Right now I'm preparing for my next journey to Penang. I have to head to Malaysia to get a new tourist visa as mine expires in a few days. And I can't help but remember what the first trip was like. I meant to write a blog post about it (picture almost a therapeutic release because trust me, we needed it). So here it is.
I was supposed to be doing my first visa run by myself but I suddenly found myself with two travel buddies last minute as they discovered they also needed to head to Malaysia on the same dates. I'm used to traveling alone so I'll admit I was a little wary at first, but the universe knew what it was doing when it put the three of us together. The trip to Penang was fairly uneventful. We had a crabby minivan driver who didn't want to put the AC on and yelled at us when we opened the windows.
When we switched vans just before the border, the driver and staff tried to tell us we needed to pay 10B each in order to cross the border. One of the gals had done this run before and informed us this was untrue. We spent about 10 minutes arguing with the locals as they told us it was first for overtime for the driver, to pay for parking, and then that it was just required to pass out of Thailand. When we continued to refuse, they threatened to leave us at the border and we'd only have 10 minutes to get through the border before they'd drive away. If it wasn't for our gal, we all probably would have caved out of pure naivety.
The border crossing went smoothly, much to the cringe of our bus driver. When we arrived at the Thai border, he tried one last time to get us to pay, pointing to a sign and then getting a border officer involved, continuing to say we needed to pay. When we still refused, he then dragged us over to the immigration office. They took one look at our passports and sent us back to the line to get our exit stamps. ::fist pump to the air::
They gave us an automatic 90 day pass upon entering into Malaysia. I also learned that wearing my shorts and tank top were even more so frowned up in Malasyia with the very strong Muslim population. Oops!! When you only have 2 pairs of shorts and a couple of tank tops to your name, the selection is rather limited. Our driver continued to be miffed the rest of the drive; however, we managed to direct him to Georgetown and approximately near our hostel. About 13 hours later, we were there...sort of.
We had to figure out where our hostel was and we learned people in Malaysia aren't nearly as helpful as those in Thailand. Or at least not where we were at the moment. We found our way eventually and stayed at Love Lane Inn, a pretty basic hostel. If you're looking for cheap and total hippie-esque, I recommend this place. They're laid back and helpful. Great owner with a sense of humor.
We got our visas applied and picked up same day with the only hick up being trying to find the damn place. ::chuckles:: So much walking!!! Getting our visas!! We thought the hard part was over and celebrated with some drinks back at the hostel.
Waiting for our Thai visas
Photo property of Kira Zebroski
The trip back was the issue. First we couldn't find a ride. All the seats were booked. Note: if you know when you're leaving, book the tickets ASAP, don't wait. We finally managed to get a tickets, but only as far as Surat Thani, the port city that would then take us to Koh Phangan. We left at 8am the next morning and all went well until we hit the Thai border.
The driver once again asked for 10B to cross the border and we rolled our eyes and refused. The two other travelers in the van paid and hurried away with the driver. We got in line with our tourist visas, secure in our ability to pass the border. I noticed drivers cutting in lines with stacks of passports and the border patrol quickly stamping through them. I also noticed people having what looked like money tucked into their passports which they then handed over. This was my first moment of nervousness.
I was the first of my three girls to come to the counter. When I handed the passport over, the man took a brief look at it, looked at me for a moment and then asked to see 20,000B in cash. WHAT!? I stuttered...what was he talking about. And here's the deal with crossing into Thailand. The border reserves the right to see 20,000B in cash and an exit ticket, a traveling ticket proving you will be leaving the country before your visa is up (most often in the form of an airline ticket).
I had neither of these. No entry stamp into Thailand. The girls tried next with one having no luck, but the other was prepared with 10,000B in cash, a copy of her bank statement to prove she had more, and an airline ticket that may have been a word document forwarded by a friend. She secured a stamp. 1 outta 3 isn't bad, right?
So then we headed to the Immigration Bureau office to plead our case. Both of us had sufficient funds in our accounts to reach the 20,000B requirement (that's about 667 USD), but I only had my laptop and she had a smartphone. They gave us the password to WiFi rather begrudgingly but it wouldn't work. The smartphone was out of minutes so she couldn't login on her own either. They kept shaking their heads and saying they wanted to see the money in cash when we repeated that we had the money in our accounts. The third gal told us the bus driver wouldn't wait any longer and as she needed to be back in Koh Phangan for the start of her Yoga TTC training the next day, we told her to go.
We wandered the Thailand border, unsure of what to do. We found the one ATM my card works at and I was able to withdraw 10,000B in cash but I also learned that was the max I can withdraw in a single day. Her card wouldn't work at all. We went from ATM to ATM trying to get her card to work with no better results. The next thing to do was try and print out our bank statements but no one had a functional printer. So then she had to find a place that was able to put credit on her phone so she could access the internet. Success, finally!
Back to the office we go and she goes first, showing them her bank account with sufficient funds. They then ask for an exit ticket. Okay, just a sec. She quickly booked a flight to Australia, the first she could find and showed them on her phone. Alright, I guess we can give her a stamp. At this point, I've got money but no ticket and no way to book one. My gal was a doll and let me book through her phone (She assured me we could cancel with no cost. I had to hush her so the staff wouldn't hear). They didn't even ask to see the money, just the ticket. Here!! Aaaaaanndd....stamped!!! All this took about 2 hours.
Some excited and relieved ladies
photo property of Kira Zebroski
We got in just after 3 and immediately started scouring for the travel agency she said she was at. If I heard one more guy ask me if I wanted a ride, I seriously was going to flip on someone. We were on a mission! As time passed and we still couldn't find her, we realized they'd probably left. We then began searching for our own way back. And suddenly there she was!! She'd been left to sit for the last 3 hours, waiting for a non-existent bus. Horray! We could rejoin. Only problem is the guy at the office wouldn't let us on. He said that only she'd been dropped off and there was no proof we'd paid. I had the ticket we'd bought and showed the "3 passengers" and was told we could have forged it. We pieced together that she'd been dropped off at one agency and the woman there paid this current agency to take her when something happened to the minibus. So we had to go talk to the original lady.
I tried channeling love and patience to this woman as we walked over. One thing I picked up is to never yell at Thais. They will shut down and stonewall you. If you continue to talk calmly, oftentimes they'll compromise with you eventually. I met the woman at our agency and explained the situation and she said the same thing. She didn't know anything, couldn't do anything, and we should call the person we'd originally booked with back in Malaysia. I honestly don't know how I kept my cool but after getting stonewalled for about 15-20 minutes, she started making a call (without telling us what it was about) and apparently talked to the gal who originally booked us and confirmed we had in fact booked for 3 people for today's travel. All we were told (the conversation had been in Thai) was to Wait. I was completely wrung out and defeated at this point.
Suddenly a bus showed up and the lady told us to get in. We saw money exchange hands, but I wasn't going to stop and check. And guess who was inside?! Our third gal! She was in a tirade. Apparently while we'd been fighting our own battle, she'd been having her own. Shortly after we left, the van showed up but when she attempted to get in, the man told her she wasn't allowed on (he hadn't like us other two showing up and attempting to rejoin the group). Yelling ensued with the result being her left behind. Another man showed up (the same who'd dropped her off in the first place) and asked why she was still here. He had her get on the van when she explained and it just happened to be the same one we boarded. Everything happens for a reason, right?
We all swore at that point to never use another travel agency and find our own way from here on out. We got into Surat Thani around 9:30pm at....you guessed it, another travel agency. They wanted to book the ferry for us but didn't have one leaving until 11pm and wanted 500B for each of us. Umm, nope! I found us a tuk tuk driver who brought us to the pier. We caught the same ferry for only 400B each, wandered a little night market until it was time to go. Guess what?! The boat had beds! Or rather, mats and little pillows. I picked one near an open window to catch the breeze. Wouldn't have been so bad if it only hadn't started to downpour later that night. That's when I discovered the reason the window was open was because it had no window. I couldn't move closer to the girls because of the direction of the wind, so I snuggled up closer to some sleeping Thais and put up my umbrella to ward off the remaining rain.
We arrived back on Koh Phangan at 7am (8am Malaysian time) and so a full 24 hours had lapsed during this crazy trip. I don't think any of us expected to be as happy as we were to see that island again. We took a taxi cab back to Sri Thanu and that was that.
End of the road
Photo property of Kira Zebroski
