This morning my fever was gone and I was able to walk, but I still felt queasy. I was able to eat a nasty omelette from the "hello, how are you? OK, thank you" lady, then caught the local bus to Suranthani. Again travel proved to be a non-issue, since they dropped all the farangs off at a travel agent, where I bought a ticket to KL for $25. So four hours by minibus to Hat Yai, then nine hours by "VIP bus" to KL. Going through immigration was easy, and the Malaysian official even took my arrival card and stamped my passport this time. We stopped at a roadside restaurant in Malaysia, and I asked one of the Muslim ladies for soup, and was pleasantly reminded of Malaysians' excellent English. Anyway I ate the broth and left the dodgy bits of beef.

Malaysia and Thailand are like night and day. As soon as you cross the border you see strip malls covered with advertisements, many which light up with names like Sony, Panasonic, etc. The majority of vehicles on the road are cars rather than pickup trucks, motorbike drivers actually wear helmets, and there are no roving packs of dogs.

I got in to KL at 3 am and told the taxi to take me to a cheap hotel since I was pretty tired. It cost me the princely sum of $20 and was pretty austere, but featured some luxuries I wasn't used to such as hot water, a bathroom mirror, a toilet that flushes, soap to wash your hands with, air conditioning, and even a sheet on the bed! Such luxury!