After spending many weeks island hopping and diving off the southern islands of Thailand, I traveled by bus across the South Thailand peninsula and then a train from the city of Hat Yai to the Malaysian border.

When I departed the train at the border crossing, I accidentally dropped my passport off the station platform, and it landed four feet down and under the train. I calmly waited for the train to pull out.  Two hours later, the train pulled out and I retrieved my passport. I ended up being the only person at the station and at passport control.

I wanted to switch from my US passport to my newly acquired Italian passport, I attempted to enter the country of Malaysia using my new passport but the stamp for Thailand was in my Us one. When thry finally realized that I was waiting in an empty line, a passport officer took my Italian passport, looked confused when he did not find a Thailand exit stamp and walked away.  Twenty minutes later a senior officer appeared, flanked on either side by two heavily armed security personnel.

I explained why I was standing there two hours after the train had left and that I Wanted to start using my new Italian passport. So, we made a deal.  I would use my American passport with the Thailand visa stamp in it, and they, ‘Malaysia’, would in exchange give me a two-month visa instead of the customary one month. They are very reasonable people, the Malaysians.

Two hours later I boarded a second train to the to the ferry terminal that takes you to the mythical of Penang and the fabled city of George Town.