The visa application process takes 2 days to complete in order to apply for a 2 month visa. You turn in the application in the morning one day and then get it back in the afternoon of the next day. I arrived in Thailand on November 29th, therefore my free 30 day visa was up on December 29 because I arrived by air.
This law change has been really REALLY bad news for the climbers because the world of easy border-runs to re-new your visa has now officially ended. I was not sure how long I would be in Thailand overall, so I decided to get the 2 month visa which would give me more time to climb in Ton Sai, as well as head to northern Thailand to climb for a bit too.
I had a couple options, go to the border town and spend a couple days there, or go to Kuala Lumpur. Unfortunately, New Years was just a few days away, and the border town had some bizarre holiday for a political figure and would be closed on of those days, and not to mention that the weekend was coming up and the offices would be closed then too. So by my calculation, if I went to the border, with the weekend, that holiday, travel and new years, it would be a 5-6 day process. My choices were then to go to the border and spend New Years there, or go to KL and have much more fun. I chose the border.
JUST KIDDING!!! Kuala Lumpur is where it’s at!
As I began my journey south, it became strikingly apparent it was not going to be as simple as I had hoped.
Talk about a hassle because of the proximity to New Years. Basically it was impossible to fly into or out of KL around this time period. Taking a train was the same story….booked out for 4 days after New Years. Busses also. Imagine trying to get transportation last minute into the largest city in a country around a world wide holiday. Not happening.
Every bus, and train, I tried was booked up for at least 4 days, and the only flights I found were about $300. Ridiculous considering it’s normally about a $60 flight. So I didn’t have much of an option except keep trying to go further and further south to make it out of Thailand before my visa was up, for if I didn’t, there would be ghastly fines incurred for going over my visa.
I took a bus from one bus station to the next because there was no hope of getting direct buses into KL.
It took me 3 days in total to arrive there. Just in time to put my application in to the Embassy before the holiday and the weekend, both of which they would be closed for. It’s a 2 day process to apply, and I did get the visa and my passport back before New Years, but still couldn’t get out of the city to get back to Ton Sai, so I stayed for a couple more days then took the sleeper train back to Thailand.
KL is a beautiful city, but a lot of pollution and not much to be done about it. The New Years celebration was intense to say the least. SO many people, and everyone….and I mean EVERYONE that was there was completely obsessed with that silly string stuff in the cans. They were selling bags of the cans for next to nothing. Kids, teenagers, adults, elderly….EVERYONE was spraying that stuff everywhere, 2 cans at a time even! I could barely breathe, as well as most other people, I felt dizzy the entire time, and at this point I hadn’t had anything to drink! Eventually I sat at a table and enjoyed the festivities of the evening with some other travelers that I met at the hostel I was staying at in Chinatown.
This is a photo of me sitting at a bus station. I waited 2 hours for a bus that would take me to the next town an hour and a half away. 3 days, 4 towns and a border crossing later I made it to KL by 6am, in order to just have those 2 days to get by visa processed before they would be closed for the holiday. I had just enough time to check into a hostel and put my bag away before heading to the Thai Embassy by 9am.
This is a photo of the town Hat Yai not far from the border between Thailand and Malaysia. They had a massive New Years market going on. Alot of roads were closed, and a majority of the people there shopping were from Singapore beacuse it is so much cheaper in Thailand to shop.
This is a photo of me about to leave Thailand.
I walked alllllll the way to Malaysia. Hahahaha.
This is China Town, in KL. My hostel was located just a stones throw from where this photo was taken. Quite lively at all times of day and night! It was alot of fun!
This photo is of the Petronas Towers. They are the 2nd and 3rd tallest buildings in the world. Google them if you'd like. They were pretty rad.
This is the ‘Golden Buddha’, it is the Tallest standing Buddha in the world. The stairs lead to the Batu Cave where worship can be done and tributes paid.
The Batu caves is the name of a climbing area not far from this site. In this photo I am sitting at the climbing area checking out the lines before we climbed.
New Years in KL was a bit chaotic to say the least….to say the most…it was fun.
I have discovered….that Malaysians are particularly OBSESSED with ‘silly string’ in a can! Its completely nuts. New Years in that city was like continual voluntary asphyxiation!
I have discovered….that Malaysians are particularly OBSESSED with ‘silly string’ in a can! Its completely nuts. New Years in that city was like continual voluntary asphyxiation!
I spent a total of 7 days traveling; 2 days to get to KL, 2 to come back, 1 free day where I shopped a little, and ate some Italian food since I was not home to have the traditional Italian food on Christmas, and an epic attempt at climbing there.
It was nice to take a hiatus from climbing scene in Ton Sai for a little while. You so easily become engulfed in the climbs, the climbing, and the climbers. It was a good reality check to once again realize there is a whole world outside the small penninsula where I spend so much time.
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