Selamat Datang

10.30pm
Kota Bharu, Malaysia

See that? See how the country doesn't say Thailand anymore? Ain't it nifty? :D We arrived this afternoon. But to backtrack..

We fandangled our ferry boat and a bus from Ko Tao to Surat Thani, and from there caught a bus down to Hat Yai.

Bugger. Me. The entry from my journal on the bus ride from Surat Thani to Hat Yai:

"We arrived cramped, squashed, sweaty, deaf, and near catatonic after a 5 1/2 hour bus ride in one of the worst buses ever. It wasn't the seating (which was admittedly cramped), or the aircon (intermittent), or the stares of the local Thais at the farang (constant). It was the goddamn MUSIC! Our bus conductor must have a hidden (or not so hidden, as the case may be) sadistic streak.
Let me set the background. Local Thai buses all have sound systems installed to play music to entertain the passengers. Actually, I lie. That should really read
"Local Thai buses all have sound systems installed to TORMENT and DESTROY the souls of anyone unfortunate enough to be within earshot of the most horrible and downright godawful local Thai music known to man. It's specifically designed to pacify it's listeners and lull them into bleary eyed catatonic states, whereupon the 'conductor' (a vampire in disguise) comes along and sucks out the unfortunate traveller's souls via their now ripped and shredded ear drums".
If you listen to it, you...you just can't be held responsible for what you're gonna do to people! They're ALL soppy / suicidal Thai pop love songs. I really don't think they have any other music. And the locals just sit there and take it! If we had to put up with that shit in Oz, the country would be on fire and the universe would shed tears in just under 6.2 minutes.
And then we'd unleash Kylie Minogue and Kasey Chambers to duet and ultimately destroy the world, thereby heralding Ragnarok, Armageddon, AND the End Times.
The music is that bad. I shit you not.

+

Rantings of madmen aside, we found ourselves back on familiary territory in Hat Yai. We were stuck in the heart of a random Thai city surrounded by the lives, smells, and sounds of the locals. I'd almost forgotten what it was like.

I love it to bits.

Today we managed to pull the wool over Thailand's eyes and escape across the border unharmed into Malaysia. We caught a train to Sungai Kolok, 1km from the border. Then we just walked across the bridge, filled in a few forms on the way, and we were in Malaysia. Kinda hard to comprehend how easy it was, but now we're in our second country. They speak Malay Bahasa here, a language very similar to Bahasa Indonesian, meaning J and I can actually speak a bit of the lingo. Terima Kasih primary school Indonesian lessons! (or, as Drew likes to remember it, to ream my car seat).

Tomorrow we're off on a 15 hour slow train through the middle of Taman Negara, a 131 square kilometre national park. Jungle, jungle, as far as the eye can see. Thus the name: jungle train. It's gonna be awesome! We'll be ratshit by the end; we're going from Wakaf Bharu (the next town over from here) down to Gamas in the south, near Kuala Lumpur. Almost the entire country!

I'd put up some notes on Malaysia, but J has a post coming about the J & D New Years Experience, so I'll save your eyes some strain.