What a difference a few days make! After five nights in the hospital, Ginny was discharged on Monday with the caveat that she get her blood checked once a week for the next two weeks. Overall, the doctor was happy with her improved health and we were ecstatic to get out of the hospital and return to our travels. Ginny was getting tired of the hospital meals (congee for every meal) and I was getting tired of sleeping on this narrow and short cot in the corner of the hospital room...and of course we were so happy that Ginny was on the mend!
After her bike accident and then her illness, Ginny had had enough of Thailand so we decided to hop an overnight train to Malaysia. It was a 12 hour train ride to the border and the train was pretty sweet. We had sleeper beds (complete with sheets, pillows and blankets) in an AC car so we had a comfortable trip out of Thailand. I was a little sad to be leaving Thailand so soon (I love the food, the people and the scenery - oh, and the massages) but I know we'll return someday and it's always exciting to move on to the next country.
The Thai train ride ends at the border at Padang Besar and you have to clear customs and immigration to leave Thailand and enter Malaysia. It was another easy border crossing with no fees or delays (Malaysia gives Americans a 90 day tourist visa which is the most generous of all countries we've been to). A slick electric commuter train was waiting for us on the other side of the border to travel the remaining 200km to Butterworth. The only problem was that they don't allow bicycles on the commuter trains. Ginny did her best to play the "I just got out of the hospital" card but they didn't budge an inch. They did tell us that the Malaysian rail company provides a cargo shipping service which is separate from its passenger service. After some bike shuttling to the cargo office which was about a km away, I arranged for the bikes to be shipped to Butterworth and we boarded the train also bound for Butterworth. The only downside to our bikes traveling separate from us was that we had to spend a night in Butterworth as we couldn't pick the bikes up until the next morning. Butterworth is pretty gross but we found a decent hotel and were happy to get some rest and some tasty Malaysian food.
The next day we got our bikes and hopped the ferry for George Town where we've spent the last couple days. The core part of the city is a UNESCO Heritage area which makes it really interesting to walk around. There's some impressive street art too (see photos below) so that's been fun to check out. Yesterday we rode the funnicular up Penang Hill (elevation 833m) and enjoyed the incredible views all around. We then walked down the hill to the botanical gardens (quite a trek!) and saw dusky leaf monkeys climbing in the trees! Today we've been eating our way through George Town as we are celebrating our 15 year wedding anniversary...it's such a treat to have some good non-Asian food for a change!
Tomorrow I will head off on my own to ride the final 800km to Singapore. Ginny's decided that she's had enough tropical cycle touring so she's catching a flight tomorrow to Singapore. She will stay with her brother and we will rendezvous there in early June when I arrive. The adventure continues! I'll plan to do another post or two before the trip is over and Ginny's even threatened to do a guest post so be on the lookout for that.
After her bike accident and then her illness, Ginny had had enough of Thailand so we decided to hop an overnight train to Malaysia. It was a 12 hour train ride to the border and the train was pretty sweet. We had sleeper beds (complete with sheets, pillows and blankets) in an AC car so we had a comfortable trip out of Thailand. I was a little sad to be leaving Thailand so soon (I love the food, the people and the scenery - oh, and the massages) but I know we'll return someday and it's always exciting to move on to the next country.
The Thai train ride ends at the border at Padang Besar and you have to clear customs and immigration to leave Thailand and enter Malaysia. It was another easy border crossing with no fees or delays (Malaysia gives Americans a 90 day tourist visa which is the most generous of all countries we've been to). A slick electric commuter train was waiting for us on the other side of the border to travel the remaining 200km to Butterworth. The only problem was that they don't allow bicycles on the commuter trains. Ginny did her best to play the "I just got out of the hospital" card but they didn't budge an inch. They did tell us that the Malaysian rail company provides a cargo shipping service which is separate from its passenger service. After some bike shuttling to the cargo office which was about a km away, I arranged for the bikes to be shipped to Butterworth and we boarded the train also bound for Butterworth. The only downside to our bikes traveling separate from us was that we had to spend a night in Butterworth as we couldn't pick the bikes up until the next morning. Butterworth is pretty gross but we found a decent hotel and were happy to get some rest and some tasty Malaysian food.
The next day we got our bikes and hopped the ferry for George Town where we've spent the last couple days. The core part of the city is a UNESCO Heritage area which makes it really interesting to walk around. There's some impressive street art too (see photos below) so that's been fun to check out. Yesterday we rode the funnicular up Penang Hill (elevation 833m) and enjoyed the incredible views all around. We then walked down the hill to the botanical gardens (quite a trek!) and saw dusky leaf monkeys climbing in the trees! Today we've been eating our way through George Town as we are celebrating our 15 year wedding anniversary...it's such a treat to have some good non-Asian food for a change!
Tomorrow I will head off on my own to ride the final 800km to Singapore. Ginny's decided that she's had enough tropical cycle touring so she's catching a flight tomorrow to Singapore. She will stay with her brother and we will rendezvous there in early June when I arrive. The adventure continues! I'll plan to do another post or two before the trip is over and Ginny's even threatened to do a guest post so be on the lookout for that.
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