I wasn't even sure I could do it properly as I have 3 suitcases. I am so glad I kept my nice small rolling bag for all of my electronic equipment as I do have lots of it. I also have the biggest rolling backpack made that I picked up in KC back in January. I am able to wear the backpack and pull the other two. I should have had a picture as I look pretty ridiculous when lugging it all around. Thankfully the wonderful concierge at the KL Hilton helped me get to the KL Sentral station with all of it so that part was easy. Getting on to the train, down the escalator and up the steps of the train was a bit more difficult.
I had a wonderful sleeper berth from KL to Butterworth. Butterworth is on the west coast of Malaysia directly across from the island of Penang. I had a blog entry about Penang in the KL blog. I spent the weekend there in Nov 08. I had quite a long layover in Butterworth but with all my junk didn't have the energy to go to Penang. As luck would have it, I met a lovely gentlemen at the KL Sentral station who lives in Butterworth. I ended up running into him after I got off the train and we sat at a hawker stall having coffee at 4:30 a.m. while he got in touch with his wife to come and pick him up. Mr Ho and his wife graciously offered to take me for breakfast in Butterworth at a Chinese hawker center that specializes in dim sum. OMG!!! Delicious beyond words. Amazing homemade noodles with prawns and pork swimming in mild Malaysian soy sauce and sambal. YUM!!! Killer pau stuffed with BBQ pork, steamed rice paper stuffed with all kinds of greens and garlic, fried radish paste, steamed mushrooms wrapped in rice paper, egg tarts, and many other yummy things. Some of them do not have a English name. I just asked Mr Ho and his wife to allow me to skip the ones made with offal (parts...so to speak) which they found quite amusing as they said the pig liver is particularly delicious. I was absolutely stuffed and very thankful for the wonderful new friends I made in Butterworth.
I boarded my next train at 2 p.m. for the 20+ hour ride to Bangkok. Luckily, the second class only train was not too bad at all. I was very smart to reserve both the upper and lower bunk so that I didn't have to have anyone crawling on top of me. It also gave me some space to keep all my bags close at hand so I didn't have to worry about them. Traveling in the Golden Triangle and crossing borders makes you want to keep a close eye on your luggage...a tip from my American buddy in KL...and he should know.
The train ride was really great and went by quite quickly. The train seems to stop every 10 minutes until the Malaysian border and was filled with Malays who use the train for school and work. It was interesting to see that ALL the Malay women (wearing tudongs) got off before the Thai border. The southern Thai region is having some issues with violence against Muslims. I wasn't able to get a visa in advance as I went to the Thai embassy in KL and they would not process the visa the same day...as it said they would on their website. Ugh...I knew my horoscope was a bit of an omen when it said "you will do lots of running around today for administrative reasons but will get nothing done." That is exactly what happened. So now I have a Thai visa that is only good for 2 weeks. Have to figure that out later.
The landscape changed immediately when entering Thailand. Fascinating...no more oil palm plantations, no more mahjids (mosques), and LOTS more padi fields (rice). As we approached various villages, I could also see the huge and ornate Buddhist temples. Lots of people getting on and off the train and we seemed to stop in each and every village again. I had my first Thai beer on the train. YEAH!!!! Another thing to love about Thailand....cheap beer. I fell asleep really early and amazingly slept until the sun was just rising. I could tell we were getting closer to Bangkok as there were lots more towns and less padi fields. The architecture of the villages in Thailand is quite different from Malaysia. As we got close to Bangkok, I got a close up view of the slums and they go on for a very long time. I know they say the slums in Mumbai are the worst, but these were pretty heavy duty. I was reminded a bit of my first visit to Mexico City where we saw the slums when traveling into the city. The rubbish everywhere is pretty scary and seeing people living right next to it. We had a huge delay just over an hour from the station as something was wrong with the train. I was lucky in that they finally got us going again and we did not have to change trains. I did not want to have to mess with the luggage again.
Finally in Bangkok where I was smart enough to reserve a room in advance. A bit of negotiation with the taxi drivers and I was off to my hotel. I think I am more or less in the financial district of Bangkok. Last night I wandered around and had some delicious wok fried noodles with pork, veggies, and basil...and yes, of course, I had 2 big beers for less than $5. I have to say, I haven't thought about this much in the past year, but it is really nice to feel like you kind of fit in to the masses and are not in such a minority as I was in KL. It is rather comforting to feel like it is OK to walk around in tank tops and shorts. I never minded covering up more in Malaysia and felt it was important to do so to be culturally appropriate, but it is nice not to stand out so much.
OK, this blogging stuff is time consuming and I need to go out and do some site seeing in the city.
Cheers!!!
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