Day 239, Patong, Thailand & Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
We had most of the day in Patong, and decided to head to the aiport at 5pm. Paul took one last spin up the mountain on the scooter to go to his favorite little omelet place. We said goodbye to our host Lars. The drive from Patong to Phuket Airport is scenic. It’s a beautiful trip there, through windy roads in beautiful countryside. There are more scooters than cars, and on Phuket Island they mostly stay in the left lane. People connect little metal side carts to their scooters to carry food stands or other work supplies. One woman had a small wooden high chair in front of her so her daughter could see right over the scooter handlebars. Never seen anything like that.
We always give ourselves about three hours at an aiport before international flights. Good thing we did here. There was initial security screening just to get into the airport, which we’ve seen more and more. We had a little laundry detergent in one of the checked bags that was confiscated. That was a new one. Paul was just glad they seemed to be so thorough.
We checked our bags in, went through the first initial passport check, and then waited in another group for immigration. There were no lines, just a mass of people who had come through security and were waiting in maybe five immigration lines. As more and more people came through security, we got more and more tightly packed in. When we got to the front we needed a Departure Form which was supposed to be given to us at our Airline counter. We didn’t have one. So the girls and I
shuffled to the side instead of going to the back of the mass. Paul managed to come back quickly with them and we hastily filled put the forms. Then we had to get back to the front counter, which meant that someone had to let us go in front of them, and those chances seemed slim. But then this really sweet French couple let us go in front, and Cali and Paul thanked them in French. I heard the man say to his wife, “They are from Canada, let’s let them go ahead.” She was happy to let us do so.
I have to say the girls are becoming increasingly unflappable, with each unpredictably odd experience. They’ve also stopped asking why certain systems are seemingly inefficient, since we don’t have answers for that. If I become any more unflappable I’ll be comatose.
While we were waiting for our flight to board, we were hungry. Most of the people who were waiting with us were eating bags of seaweed and instant ramen out large cardboard cups that resembled small buckets. These were my kind of snacks. Who am I kidding, I could live my whole life on those two food items. Even though we had started boarding, Cali and I decided we must have a ramen bucket. You choose one off the shelf, then the cashier makes it for you, adding all the little flavor packets and filling it from the vat of hot water that she has behind the counter. We were burning our mouths off eating it before they closed the gate, but it was so worth it.
The flight was only an hour and a half, but we were happy to land. The airport in Kuala Lumpur is very nice, they seem to have systems for everything, including the taxis. You can buy a flat rate coupon for a taxi or pay about two dollars to access one with a meter. Apparently with the number of people we have and also some bags, we got the wrong kind. So when we went out the taxi door, about 15 taxi guys were calmly discussing with each other what to do with us. We had no clue
what was going on. They pointed to us, to the luggage, to the ticket we had. They kept pointing for us to go back into the counter. Finally a man with excellent English explained that we had the wrong ticket. Oh, ok. Paul exchanged it and away we went. We had the nicest driver. He was telling us what we should see, about his city. It was a great introduction to Malaysia.
Our hotel was great. It’s the kind that tries to be a young hipper place, there were beanbag chairs in the lounges on each hall, a reception area that was edgy eclectic, like a boutique hostel.
In the front lobby we saw this sign and asked what it meant. It’s banning a fruit called Durian which tastes delicious but smells very bad, at least to some people. We’ve seen these signs in other public places but didn’t know what they meant.
When we got in the room there was this bunk bed which had lots of space for both the bottom and top person, adult bunk beds. We had to solve who would sleep on top with rock, paper, scissors. Overall, it was a pretty smooth travel day.
