Leaving is bittersweet. I loved Thailand and met a bunch of amazing people but I'm excited to move on and explore Malaysia.
Since my visa was expiring and I didn't have the luxury of time I went to the bus station on Tuesday to buy a ticket. I found a bus that left Phuket and arrived in Penang the same day. The bus station has several companies with trips to Had Yai and Penang so it was a little confusing.
I'd made friends with some of the local business owners during my stay in Phuket so I made my rounds to say goodbye. Nadia left on Wednesday as well so we headed to Matt and Satisa's bar and set off lanterns. There was almost no wind, which I had thought would be a good thing since the nights when it's been windy the lanterns blew into things, but the lanterns didn't seem to want to get off the ground and we had to chase a few into a nearby field to make sure they didn't start a fire.
Nick was leaving Wednesday as well so we went to a bar in Kata to celebrate. The bars here all have various activities to occupy tourists (and part them from their money, although we didn't pay for any at this one). We played Jenga with two young Thai boys who were selling flowers.
This is a game where you hammer nails into a piece of wood... I don't really understand the allure.
We stopped at a restaurant on the way back to Chalong where they were still serving food at 4AM.
I pre-booked a taxi as well and I was a little worried that it wouldn't show up but everything went off without a hitch and I made it to the bus station in plenty of time.
I slept most of the time and the ride was pleasant. We stopped at one rest stop for food, they had a buffet but nothing vegetarian so I just stuck with a soy bean pastry.
The bus had left right on time (there's a first time for everything!) but we got into Had Yai an hour late so I didn't have much time before I got onto the minibus to Penang. I grabbed some fruit from a street vendor and waited in the travel agency's office for the bus.
The border crossing was pretty easy. I think the guy at the Thai border was joking with me about my visa because it was expiring that day, but of course he was speaking in Thai and I didn't understand him. He gave my passport back without a problem. We got back on the bus, drove a little bit farther, and then got out again to enter Malaysia.
It sprinkled for a few minutes and then a rainbow appeared over the fields.
The driver let us off in Georgetown and I went off in search of a hostel.
Burning things in the street seems to be pretty commonplace here.
Georgetown is a UNESCO World Heritage site and there are these metal sculptures all over town with interesting facts.
If I make it through my trip without falling into one of these gutters I will be happy. Why in the world would someone end a sidewalk with a three foot ditch?
My hostel is right near Little India and I found a cafeteria type restaurant where I got a vegetarian mix.
I found this street vendor after I'd eaten, it looks like a mobile hot pot stand. He had lots of different meats and veggies on sticks that you cook in the pots in the front. Everyone had bowls of sauce that they were eating their food with, looks like fun!
Malaysia seems great so far. Georgetown is beautiful with lots of old buildings and I was pleasantly surprised to find that everyone speaks English. Apparently I crossed into a different time zone too which I didn't realize until this morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment