Day 19 - Calamity!

I found a pharmacy selling real medicine.  They also sold herbal medicines, but I stuck to the kind from global drug manufacturers.  I found some decongestants made by GlaxoSmithKline.  I couldn't read the packaging, but I recognized the word pseudoephedrine which is the same in Malayasian.  It also contained paracetemol which is similar to acetaminophen.

After my success finding a hopeful cure, I headed to the ferry to go back to the train station on the mainland.  When I got to the bridge, I put my backpacks down to rest.  A man came over to me and asked where I was from.  I said "America".  He just looked at me funny.  Then I said "United States of America".  He says, "Canada?"  I pointed downward and he said "Mexico?"  I squished my hands together to signal "in between."  Then possibly the funniest thing on the trip happened.

Him: USA?!
Me: Yes.
Him: Obama?
Me: Yes.
Him: U-S-A, U-S-A!
Me: Yes.
Him: Bum dee bum doot doo doo doooooooo!  YOOOOOO-ESSSSSSS-AAAAAAA!

He started singing and marching some unintelligible song featuring the letters U, S, and A.  Then he told me to wait and he ran into his house to get his children.  He came back and wanted to take pictures with me and his children.  After our extended photo session, he told me he was going to move to the USA when he had money.

He had never heard of America or the United States, but he sure wanted to move to the USA.  I guess we all have our dreams.  Maybe he'll get to visit someday.

After the funny marching man, I boarded the ferry.



Unsettling.

Translation: We have a free ferry.  You can choose to get onto the ferry if you want.  However, if the ferry catches on fire, explodes, and sinks, that's unfortunate.  If a car falls through the ferry roof onto the sitting area, that's bad luck.  If one of our staff members throws you off the side, you probably deserved it.  So, if the ferry has an accident, we apologize for the inconvenience.  If you survive, we welcome you to board another one of our ferrys when you make it back to shore.  Thanks for risking your life with the Penang Ferry Service.

I survived the ferry and walked to the train station.  To my horror, there was a note taped to the door.  It said: "International Train to Bangkok is Cancelled.  Sorry."  I was immediately set upon by cab drivers offering to take me to all sorts of places for as much money as they could swindle me out of.  I asked the station master when the next international train would be that I could get on.  She said the train would be out of service for ten days for repair.  Ten days?!  I am not spending ten days on the island of terrying toilets.

The group of angry and confused paggengers was growing, so I took the initiative to find the ones that were the smallest and had the least luggage with them.  I asked these people if they wanted to share a cab with me.  I eventually formed a group of 4 including a Korean student, a Japanese student, and a British retiree.  I haggled with the Malayasian cab driver until he was willing to drive us to the border for RM300.  That's about 170 kilometers, so it came down to less than $1USD per mile, plus it was divided four ways.  That's about as good as I could have hoped for.

So, I took a Malaysian taxi with four strangers.  It was funny to listen to the Japanese and Korean guys try to speak to each other.  They could only communicate in English, so I had to help them come up with the right words.  It was a fun way to pass the time.

Odd-shaped mountain on the left.

After miles of rubber and sugarcane, we arrived at the Thai border.  I gave the taxi driver every last Ringgit I had plus all of my Singapore dollars.  I had just one Singapore dollar to spare.  This ended up being a problem later.

So, I made it to Thailand, which is much better than Malaysia, even if I was going to be stranded.