And Miles to go Before I Sleep
Bangkok,
Thailand
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
After landing back in Singapore, I figured it would be too much trouble to get the subway to Queens St. Station, catch a bus to the border and cross into Johor Bahru again and then catch a bus up to KL. Of course, that would have been the cheap way to do it, but I just couldn't be bothered, feeling ill and having a bad stomach. So I looked on line for alternatives and came up with a train. The price of the train was only 43RM for a 2nd class sleeper too. I figured the crossing into Malaysia had to be easier on the train than on the bus. Unfortunately, I didn't read the fine print that says that if you buy the train ticket in Singapore, you have to pay the fee in Singapore Dollars instead of Ringgit. And we're not talking about the equivalent of 43RM in dollars, but 43 Sing Dollars. It's almost 3x the price, but I really had no choice since I was standing at the station and bought it anyway. It's pretty maddening to know that an $12 ticket is now costing me $32 just because I was too lazy to cross the border first before catching the train in Johor Bahru. Of course, since I booked a ticket at the train station about 30 mins before departure, I got the last bed before the loud air con car. Also the last car sways a lot more than the other cars on the track so I barely got any sleep at all on the 9 hour journey. As with most modes of transport, I fell asleep before we even left Singapore. Unfortunately, when we got to the border, a loud knock woke me up to check out of Singapore and ostensibly into Malaysia.
Today as I ran through the airport to catch my flight to civil war torn Bangkok, I looked at my passport and noticed that I never got a stamp into Malaysia in my passport. Fortunately, out of the 30 or so Malaysian stamps I have, there were 3 stamps into and out of Malaysia on a page that were current enough so that I wouldn't have overstayed so I put my departure card in that page. The Jedi Mind Trick worked again and the officer stamped me out without a question. Now all I had to deal with is that I was flying to Bangkok with about 30 other idiots on the entire A320 Airbus. I guess no one else was stupid enough to take the flight. I'm not sure what the other passengers were doing, but I sure wasn't dumb enough to leave the airport and venture into town when this current violent protest against the government could explode at any minute. That night about 2 or 3 am a fight broke out between the two sides and about 40 people were sent to the hospital and 1 man died of his injuries after having his head bashed in. White people are probably alright, but this is one time I don't want to blend in with the population. I want to put on a loud Hawaiian shirt that says Don't mess with me, I'm a tourist. Since most of the transportation workers are on strike except non Thai aviation, I booked an Air Asia flight to Chiang Mai in the morning so I wouldn't have to bother going into BKK at all. Unfortunately, a six hour lay over in BKK from 12am to 6am isn't nearly as nice as a 5 hour layover in SIN from 3pm-8pm. Free wireless in SIN is the rule, here it's the exception. I did manage to find a restaurant that has wireless, but it was very pricey and closed at 2am for cleaning. I'll go back when they open back up to post this entry. My friend told me that everything is alright in Chiang Mai. I guess there wouldn't be much anti government protests up there as that is where Thaksin's base of supporters are. I could easily spend 3 weeks in the north instead of going back to the islands, but I do miss the water. The last time I can remember being in the ocean was in the South China Sea in Bako National Park in July. Woe is me, I know... I can hear all those tiny weeping violins playing for me right now. But I guess the question for me is, if not now, when? It's not like I'm going to go swimming in China any time soon. I guess I'm just going to have to play it by ear and see how this revolution turns out. I hope that no one else will die in this latest chapter of political upheaval in Thailand. I hope the PM just steps down and a new less corrupt government gets put in place. I actually wish that Thailand would just return to a Monarchy at least up until the King passes away. Everyone loves him anyway. Why don't we all just do what he says? He's proven himself to be a good man over the past 60 years of his "reign". Why not let him serve out his final years as the King leader instead of just a figure head. Hopefully before he passes away, a new government could be formed and put in place upon his death.
Long Live the King of Thailand!
The eternal optimist in me says at least the USD has jumped back over 34Baht for the first time in over a year. Where's the ATM?
