I had just finished a year’s travel in Australia with my two best friends from the States. One guy decided to stay in Oz with his new girlfriend, while the other, a mild mannered guy named Mark chose to spend a couple of months travelling through Indonesia with me.
After this time, Mark and I finally flew out of Medan, Indonesia to Penang Malaysia. We shared a room with an Aussie surfer who we met on the plane. Once on the ground the Aussie made the intelligent move to go and buy a bag of marijuana and bring it back to our room. Fortunately there were no further problems with that, but Mark and I had come to a decision.
We were almost out of money and we had to have a plan. Mark said he wanted to carry on travelling and could borrow some more cash from his dad. I didn’t fancy asking my folks for money and so chose to head for Hong Kong and seek work. I’d heard it was good and knew that as a British citizen I could stay indefinitely.
Having made my decision I checked out a local travel agent in Penang. “How much is a one way ticket to Hong Kong?” I asked. To my horror the price turned out to be more than I had altogether. I knew I was cutting it fine. Mark and I had been down to $5 in Oz but knew we could get a job. This was a little different, we were in SE Asia where they just didn’t understand the concept of travelling, especially with no money! I asked how much a ticket from Bangkok would be. “Half as much,” was the answer and I could get to Bangkok from Penang by train for about $30. I rolled the dice, cast my fortune, “Let’s do it,” I said.
That night Mark and I went out to a night market in Penang. We sat at a table at a food stand and drank a couple of tall beers with our stir fried meal. This was our ‘last supper’. We had travelled and worked in Oz for a year and this was the end of the road. The next year in both of our lives was going to be radically different and we wished the best for each other.
The following morning we awoke and ate a small breakfast in the guest house. I remember the guy at the desk thought we were ripping off his pay phone because every time we tried to make a call we got cut off . The money kept being returned and he thought we had a little scam going. All the better for us if we did!
Mark and I strolled out into the blazing Penang sunshine, gave a last gesture of farewell, shook hands and went in opposite directions. The sight of Mark disappearing down the street with his green and pink ‘Lowe’ backpack on was the last I would ever have of him. He died some time later in a climbing accident.
Riding the ferry from Penang island to Butterworth on the Malaysian mainland only took about 15 minutes, but I stood at the back of the boat watching the green water and thinking of the chapter that had just ended and about the one that was starting.
The train station was nearby and after a couple of hours wait I boarded the train for Bangkok. This would take about 20 hours and would wind through some scenic plantations in the south of Thailand.
Once on the train I made myself comfortable in the wide seat and enjoyed the passing landscape. We stopped at Hat Yai on the Thai border and I remember having my first plate of Thai food in ages. It was head and shoulders better than anything I’d eaten in the last year. The Thais can cook mate, let me tell you! A French lady on the train showed me the lyrics to a famous French song, ‘Au Champs L’Elysee’ by Joe Dassin. It passed the time until we settled down in our bunks listening to the sound of the train tracks clatter through the thick tropical stillness.
I love the sunrise in the tropics because the temperature is still bearable and the mist hangs lazily. Bangkok came into view and shortly we were disembarking at Hualumpong station in the center of town. I had been here in ’84 and now they had added some shinier kiosks with neon signs. Wow!