The tea plantation

This was my worst day of travel yet, followed by the worst night ever. Actually, the day wasn't that bad, since it was just boring, and I knew a day like this would eventually come. As I feared, I was stranded in Ipoh for 12 hours, since the bus the Thailand didn't leave until 1 am. Ouch. In retrospect I should have stayed the night and seen if there was an early bus the next day, or checked on the train, or simply taken my bus all the way to Penang. Oh well. I didn't want to get a room since I wasn't staying the night, so I walked around for awhile with my main pack on my back and my day pack on my front. Soon I was covered with sweat, so I thought what the heck, and walked into a posh hotel and asked if they could store my pack. They let me, and didn't even charge me. Things are so easy when everyone speaks English. The next ten hours were spent eating and reading half of the Fellowship of the Ring in cafes and the hotel lobby. I'm getting better at killing time now.

So that brings me to the bus. I'm still not exactly sure what happened, but after careful analysis with the cool Malaysian guy I met on the first of the three busses, this is what I think happened. Bear in mind that I had no idea what was going on at the time. I waited where all the other busses were until 1, then asked a guy working there where the bus was. He pointed across the street, then led me to some guy. The guy told me to come with him and led me to a bus, then asked for my ticked, and the RM20 I still owed. He said they were waiting for me. The bus drivers don't wear uniforms here, but he didn't drive, so I still don't know what his function was. The bus was really nice with only three seats across which fully reclined. There was only one other passenger, the aforementioned Malaysian guy. He said we were lucky to get on this bus, since all the others were full. We had to pick up a Malaysian tour group, though. Aparently the driver told the ticked lady he had some space on his tour bus, so that's what I bought the ticket for. We drove for awhile then stopped for a long time, so I went out to try to open the luggage compartment to stow my pack, since none of the three chattering guys at the front knew how. As I did this, the driver rolled the bus back and forth. I thought he was playing, but aparently the clutch had broke. It was now 2 am, and they kicked us off this bus on to the Party Bus, full of retarded Malaysians drinking beer. These guys were on a company trip and were 30-40 years old, but were acting like 12-year-olds, screaming, shouting, and hitting each other. They didn't go to sleep for the entire four hour trip to the border, and the lights were on the whole time. Luckily with my precious earplugs I was able to get a couple hours of sleep. I felt like crap when we got to the border at 7 am...