Journey to Malaysia

We spontaneously decided to go to Malaysia during our trip. So we took the ferry from Koh Phayam to the mainland at 15:30 and took a bus to Chumphon from there. Luckily, we were able to secure two spots in the sleeper car at 22:45 in Chumphon. Unfortunately, not directly to the border as we had hoped, but only to Hat Yai. From there, we had to transfer again the next morning and take a train for another hour to the border with Malaysia. There, we had to go through border control, which went relatively smoothly. We took another train to Butterworth, where you can take the ferry to Penang Island. Our first destination in Malaysia.

We immediately noticed a special sign on the train... a no-kissing sign. We were now in a Muslim country, where there are some things to consider.

In Butterworth, we were able to take a free shuttle directly to the ferry, always keeping in mind that we had to withdraw Malaysian ringgit. Unfortunately, there were no ATMs or options to pay with a credit card at the ferry port. The tickets would have cost 2.4 ringgit, which is about 60 cents. But we only had 1.9 ringgit in change, which we received in Thai baht at the border. That means we were missing 7 CENTS!!! So we had to take the shuttle back and walk to the ATM from the train station with all our luggage for 10 minutes at 33 degrees.

We arrived in Penang by ferry at 14:00 after an almost 24-hour journey.

More about our stay in this wonderful place in the next report.