Curry for Breakfast aka Thailand!

Well we finally made it to the original inspiration for the trip: Thailand. Getting here, though, required getting out of Malaysia. Don't get me wrong - Kuala Lumpur was a new interesting city. But as far as urbanscapes go, it was especially nice if you like:
(a) Chinatown (pirated DVDs and fake Nikes);
(b) driving (saying it's not pedestrian friendly is putting it mildly);
(c) expensive shopping (Mango, Burberry, and other eurobrands are huge status symbols); and
(d) cheap Indian food.

So clearly (d) was thrilling for me, especially because it was socially acceptable to eat with your hands off of a banana leaf. I plan to import this custom to the US.

But other than bellies full of saag paneer and malai kofta, we were ready to head north.

The 13-hour, second class train ($20, AC, 40 beds per car) provided the route. Amy was dubious of the cleanliness of the sheets so she bought some Winnie the Pooh sheets in advance at a market and wasted no time putting them down:

And voilà, only 12 hours later we were approaching the Thai border! I awoke to see the sun rising over limestone bluffs. Of course, getting across the border inexplicably took forever so the train got to its final destination two hours later. But we'd finally reached Thailand and curry and a Chang beer at 11 am never tasted so good...