Saturday around town.

Breakfast on the top floor terrace of our hotel is about as good as it gets for an ideal setting. We sat at one of the small tables by the rail, a perfect panoramic view of the sea, trees and town. The buffet was a magnificent spread of literally, as the expression goes, everything from fruits to nuts. Dried fruits, fresh fruits, nuts, cereals, yogurts, breads, croissants, cheese, olives, cold cut meats, juices, eggs any style cooked fresh, pancakes, bacon, chicken sausages, fried potatoes, soup and on and on. On top of that there were a variety of Asian dishes. NO we didn't sample everything, almost though! LOL. It really was grand to enjoy a breakfast and coffee on the terrace. We even had a visitor, feathery little guy, stop by to enjoy a few crumbs from my croissant. Must be French. LOL
Our journey, to date, has landed us in 13 different hotels/locations. Having lugged her pack around equally as many times, and with a future of six or so more stops, Marie decided it was time to lighten the load. I get to stay but 8 kilos of stuff, some brought from home and some newly acquired, suddenly was marked as "not required". We loaded up and took our haul to the local post office. Now Marie carries an empty backpack while mine gained weight. What's up with that?
I/we, so very unfortunately, did not acquire visas for Thailand while we were in Kuala Lumper. That would have been too easy and would have allowed us to stay for up to 60 days. I was under the impression we could get a "quick visa" on arrival at the airport. Wrong, so very wrong. When arriving in Thailand by air you are allowed to stay for 30 days without a visa. Arriving by land gives you 15 days. Your passport is stamped with the date when you must leave. If you stay past the date you will be charged a penalty for everyday you stay. Immigration can give an extension but only for seven to ten days. One solution is to go to leave Thailand, then return and have your passport stamped under the same conditions previously mentioned. Since our passports only bear a stamp until Feb 17th we have a dilemma logistically and financially. Leaving and flying back, while giving us the 30 days we require, is too expensive and complicated to get to the destination we desire, Hua Hin. Leaving and returning by land, also complicated destination wise, only gives us 15 days, leaving us ten days short for our return flight to Canada. After several hours of searching the web our solution is to make a "visa run" to Penang, Malaysia. It is the least expensive option; an 8 hour minivan ride to Penang, three nights in Georgetown waiting for our visa application to be processed at the Thai Embassy, a minivan ride back to Hat Yai and an overnight train to Hua Hin. I'm still not believing this even as I write it now. Logistically, the problem is our location; we are in Krabi Town and flights connecting to other countries usually require connections via Bangkok.
On the positive side we get to visit Georgetown, Penang Island Malaysia.