Apes goes to Malaysia.

Whelp, it happened. I had to do my first VISA run. And since I am in the South of Thailand, the closest border was Malaysia. So on Sunday I packed up and headed out (alone) for a few days in a country I had never even had on my list to visit. I had many different emotions: excitement for a new adventure, irritation for having to have planned it in such short notice, worried since it wouldn't be as cheap as a trip to the market for dinner, eager for the experience of traveling alone.

So with my Chrome bag, and my many different emotions, I crossed the border to Malaysia. My first actual border crossing. It wasn't full of excitement as I thought it would be, but instead it was; stand in a line, get stamped, get back in the van, ride to customs, get out, xray my bag, then get back in the van. There was no "WELCOME TO MALAYSIA" dancers, or a complimentary "national drink". Just stamps in the passport.

Once in Malaysia, I stayed at the Banana Guest House - which of course, accompanied a reggae bar. Just like Thailand.

Since I got in during the evening on Sunday, I didn't do much before bed, except dropping off my VISA papers to get processed. The guesthouse had sold out of the fan-only cheap rooms, so I had to get a pricier AC room for the night. My room had no windows, so I had to make sure I didn't sleep past checkout.

Monday morning I woke up, and since I have been on an "India Kick" with reading Shantaram (I highly recommend) and watching "Outsourced" I decided the first stop for me was Little India (plus it was a few blocks from the guesthouse). Mostly, I just wanted Naan. So I stopped in a restaurant called Kareem Mustafa and had Indian rice with Chicken, and cauliflower vegetable, and naan. MMMM naan. That was the best part of the meal. It was ALL delicious, but the Naan is what did it for me. The dipping sauce for it was the best I had ever had and I couldn't stop eating it! I almost ordered a second one!

After lunch, I took the free shuttle around town to look at the different areas in Georgetown. That took about all afternoon, and then I decided to just relax for the rest of the evening. I knew I wanted to get up early and get to Penang Hill (a huge hill in town that you have to take a trolley for) but I knew I needed to be back in time to pick up my passport. So I sat outside and did some more reading of Shantaram, and then ended up meeting a guy from London who was headed to Thailand in about a week. We chatted about what I should see in Malaysia, and what he should see in Thailand, and then we both retired to our respective guesthouses.

Tuesday I woke up, and headed to the bakery restaurant for a BLT on a BAGEL!! AHHH A BAGEL!! Those still exist?? YES, and they do in Malaysia! Afterwards I figured my way around town using the town buses, and got to Penang Hill. The lookout point was GORGEOUS!!! You could see ALL of Georgetown - and the bring connecting Penang to the rest of Malaysia.

Hello Panoramic View on my new camera!!

I spent some time at the top of the hill just wandering and taking pictures, and it was GORGEOUS! After wards, I had to head back to grab my new Visa and then the road back to Thailand. Luckily I made it with enough time to pop over to the bakery to get actual fresh bread. Not sweet bread like Thailand has, but REAL bread! I bought a sesame seed bagel, a cinnamon roll, a loaf of focaccia(sp?) bread, and a loaf of '6 cereal' (aka 6 grain) bread. It all costs me about 9RM (Malaysia money) with was about 90 Baht (Thai money), and which is about $3.00 USD.

Once in the van back to Thailand, we passed through the border once again and we passed right as the Thai national anthem started playing. Aww, they were welcoming me back!! We didn't go through customs this time...maybe it was too late in the day?

Anyways, I had to stay in Hat Yai for the night, and then finish the rest of the trip to Surat Thani on Wednesday. I ended up getting back to my apartment around 2 or 3pm Wednesday. It was actually the first time I was in my apartment by myself since I moved in. Tim was with me for a while, then his stay overlapped with Bri's visit, and then her and I left on the same day. Today is my first night with no one in my apartment - its a strange feeling.

Anyways - I loved Malaysia, and would have liked to stay longer...maybe for a long weekend after a paycheck?? And travelling completely by myself wasn't that bad. I ended up making friends on the travels, and learned that I have to rely on myself to adventure out and find places to eat and things to do. Hopefully I will get the chance to do some more "self-discovery travel" in the future. And now I can add Malaysia to my list of countries I've been in - woo hoo, that makes 3 countries I've visited outside the states!!!

Sawasdee Kha,
Apes :)