Padang Besar and Padang Besar

I had hoped to have my visa in hand by Friday evening, but when on Thursday the embassy requested another document (a PDF containing a picture of every page of my passport including the blank ones in a file which, let me tell you took forever to figure out how to upload while still keeping below the maximum 3MB file size accepted by the online portal), I knew I'd be in Malaysa at least until Monday.

On Monday, though, I realized that it was a Thai holiday (Chakri Day, which commemorates the founding of the Chakri Dynasty and the coronation of King Rama I) and the embassy was still closed.

On Tuesday, I was hoping for the best. It was time to leave Ipoh and head up north to the border to await (hopefully) good news. My plan was to cross into Thailand as soon as the e-visa arrived in my mailbox.

I was up before dawn. I had a ticket on the first train north to Padang Besar, but before leaving Ipoh I wanted to visit the shop where the town's famous coffee culture began.

Kedai Kopi Sin Yoon Loong was already packed and bustling when I arrived.

This unassuming kopitiam, looking just like any other in Malaysia, is where the iconic Ipoh white coffee was first developed. I ordered a glass of iced white coffee. I would have had breakfast too, but I had just woken up and wasn't too hungry yet. After my coffee, I walked on towards the train station.

The sun was starting to rise over Ipoh as I walked through the old town. Shortly, I was boarding a train onward to Padang Besar.

The journey was incredibly comfortable and only took around three hours. Not too many people were heading to the border that day, and the carriage I was in was nearly empty.

A few hours later, I had arrived at Padang Besar. Padang Besar is a hot, sunny, dusty town in the north of Perlis State bordering Thailand's Songkhla Province.

Unfortunately, my visa still had not come through...

There was almost literally nothing to do in Pedang Besar - it's not normally the type of place where people spend any amount of time but rather just pass through - so after yet another coffee, I had to make a decision.

I went ahead and booked one night at a small local guesthouse. I had a little trouble finding the place at first because the location on Google Maps was wrong, but a local guy saw me looking lost and confused in front of his house and came out to help me. All was good, though, because the guesthouse I had booked was owned by his mother, so he gave me a short ride on his motorbike, and soon I was dropping my bags off at a small container box that had been converted into a little bungalow.

It was nothing fancy, but I had Wi-Fi, air-conditioning, and a hot shower. What else could I want?

It was late afternoon now, and I still hadn't eaten anything all day. There weren't many options in Pedang Besar. In fact, the whole town felt nearly abandoned. I walked through the silent dirt roads back to the main road where I was able to find a 7-Eleven for supplies and KFC. I was tired, so I just went ahead and ordered a box of nasi lemak from KFC for lunch.

My visa came through that evening just before the embassy closed. I didn't have time to cross the border but planned to do so first thing the next morning. Relieved, I went to sleep, no longer stressing about getting back home.

The town is so small that it only took about ten minutes for me to walk from the guesthouse to the border crossing the next morning. I had anticipated traffic, or at least a queue at the border. Every land border I've crossed before had been a bit chaotic. However, to my surprise, there was almost nobody else crossing, and I was able to walk right on through.

There's a sort of no-man's land between the two border crossings with a massive duty-free complex in between. Apparently, it's a popular shopping center for people who live on both sides of the border, but it wasn't open yet as I walked towards the Thai checkpoint.

The border crossing on the Thai side was about as busy as the Malaysian one had been (that is to say, not at all), and after showing my visa, I was stamped through. It was so nice to be back.

Padang Besar is a town in two parts split in half by the border. While Padang Besar, Malaysia had the typical distinctly transient sort of feel of a border town, the town across the border in Thailand, also called Padang Besar, felt like... well like any other small Thai town. It felt so familiar and comfortable, and I suddenly realized how glad I was to be back in Thailand.

I still had to make my way to Hat Yai, so I bought a ticket at the train station, found a nearby rest area with a 7-Eleven, clean toilets, and a ubiquitous Cafe Amazon, and sat down to read for about an hour before my train departed.

It was a third-class commuter train, much plainer and less fancy than the Malaysian train, but I didn't mind.

The landscape sped past outside as we chugged along the railway heading towards southern Thailand's biggest city.

I didn't spend much time in Hat Yai. Originally, I had wanted to take a night train back to Bangkok, but all of the seats were sold out. Just wanting to be home, I bought a ticket on Air Asia instead and booked a taxi to take me to the airport.

I had to spend all day there, but it wasn't so bad and I was able to read a lot. Finally, I was in the air and heading back to Bangkok. As I flew over the Gulf, I could see the blue-green lights of squid boats dotting the water far below.