Three Countries, Just Over 24 Hours
Wow. Didn’t think I’d be doing this again so soon.
In this instance the countries involved are Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, and we didn’t even use air travel!
We had some minor problems purchasing our train tickets for the Bangkok-Malaysia journey (reserved seats weren’t available all the way to our final destination, Butterworth, but the ticket agent assured us that seats WOULD be around, and that all we’d need to do was buy a ticket to Hat Yai in southern Thailand, then talk to the conductor, or buy new tickets, or uh… something, when we arrived there.)
Lights by the side of the tracks… I’ve no idea what these were about, but we saw several similar displays flashing by as our train passed them in the night
Our rail car, all made up for bed. I really enjoyed the overnight journey (the first of our trip since, despite our best efforts, we didn’t manage to spend a night on a train in India or Bangladesh)
The overnight journey to Hat Yai was comfortable and fun. On Thai second class sleeper trains, the actual SEATS are huge, and even once they’ve all been unfolded into beds, there’s plenty of room. The diner car was also fun (and even . We ate our dinner there (WHY, I am compelled to ask, can’t Via Rail produce delicious, fresh Thai food on their trains for $2.50/meal?) along with a few Meh-Kong and cokes before heading to bed and donating the last 1/3 bottle of spirits to the cooks.
Me in the dining car enjoying a delicious meal of soup, curry, stir fried prawns, rice and fruit
The next morning we arrived in Hat Yai, I jumped off the train, picked up two tickets to Butterworth with minimal fuss, and arrived back just in time to re-board before the train headed south to Malaysia.
The ferry and the bridge, two ways across the water from Butterworth to Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia
We finally disembarked at Butterworth, in northern Malaysia, from where we took the ferry across to the island of Penang. We’d originally planned to stay in Penang for a few days, then head across to Sumatra, Indonesia, before returning to Malaysia further south in Melacca. But after observing the large difference in cost between one-way and return ferry tickets, AND that the World Dragon Boat championships would be on in Penang in a few weeks time, we made a rapid change of plans and decided to make it a return trip, departing the following morning.
Penang’s Chinatown. With our altered schedule, we barely had time to see anything of Penang, but we did manage to squeeze in a short sightseeing walk and a delicious lunch of naan, tandoori chicken and okra
Obtaining our ticket was easy, and the ride across the straits of Melacca to the port of Belawan was quite comfortable, despite the fact that every single seat on the boat was full.
Disembarking at Belawan, our first stop in Indonesia
Once we’d climbed off the boat and obtained our on-arrival visas, we headed from Belawan into Medan, Sumatra’s largest city, thus completing our transit of three countries in (just over) 24 hours.
Tags: Indonesia, Llew Bardecki, Malaysia, Penang, Thailand
