Bad Boy Stamp

July 7

1pm Thai time... 2pm Malay time

So Malaysia and Singapore are ahead of Thailand and all the Indochina counties by 1 hour.

We had an early start this morning and left Nahkon Si Thammarat at 7:30am. I spent the ride talking to Joanne. We talked a lot about kids and teaching and alternative treatments and obviously I was geeked about that. At one point Brett also brought up TED talks which I also love and was pumped to talk about. It wasn't a very exciting ride though.

We just went through the Thai-Malay border. It was a pretty easy border crossing. The vans came and picked us up on the Thai side. They transferred our bags for us from the Thai vans to the Malay vans. We had stopped for a drink/lunch on the Thai side. After that we had a short drive to the border and there were so many van and motorbikes and buses lined up. It was crazy. Brett said it was the busiest he's ever seen it.

The Malay vans took us past the border and parked and then we got out and walked back. There was a small building with a widow for arrivals and departures. We got our stamps at the departure window. Everyone's took a second. Mine... Didn't take a second.

Because I had entered by land this past time, I had only gotten a visa for 15 days. I knew I needed to pay 500 baht a day for overstaying my visit. The guy looked a me and told me this and I paid the 1000 baht (for 2 days overstay) and he told me to step aside. He still had my passport so I wasn't going anywhere.

I waited maybe 5 minutes for him to he all the paperwork situated for my overstay. I watched maybe 30 other people get their passport stamped. Brett kept telling me to poke my head back around at the counter. That did nothing. Finally they said something to me (called my last name but it was obviously pronounced incorrectly). I needed to somehow get in the office which I wasn't sure how to do. Around the corner it just looked like windows. I continued though and there was a door. The office was really tiny and I basically just had to sign my signature 3 times. I got my passport back and a receipt. I now officially have a bad boy stamp from Thailand in my passport. It's pretty cool.

There are also now 8 stamps on this one page in my passport. An entry and departure from Laos, Thailand the first time, Thailand the second time, my England stamp that was stamped over because it wasn't dark enough, and my bad boy Thai stamp. That's a crazy page! At least it saves me some room in my passport? I only have 3 full pages left and a few other pages with 2 empty spots.

They didn't seem angry at all and he gave me my passport back and smiled and told me, "okay, now you go to Malaysia!" It was cute haha.

Then we walked across the street to another building where it took 3 seconds to get the Malaysian visa. You are granted a 90 day visit. It was very quick and easy.

We then stopped at a bathroom at a gas station. We couldn't buy any food or drinks because we don't have any Malaysian money yet. And I didn't have to go to the bathroom but apparently it is not an Asian toilet anymore, it is a squat toilet... A hole in the ground with no where to put your feet and no porcelain under you. I feel like that may actually be easier but well see when I actually try it.

After we crossed the border and started driving they opened all the trunks and looked at the bags (didn't search them, just looked or counted) and wanted to see all our passports again to make sure we had received stamps. And, they did this one more time after the gas station stop before we got too far from the border. Brett said it is really easy for people to just come across and go disappear into the jungle so they like to double check.

Now we have a 3 hour drive to Penang.

1:36am Malay time

We got into Penang around 5:30pm. The hotel is pretty basic. We are close to Georgetown, the interesting part of Penang where all the trading used to happen because it was a huge trading port for India and China as well. We will see the town tomorrow morning.

We basically got in and had some time to chill and headed for dinner. Before dinner we exchanged money at the Currency exchanger. I still am confused about how much a ringgit is in comparison to the dollar. I know 1000 baht is 97 ringgit. I should look that up...

Okay. There is 3.19 ringgit in 1 USD. I'm so used to Thai baht because I have been there for 2 weeks that I'm all confused now. It's another new country again. I have no idea how much things cost and what to do and how to act and yea. Gotta get my bearings again!

We had dinner in this food court area. It was outside though. And it was kind if overwhelming. You don't order off a menu, you go walk around and order food from little stalls and give them your table number. Then, they bring it to you at your table and you pay. There were so many different food choices! Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Malaysian (which I'm still not sure what Malaysian food is like), there was even pizza and dessert. It was huge. You ordered drinks from these guys who ran around as well. The beer (Skul) was 13.50 ringgit! So expensive!... Compared to Thailand ha. It's not my favorite beer either. I still find drinking just really difficult here for some reason.

Katie and I split spring rolls (15 ringgit) and I had a dish that was shrimp and chicken barbecue Japanese style (19 ringgit). It was all pretty good. There was a heap of noodles on my plate and I couldn't eat them. I've been eating noodles and rice for so long now. Oy. Hopefully Malaysia and Indonesia will have different food to offer, although it sounds like it is Indian style food which I still have a hard time with since I got sick on that food in India. I'm sure ill cave at some point though.

I don't think Brett ever eats. And by that I mean rarely. I saw him eat a few times on Koh Phangan, but I haven't seen him eat too many other times except for chips from 7 eleven. He didn't eat lunch today but he did eat Indian food at dinner. I don't know. Just an observation.

After dinner, we went to a reggae bar. It wasn't too reggae other than it had bob marley stuff all over the walls. We sat outside the bar but still under an awning. We signed the wall with a sharpie as well. Jillienne, Marion, and Erin shared a beer tower (3 liters) but I hadn't loved the beer at dinner and I was full so I just got water.

Our conversation was pretty much entirely about sex and penises. No surprise since it was all 4 americans at one table together! We got back to the hotel around midnight.

A few things I forgot:
1. In the van, Joanne and I were also talking about children and how much more aware they are here but in a different sense. Like they are more coordinates at a younger age for example. But that's just how they grew up and had to adapt to life. It's just really interesting to see though.
2. When we entered Malaysia we had our van pulled over a total of 4 times I think. They only checked our passports 2 of those 4 times, but they always checked the trunks and the drivers got out and such to talk to the officers.
3. Malaysia is also very green. It is different than Laos or Nepal or Vietnam though. It is not as mountainous (although they do exist) and it is a lot of palm trees, shrubbery, trees. I didn't see any rice fields yet or anything like that.