Backpacking in Luxury- Part 1

Ahh to travel. Today finds me on a train, in a second class berth heading south to Butterworth, Malaysia from Bangkok, Thailand. As the time goes by with the Thai country side, I notice that it is much more comfortable than all of my girlfriend, Oa, friends made it out to be. Just the day before when we were sitting at the coffee shop at their office, they were making faces and noises when I mentioned we were taking a train and doing the whole backpacking thing. From the fuss they made, you would think that I was taking her south in the back of a truck, no bed or bath and the same set of cloths for the whole trip. Reality is this is a fairly luxurious trip, considering how little money we are spending, and the style we are traveling in. We have a bed, and even our own room for many of the nights, and we will even be staying at a nice hotel in Koh Samui. Travel is by 2nd class sleeper train, nice and air conditioned, then by a first class bus services that has in chair movies, a microwave, and even massage chairs. We are even making a short flight. But no, to them, its fly or stay home. Oh well, this way we can see and do more, even if it means we only use a few shirts for the next two weeks.

Well, it's the next morning, and it wasn't so bad. The sleeper bed was soft, they added an extra cushion to it to be sure, and the sheets were clean. The only complaints I had are because of my height (the bed was a little short) and I had to fight off a couple cockroaches who wanted to sleep in the bed with me. This made Oa suddenly glad that she had chosen to to sleep on the top bunk, as they we not making it that far up the wall. Those two things, and the three kids bunking across from us who woke up and started making noise at 5am are the only things I have to complain about...

We have crossed the Malaysian border now, and after a few more hours on the train, we left it at Butterworth and hoped onto a bus to take us the rest of the way to Kuala Lumpur. Its a nice enough bus, and the trip is only going to take about four and a half hours. What gets us is the view. It really is beautiful, and green. Honestly, if someone had said this is Malaysia to me and shown me pictures I might not have believed them. It's just to clean and neat. After living in Thailand for the last 2 years, I just wouldn't expect a middle of nowhere road to be so nice. Don't get me wrong, Thailand is great, but I keep having this weird feeling that I am really in some mountainous part of Europe or in some warm part of Japan, and not in Southeast Asia at all. If I wasn't looking right now at more palm trees then I had ever seen in my life, I wouldn't believe my own eyes...

Ah reality has come to check on me as we enter a small city. Around me are low, concrete buildings, with peeling paint that has water stains running down the sides. It might look different on the road, but in the city its the same. Southeast Asia all the way. Right down the the run down public restrooms that you have to pay to use.