Abandoned in Malaysia

Last weekend we went to Malaysia to look at properties at this resort that is still under development. It was just over the border from the west coast of Singapore. The resort was beautiful and the prices sounded great; but that was only compared to your typical US and Singapore prices. In Malaysia it was ridiculously overpriced.

We didn't buy anything, but we thought about it. We did suffer a little adventure getting to Malaysia, which is best summed up from the notes in Deanna's travel journal for that day:

"15-July-2007: Up at 7:00am for a trip to Malaysia. The route from the hotel to Jorong East was uneventful. Apparently not many people are keen to leave Singapore for Malaysia. The bus from Jorong East is only $3.50 [Singapore Dollars] per person. They don't wait for you to clear customs in Malaysia, though."

We weren't the only ones who learned this little lesson last week. There was also a young couple with a baby. They were behind us in the line for customs and immigration. We were both taking a long time because the bus driver didn't give us immigration entry cards like they do on airlines. In fact, the bus company didn't even warn us we might need one. I'm not sure if it would have made a difference, though, because the friendly Malaysian customs officials don't have them on hand anyway. I'm still not sure where we were supposed to get them.

The delay was because the customs folks had to go looking around to find some entry cards for us. Everyone else from our bus must have brought their own, because they cleared out quickly. Soon, Deanna and I and the other couple were the only ones left at the immigration counter. I assumed the bus wouldn't leave behind the family with a baby, so I felt pretty confident being just ahead of them.

Of course, I was wrong.

Eventually, our friendly customs agents found a small stash of immigration cards--enough for everyone. But by the time we filled out the cards properly and cleared through immigration and customs and rushed out to where we were supposed to meet the bus, it was gone. Everyone was gone. We all looked around. And looked back at each other disbelieving. There was nothing. Just an empty parking lot and the road leading up to the freeway.

Not sure what to do, we walked out a bit into the parking lot looking around, thinking maybe we'd see the bus, maybe around some corner, or behind a pole or something.

But no, they were gone.

We were all stuck. Our bus had completely abandoned four adults and one child just inside the Malaysian border. And to make matters worse, as Deanna succinctly described in her journal, "the problem is, it's hot as f*ck."

So we just sat down for a while, avoiding the direct sun, but not able to avoid the humidity. There was a single vending machine, but there wasn't anywhere to exchange my Singapore dollars for Malaysia Ringgits. I handn't thought to change any money before we left.

So we waited. I knew the Causeway Link had at least one more scheduled trip across the border. So we waited. We hunkered down out of the sun and waited for the next bus to show up. While we waited we saw several other tour buses come through. None of them left without their passengers.


The impatient Causeway Link bus. Route CW3.

Another Causeway Link bus did eventually come through. And after a short explanation, the driver allowed us to join his group, no doubt displacing some other unlucky passengers standing around stupidly on the other side of the border without immigration cards and wondering how long their bus would wait.