Malaysian Visa Run and Beyond

It was a success! I now am back in Thailand with a new 30-day Visa. The 26th was the day of my visa run. I woke up at 2:30 after less then four hours of sleep and headed out towards the pick up point. As I headed out most of the streets were empty except for pockets where the night of the 25th was still going strong. It was all groups of Western men hanging out at the bars anbd clubs with their Thai counterparts. As I walked toward my meeting point every Thai woman I walked past solicits me for 'company' and every man for a Taxi. Breakfast that morning was at a 24/7 McDonald's. I had two hamburgers because breakfast wasnt being served yet. I choked it down and went to wait for Herb.

I was fairly nervous at first because Herb was late and I just got there at 3:20 our meeting time. I prayed I had the right corner in Lamai, because his description for the corner was based on a McDonalds, Family Mart, and Bar. All three are all over the island. About 10 minutes or so later Herb races up looking manic. He said something about there being a foot of water on the other side of the island then throws my crap in the bed of the truck and takes off. As we pull away he guns it through a narrow street down the middle of road eventually hitting close to 120-130 km/hr. I think that is close to 70 or 80 mph, but still the streets were not meant to go 55 on let alone that fast. At first it was hard to tell if Herbert was just a maniac or a stickler for his schedule.

For an hour we raced completely around the island picking people up at various nondescript corners till the cab is full. I am the first one to be kicked out of the cab and into the bed once it is too full because I signed up late and got the last spot for the trip. I am handed a rain jacket and Herb promises he'll slow down when I get in the back. Honestly, riding in the back of that truck around the island was one of the best part of my trips. A lot of the island wasnt lit by this point and the sky was cloudless so you could make out the stars very easily. I identified Orion's belt easily, the only constellation I know. Honestly, riding in open-air vehicles at high speeds along windy roads is by far my favorite part of the developing world.

Once we have all been collected, we are taken to the pier and sent off towards Don Sak, the mainland of Thailand. We got to see the sunset on the boat. We have already finished the border paper work before we got on the boat so Herb can meet his tight, tight timeline. From a ferry to a minivan. The minivan had AC at least and comfortable seats, making it tolerable. There were 9 of us plus Herb and our Thai chauffeur. No one talks on the ride down except for Herb who has too much energy considering the time of day.

We stop for one break before we reach the border. It was to get gas. We had 5 minutes. I hit the can, convenience store and a pineapple stand. Apparently, I took 6 minutes because Herb wasnt happy. When we get back on the bus he yells at everyone while mainly looking at me. He made it very clear to all of the new people that if we take to long on any of these breaks then we will miss the final ferry going back to the island at 4 pm.

We get the border at 10:45 am. When we get there it just two border stations with a road between the two. There a bunch of Thai stores leading up to the Thai station, shacks selling food. We take our passport and paper work and just go to the Thai border guard, get stamped as leaving. Walk down the road to the Malaysian station give them our papers get marked as entering turn walk back the other side get marked departing and then head back to Thailand. All of the guards on both sides seemed completely indifferent to the entire process. One of the guys in the car with me showed me his passport and it was filled with stamps from just doing this monthly. This is just a way of life for foreigners residing out here. No big thing! Personally, I thought the whole thing was pretty exciting. It is the first and hopefully last time I have to make a break for the border to keep the govt off my back. It really felt like a prisoner exchange to me. The border was empty except for the single person walking from one station to the next across an open space between the two guarded stations.

Even though my Malaysian stay was about 3 minutes long at most, it did look like a beautiful place to go. Hopefully I get to go back.

One more break as we head back and then we get back to Don Sak at 3 pm as promised. Herb is the man, eccentric but good.

. . . . .

After getting to Don Sak, I have worked my way across to Ko Phi Phi where I slept last night and will tonight and the next night before heading to Bangkok through Phuket. I have big plans for tomorrow. I signed up for a package deal where I get to snorkel with sharks, go cliff diving off a 20 m cliff, 66 feet tall (hell yeah Im doing it), and then go and sleep on Mai Bay, the bay where the movie ' the Beach' was filmed. Im getting pumped.