Visa Run - Hold Onto Your Hats!!!

-->

Well let’s just start by saying people should really tell you more about this so called “easy” visa run….lol. I titled this blog hold on to your hats for a reason. It requires an entry just for the journey to Penang.

Begin…..9pm Saturday night at the Koh Tao Pier, Island Travel (great place in the little town by the pier) had organised my trip down here. Seeing as I waited to long to book it I was stuck taking the “mini” bus a.k.a. Van, but first I had to endure a long ride on the overnight boat to Suratanni. Boarding the boat and finding a mat (bed) in the middle away from as many people as possible, I got ready for the long journey ahead. This meant locking up the computer, setting the best playlist I made on iTunes, cuddling my purse like an extra pillow, a xanax, and I was out. Waking up startled by the lady next to me, who had decided that her mat wasn’t enough for her as she rolled over onto me. I tried with all my might to pull my things out from under her and shimmy over as well. She didn’t even move, or stir the whole time, so finally I just nudged her and got free. Trying to fall back asleep I found the surroundings though not particularly the best but calming nonetheless. I’m guessing it was the rocking of the water that helped me finally drift back to sleep. Awaking as the boat pulled into port, getting my things together, and finding my bus ticket I was greeted by a nice lady with a sign who asked me to wait on the curb. As the people piled off the boat and gathered for the bus we were all a little out of it, but happy to be back on land. This was going to be the easy part I thought……hahahahahhaa…….We were shuttled to the office where we were given a sticker to put on with our final destination. Thank god for that sticker I started to realise as the journey went on. I met a nice French man from Paris who was also doing the same visa run as me, so at least I could recognise a familiar face along the way.

Now for the parts no one tells you about……lol. The “mini” bus or van as I will refer to it from now on would be our transportation for the rest of the way. We got on at the office thinking we are going to be transferred to a nice cozy comfy bus like the others, but nope so we began our adventure. Not stopping in the city, but rather randomly to pick up and drop off locals. It seemed strange at first but after the 5^th or 6^th stop I was used to the chaos. Always looking at my new friend for assurance that we were still supposed to be on this bus, driving for what felt like hours really was only 1.5 hrs. We stopped at a side road restaurant with toilets, and were told by an amazingly funny Thai guy in a cowboy hat to get off the bus, and wait 20 mins. All I could think about was a COLD drink. So into the shop I went, got my drink, sat down, opened the it and was prompty told by Cowboy that it was time to go!!! Back in the same van as before we ventured off again. Jammed between the door and a kid fully passed out and letting smelly farts go the whole way I tried to catch some zzzzz…..and as soon as I finally fell asleep we stopped at another place on the side of the road and were ordered to get out of this van and wait for another. Whilst another lady asked for our passports and told us to sit and wait, which didn’t last long when a new driver came in and told us to get into the new van. Hoping this would be our last stop I found a comfy seat in the back corner, reclined and tried to sleep once again. We started to drive off and this funny little Japanese guy next to me realised his friend was NOT on the bus, we stop, pick him up and start going again, when the same Japanese guy then realised his bag was also NOT in the van. U-turn, back to the side of the road and pick up his bag, we were finally off on our way. Getting an hour or so of shuteye, and waking up as we drive though the customs checkpoint, I was wondering why it was so easy, I settled back into my seat, closed my eyes, and turned on the music, and again 2 mins later we are stopped at the boarder crossing, and the driver is telling us to get out, go get in line, and pay 10bht for a stamp (that we will get later), getting into the Thai customs line you could tell this was a normal everyday thing here. Finally after about 10 mins of waiting in line I get to the window, and my sweet customs officer asks me if she can take a break to go to the toilet. Not sure what would happen if I said no, I politely agreed to wait another 10mins….lol. She returned fresh with all new make-up, stamped my passport and we loaded back into the van. Thinking we had to be almost finished I search through my bag for something to eat. Promptly stopping about 500m down the road where we needed to get out again, this time with all our bags and walk through Malaysian customs. Putting our bags in the security check machine and walking though metal detectors I realised there wasn’t even a person at the computer checking what we had….lol. Following the signs for the exit we were again greeted by the same van, and piled back in for the last 2hrs of our journey to Penang stopping quickly down the road to pay the customs officer for who knows what I drifted back off to sleep.

Waking up a little later as we arrived in the outskirts of Penang pulling off to let out three locals, we then veered off into a gas station, not to get gas but to give some lady in a black car a bunch of bags of unknown liquid……all of us including the sleeping Japanese guy were very curious as to what had just gone down. The driver proceeds to ask us all where we were staying before we made the last 20 mins of our journey to George Town, Penang. Arriving at Bahamas Guesthouse I checked into my room, went to the ATM, handed in my passport, got a towel, and headed up for a well-needed shower. Hot water and A/C felt like heaven on earth after that journey, not to mention the fact that I finally had a bed. I watched a couple TV shows until my computer died, and decided it was time for Indian food, and a SIM card. Following a wonderful dinner, and success with getting Internet access, I was on the hunt for a sports bar and ESPN so I could watch the LFC – Everton game. Finding one close by virtually empty I chatted with the bartender, had some pumpkin soup, and drank a couple beers. The game finished with what I thought was a goal for LFC but was called back because of offside, annoyed that we tied I headed back to my hostel for a good night’s sleep. Waking up in the middle of the night FREEZING since A/C is not something I get much of these days, I turned it off and fell blissfully back to dreamland.