Somewhat unexciting information of life between south and north...

After Brittany left for America, I spent the next few days cleaning and attempting to fix the broken washing machine with no success. I had been wanting to go up north to Mae Sai to visit Brandon and Aum, Brittany’s brother and sister-in-law. This seemed like a good time, and it just so happened that my friend Katie was also staying in Mae Sai. I called Brandon, and he set me up with a taxi driver who would take me to the bus station and go in and buy the ticket with me. We left around 3pm, got to the station around 4, bought a ticket to Chaing Rai on a bus that left at 9:40pm. Ideally, I wanted to get a VIP bus straight to Mae Sai. As it turned out, that bus was full, and the only available seat was on a second-class bus with no bathroom headed for Chaing Rai. I didn’t really know what was happening until the ticket was bought, but the taxi driver called Brandon and he told me what was going on. I figured that since the ticket was already in my hand, I would take whatever came. 

As I had 5 hours to wait, the kind taxi driver took me to a local mall, where I wandered around until it was time to go back to the bus station. It was a welcome relief from the chaos of the bus station. Apparently during crisis situations, such as the flooding that was at that time already encroaching on the outer limits of Bangkok, refugees collect at the bus station. After a frustrating time trying to get a tuk-tuk in the rain to get me back to the bus station, I finally made it there around 7:30. I weaseled my way through the crowds of people sitting on every available surface, and found a spot on the floor near my gate. Soon enough a middle-aged Thai man planted himself next to me and took it upon himself to entertain me and translate announcements for me. He was very kind, but a little clingy. I was actually glad to get on my second-class, bathroom-less bus. The bus was actually pretty nice. The seats were very clean, they reclined, and they gave us blankets. Unfortunately, there were two children sitting about 5 rows ahead of me who cried and puked intermittently for the entire duration of the 14 hour trip. 

Once I got to Chaing Rai, I purchased another bus ticket to Mae Sai. I could have gone via song tau and city bus, but at that point I was tired and unwilling to deal with city transportation. I figured buying a seat on a tour bus would speed up the trip. In reality, the normally 45 minute trip took 2 hours, and the bus didn’t leave for three hours after I arrived in Chaing Rai. I finally got to Mae Sai around 5pm and promptly got on a song tau to take me into town, forgetting to get my bag from the hold of the bus. I accidentally rode past the hostel where Katie was waiting for me, and ended up walking back on the side of the road. I met Katie, and she convinced her friend who worked behind the counter to take her to the bus station and get my bag.

It was quite the trip! They were able to get my bag without too much trouble. Katie and I went into town that night and ate at a little restaurant someone recommended to her earlier that day. The food was fabulous!! Atmosphere, not so great, but with Katie it was fun. Really, that was the anthem of the week that was to follow. Katie made everything fun!!

Vacation...finale

Hello again, from the land of smiles. I’d like to continue the story from where I left off. I’m sorry this is taking so long and the story is so drawn out. I’m afraid in my effort to be thorough, I prevent myself from being efficient. So sorry! Anyway, the last time I left you anticipating our travel from Koh Mook to Penang, Malaysia. 

We woke up early that morning, piled into a motorcycle cart taxi for the trek across the island to the pier where the ferry was docked. As it turned out, our Colombian friend was leaving that day as well, so we ended up with three people and all of our stuff sitting in that little cart. We had to get out 3 times in the 15 minute ride because of the rough road. Thais really put their motorcycles to work! We made it in time for the ferry and had a pleasant ride back to the mainland. When we got there, however, our friend Pablo realized that he had left his wallet and passport back on the island. Brittany translated for him and helped him figure out what to do. We left him sitting dejectedly by the dock, waiting until the afternoon ferry would go back across. 

We rode in a minivan back to Trang, transferred to another minivan, rode to Hat Yai, ate lunch and walked around, then transferred to another minivan and rode to Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia where we caught a city bus that took us to our final destination: Batu Feringgi, Penang, Malaysia. Needless to say, it was a very long day. The trip went quite smoothly though, and was broken up by the occasional excitement of getting pulled over on a bridge in Malaysia, meeting interesting people, having silent jam sessions while sharing headphones, and simply being crammed in a van full of strangers for 8 hours straight. 

When we finally got to Batu Feringgi it was around 10pm. After some wandering and asking around, we found a hostel/guest house for a reasonable price and checked in. The guesthouse is kind of a story in itself. Honestly, while I didn’t love it, I think my most memorable moments in Malaysia all included the people we met at the guesthouse.  Our first impression was of four men, sitting around the common area (basically outdoor space, but with a lean-to type roof), staring at us. Three of them were Malay, one was Polish (as we later found out), two were probably drunk or high or both, and all were very interested in our being there. But, the place seemed relatively clean, our door had a good lock, and man who helped us seemed nice and not creepy. We were very tired and hungry and they offered to feed us. So we stayed J It turned out just fine. The morning brought fresh perspective, and after some investigation of other equally priced guest houses, we decided to stay there. 

Each of the people we met at the guest house probably deserve their own blog entries. Maybe I’ll come back to that and tell their stories later. The two men who ran the place also lived there. One was married and had two adorable daughters, and the other was about as opposite as can be. He was a partier who had this charisma that drew people to him. The longer we stayed, and the more we got to know him though, Brittany and I came to see him as an extremely broken and hurting man. His name was Aslan. Then there was the Malay man who lived there permanently even though he had a house in town. He just didn’t like his mother, so he lived at the guest house and visited his mother at his house every day. Then there was Vortec, the internationally acclaimed Polish photojournalist who was travelling around Asia writing his biography. Then the two Irish girls who lived exuberantly and drank in a similar manner, and the Chinese lady who had spent the last three years in Paris trying to get away from a stalker. She told me that she finally came to the conclusion that if she just stayed happy, and believed that she was safe, she would be safe. Not sure about her logic. Then there was Jason, a Thai-American from Southern California who was in Asia to hunt down a long lost relative. And then the girl from Eastern Europe (I can’t remember which country) who was visiting Malaysia after working in Hong Kong for a year. She was what Brittany and I later decided would be the epitome of a “free spirit”. 

We spent the next three days wandering around the town and eating Malay and Indian food at every opportunity. One day we rode the bus to the National park where we hiked through the jungle to a beach at the very northern point of the island. That was my favorite part of Penang. The park was very well cared for, with signs clearly marking the trails. I hiked barefoot and it involved lots of climbing over giant roots, scrambling up and down embankments, attempting to swing on vines, and pretending in my head to be Mougli from the Jungle Book. The beach was nice, although I’m pretty sure nothing will ever compare to the beach at Koh Mook. On our hike back, we saw a bunch of monkeys in the canopy overhead, and I felt like my time in Asia was complete. 

Our last night in Batu Feringgi, we decided to check into one of the resorts by the beach. It was beautiful! We had hot water, clean sheets, a huge room, access to the pool, air conditioning, and television! It was a wonderful way to end the vacation. We napped and read and watched a movie on tv. I took a long bath, and we attempted to take advantage of every complimentary service the resort offered in our short time there.  

We left after lunch the next day. After waiting almost an hour for the “Runs every 20 minutes” bus, and missing our stop, we made it to the airport. We had to take a taxi from where we got off the bus to the airport. After some haggling we agreed on a price with a very kind man. As soon as we got in his car, we realized that he was a Christian! In fact, he took the time we were in his car to tell us the gospel. Actually, he drove about half the speed of traffic just so he could finish his story. While I appreciated his intention, it gave me some sympathy for those who are regularly on the receiving end of well-intentioned evangelism. He didn’t really give us any time to respond, but just kept talking and talking and blasting very religious, yet theologically vague music. We were kind of relieved when we finally got to the airport and bid him and his good intentions farewell.

The flight was fine, we made it to Bangkok and back to the apartment without any delay or flooding problems. Unfortunately, the apartment welcomed us back with an unplugged refrigerator full of spoiled food, a roomful of furniture with mold spots all over it, a toilet with worms of some sort breeding in the water, and a broken washing machine. Fun fun! We dealt with what we could, and after lots of last-minute preparations, Brittany left for the US about 36 hours later.