Garry McGivern is in Malaysia cycling to Australia on Wednesday, the 8th of February, 2012. Phattlung, Thailand, to Changlun, Malaysia. 102 miles. What a relief! I made it across Thailand before my visa expired. So I won’t be banged up in some Thai jail! I’ve even made it to Malaysia with a few days to spare!
My first week and a half in Thailand were very stressful. I spent a lot of my evenings working out how I would cross Thailand in the fifteen days that my visa allowed. I’d allowed fifteen days to cross the country on my original schedule. But I was already a day down by not crossing from Laos until the afternoon. Then when I wasn’t feeling too good and had to have another day off, I was well behind schedule! At one point, I even debated getting a bus out of the country to renew my visa!
I had originally intended to cross from Thailand to Malaysia at Betong. But after realising that it was okay to cycle on the main roads, I changed my route and crossed at Samnak Kham, which was a bit nearer. There was only about a hundred miles difference between routes, but cycling on the main roads made all the difference, allowing me to cycle over 100 miles each day.
Anyway, none of that matters now because I’m in Malaysia, country number 15. I did double-check my visa as I crossed over! And I’m fine here. I’ve got ninety days. I’m just off out now to suss out the beer situation!
Subscribe to Garry’s blog and follow Garry’s journey around the world. Plus, you’ll receive news and updates on future tours.
