Malaysia has the best cover bands in the world

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After three different mini-buses and approximately 12 hours I finally made it to Malaysia! We left Hat Yai a little later (4 o'clock ish) RIGHT after I sent out an email being like "WoW! this bus company is sooo great, everything is allways on time!". So of course it was late to spite me. But the trip went well, we crossed the border with no real fuss and I got another stamp on my passport (!). As you move south in Thailand you start to notice more headscarves and mosques and the faces of the people start to change as well. The land also changes from the Karst mountains that thrust up out of the fields to a more gently rolling hills that sit in the distance as you drive through a valley.

Malaysia has surprised me in a number of ways. The infrastructure is significantly more advanced, modern, well-maintained compared to Thailand, the valley that we drove through on the way in is a verdant, lush green, and looks a lot like the eastern shore farmland on the way to DE, but with more palm trees. The only funny thing was that there were a lot of fires that were burning in the fields (I guess plant trash but not exactly fantastic for the environment). This wasn't a huge big deal until we drove past a field where the smoke was billowing across the highway and briefly made it impossible to see while driving.

We got into Georgetown around 7:30pm Thailand time (which turns out is not the same as Malaysia time) so we finally got to our stop at 9pm Malaysian time. I bought my onward bus ticket to Kuala Lumpur (3:30pm today) and then asked about a room but they only had one for 70 MR. Which brings me to my other point Apparently the Malaysian currency is stronger than the Baht (10:1) And its about the same as the shek 4 to the dollar. But everything in Malaysia is still cheaper than it is in Thailand. So while the currency is stronger, it only costs 10R for a meal, instead of 150B for a meal in Thailand. Very very strange. Anyways 70 was too much so I walked down the street and eventually ended up at the Blue Diamond hotel. I chose the dorm room which is upstairs in this very warehouse (Soho before it became cool and renovated type loft) like space, with a few beds in a large room with 20 foot ceilings for 10MR.

I showered, *shudder* I can't wait to get to Paul and Linda's for a real, clean shower!, and then headed downstairs where they had a large courtyard with a live band, and food and drinks are served. I got a delicious spicy curry for dinner, obviously not as spicy as I would like it but the complexity of the flavors was really amazing. And then I had a couple of beers and started talking to the swiss couple that was sitting at my table. Things evolved and eventually we ended up with five or six Malaysians (who came prepared with bottles of whiskey and water, mix and enjoy!), a swedish girl - with a FANTASTIC voice, a couple of farang who work in Thailand and were making a visa run, etc. The cover band was the best I have literally ever heard (especially because English is NOT their first language) and they jammed until around 2:30 - 3 am. After that everyone just hung out in the courtyard talking and drinking until it was time to get breakfast at 5am. Breakfast in this case was Roti bread (thick, freshly toasted) dipped in a variety of different curries. I'm starting to understand why Penang is on the NY times list as the top culinary place to visit in 2009. I got back to the guesthouse around 6am and managed to sleep until around 10:30 when I finally peeled myself off my mattress and packed up. Now I've got about two hours left in the city and I'm going to take the walking tour that the lonely planet guidebook recommends.

Kuala Lumpur tonight and Singapore tomorrow!

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