A boat, a night train, another boat and 24 hours later I arrived in Georgetown. What an incredible and beautiful place. I am here to complete a visa run, the bane of many long term Thailand resident’s existence. Unbeknownst to me the consulate is closed on the weekend, had I been here a day earlier I would be back on my way home but alas it was not to be. Lucky for me this is a seriously cool place, you don’t have to walk far and you can pass through both Chinatown and Little India, this is exactly what I had imagined when I decided to come to SEA.
The fruit juice here is all freshly squeezed and the food is incredible too, the best I have eaten so far. Yesterday I ate with my hands from a banana leaf…quite a feat for the table manners stickler that I am. I would love to come back here for another visit at some point. I am going home on an interminable mini van adventure and will get a 15 day visa at the border, then in a few weeks I will go to Cambodia and get another one there so it’s another month before I have to think about visas again.
While I was here I managed to have a look around the museum which was very interesting and at the Khoo Kongsi which is a kind of compound for a clan that spans back generations, I would liken it to belonging to an Iwi at home except because it was Chinese there was a bit more gilt and a few more dragons than a Marae. Initially I was a bit homesick for Koh Tao but it has reminded me that there is so much to see outside of the island bubble.