Trip Start Dec 28, 2004
270Trip End Ongoing
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I had decided to sleep on the beach for the night and then go off to malaysia the next day but then i discovered the "night ferry" (insert marlon brando's voice "the horror"). now all the other ferry's ive taken........even in cambodia had seats and basic accomadations since they were well ummmm ferry's. what we found ourselves on in ko tao was what i THINK was an old fishing boat converted to a baggage transport/human trafficking barge. so being my fathers son i get to the boat a half hour early to iron out any problems. the lady in charge of the boarding passes says "no room, no more room" of course she didnt really say this, but after 10 minutes of her pointing and saying crap in thai me and about 10 others westerners were able to decipher what she was saying. no "beds" were available but we were more then welcome to make ourselves at home in the cargo hold down below. we descend into the ship and not to use inappropriate visuals but it really reminded me of the pictures of the beds in the concentration camps. people were stacked 3 high into little cubicles about 3 feet high. opting out of this i sat near the stairs in an open space until they carried down what appeared to be a thai man who was dying of some random disease.......they laid him down next to me........i got up. seeing that there really was not much room i went back to the bow of the boat and watched the lady tell 62 more people there was no more room......and then let them on...plus 2 pigs a host of roosters and 2 motorbikes. this didnt make me made so much.....it was when the thai people started to show up and went upstairs to where "there was no room". thats when i got pissed......pretty much if you were western they just told u to fuck off and go below. so now im sitting on the deck and it all seems ok as we pull out into the harbor. the lights go off and the stars are shining really bright and it was pretty amazing to check out but then the waves started to break over the bow and i got soaked. climbing the stairs i sat in the tiny space next to the wheel house where i stayed dry (mostly) and watched the irrisdescent fish light up as our boat plowed into them. chad was amazed that i was able to sleep on a floor.....i fell asleep with half my body on a semi wet wooden deck and the other half dangling over a stair/ladder while the boat rolled considerably and the occasional rogue wave drenched my legs......i slept like a baby for the next 6 hours.
so we land in the port at 5am and are forced to walk a plank to disimbark the boat....about 10 feet long over the water between two boats that are bobbing in the water with a 30 kilo backpack strapped to me....i made it across and was assigned a tuk tuk to go to our travel company to sit and wait until 630 when it was time to leave.....630 came around and we were to take a mini bus to the border of malaysia and sure enough it pulled up and they put me in the very back corner seat where there is absolutely no room.....i mean my knees were in my chin and i couldnt feel my toes. the front row where there is considerable room was reserved for.......wait for it.......a couple of thai ladies who were about 4'11. sooooo 7 or 8 hours to the border like this and i wanted to kill someone.
brief sidebar.......the very southern provinces of thailand are having a muslim uprising.....random shootings and a few bombings......now back to our story (you need this info for the next part.)
so we get to the border and we are waiting in line with our passports and the driver grabs me and takes me to the front of the line and says to the border guy "he from USA" border guy looks up half scared half in shock and stamps my passport and then the driver takes me by the arm and back onto the bus. my only guess is that they were a little worried with the uprising and all.
from the border to kualampor was great......bus with huge seats and overactive a/c so the last leg was very nice. cool little story that most of you wont understand but oh well.... i was listening to the last phish show on my ipod as we cruised through the malaysian countryside and they were playing this song wilson. in it there is a part where they sing out "can you still have fun?" but at the last show he changed the lyrics to "you can still have fun, yes still have fun", trying to tell the fans that its not the end of the world even though some would disagree lol. well right at this moment we crested this hill and there was a tropical rainforest off below and in the distance was a hulking volcano with trey singing "you can still have fun" I still miss it and probably always will but its a little better now......now im in a mall looking for a camera. asian malls are off my list of things to do for the rest of my life.