the motorbike. I've only paid for 1 day. It should be back at Kuah by 1 pm. Neither of these issues will be settled anytime soon. It's raining heavily and continues to do so throughout the morning. Nevertheless, I check out of Easy Hotel leaving my bags at reception while I find something to eat. On this recce I try to resolve both issues but fail. Several options I considered yesterday lead nowhere as I'm unable to shave much of the 100 Ringgit tag. I really need it to stop raining to cast the net further. Perhaps I plate of chicken fried rice will give me inspiration. Well it may have done. At least the sky looks less threatening and bang on midday the rain eases. I head back to Easy Hotel to get my bags. Is this going to be another awkward day?
Cenang Valley Inn..... I start up the motorbike little knowing that within 30 minutes everything will be sorted out not just for today but the next 3 days. To the landward side of the beach road are a number of private tracks many of which lead to guesthouses and bungalows. Easy Hotel is on one of these tracks. As I head off along the beach road I notice a turning to my right where accommodation is signposted. Several possibilities immediately come into view. Just two hundred yards down the track, work is underway building new chalets. If I look beyond this work I see the chance of getting a good rate on the existing units. I'm right. The owner turns to greet me gladly wanting me to check out the rooms. The rooms are much nearer the type I normally stay in, in Thailand. Not posh but ticking all the boxes. He wants 70 Ringgit per night. I ask for a discount for three nights and we settle for 65 Ringgits/night. It's soon sorted. Not only that, but the owner is able to call the number I'm given when renting the motorbike. I don't need to travel back to Kuah. The owner of the bike will come here: Worried about payment huh! Regarding the room it’s one of those imponderables. Should I have been more patient yesterday? I'm just minutes away from Easy Hotel. I did have the time.
Another setback..... Time is passing and there's no sign of the owner of the motorbike. I can't wait around all day. There's still three hours of daylight but any thought of a grand tour of the island today has long gone. Still I've two full days left. This 14 day (13 nights) four centre I planned to divide into 3 nights per location with 1 night free. It's not free anymore. It's time to have a look around Cenang. Carrying on down the strip there is more of the same resort activity. Another duty-free outlet appears on my right. I will check that out on the way back. At a small cove at the end of the strip activity centres around parasailing. I decline to participate and head on further around the headland towards Pantai Tengah. Here there are some top of the range resorts but a small bay serves as a jetty for boats taking customers island hopping, snorkeling, scuba diving etc.
The only thing I find interesting about underwater right now is a tea bag. This location however, provides me with one of the best views of the archipelago so far. I head back to Cenang to the duty-free shop I spotted earlier. It seems even cheaper than the other one: Now time for a meal. Tonight it's Thai food and mighty tasty it is too. I arm myself with another can of strong lager and head back to my room. As I write up some notes I find it's difficult to download web pages from here despite a message confirming a connection. In the process Yahoo has asked me to confirm password details. For some reason maybe because of a poor connection wrong input has caused a system lock-out. The only way I can recover is to get a code sent to my UK phone which is back in Bangkok. I'm faced with 10 days without access to emails. This is virtually a lifeline as I don't have a Malaysian SIM card in my phone either and I won't be back in Thailand for three more days. The best I can do I think is to post a message on my website. They say calamity comes in three's. I've just discovered also that the SD card slot on my computer isn't working which means I cannot transfer photos from my computer without an adaptor. There is plenty for me the think about tonight. Perhaps the lager will alleviate the suffering!
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