Malaysia
by DR. MARAL YAZARLOO - PATTRICK
We waited in the queue at the Thailand Border to get our
exit stamp to enter Malaysia. Indians and some other
passport holders had to wait in a separate queue. It took
almost 1.5 hours to get the stamp.
When we finished with the immigration formalities, we
met with the Malaysian riders who had come to the
border to greet us. Such a lovely gesture of the biker
community ! They always welcome bikers and take care of
them to unbelievable extent. We have experienced this all
through our journey so far.
We got the Malaysian border around 7 pm and went to
get our visa and a stamp in our carnet. Pankaj had his
eVisa and I just needed a stamp to get in. Coincidentally,
the immigration officer was a GS rider !
He and his boss very helpful and we completed our
paperwork in just 15 minutes and entered Malaysia.
We rode with 4 riders for 40 Kms and reached the
first city 'Kangar' where we decided to spend the
night. Of course we went to an Indian Restaurant for
dinner. By now, partner has become an expert in
finding Indian restaurants in every country and city !
After nice Indian food we stayed at the 'homestay' of
one of the riders. 2 more riders joined and asked us if
we wanted to join them for a drink. We replied, "We
do not drink when we riding". They were a little
puzzled by our reply and asked us why not ? I was
very surprised by their question and asked them, "Do
you drink and ride ?" They replied, "Yes, coffee !!!"
It then dawned on me that we were in a Muslim
country and drink here means coffee / chai and soft
drinks. We joined them for a 'drink', where we had a
nice chai before we called it a night !
The next morning, we packed and got ready to start
our ride, We tried to pay for our accommodation but
they didn't allow us ! In fact, they did not allow us to
pay for anything since our entry into Malaysia !!