This border crossing between Thailand and Malaysia was duly reached at midday today. The border officials refused the student who had lost his passport permission to leave Thailand, and desperate phone calls to the Australian legal office at Butterworth achieved nothing. Consequently, one of the teachers who was assisting with the trip accompanied the student back to Bangkok (on a third class sit-up train), and then spent a hectic time in Bangkok completing Police reports, arranging replacement travel document, and replacing traveller’s cheques. With help from the Christian Church in Bangkok, airline tickets were purchased and the two re-joined the rest the group in Singapore on Friday evening.
Meanwhile the rest of the group reached Butterworth at sunset. After a meal at the nearby shops in Butterworth, we joined the overnight express to Kuala Lumpur, reaching the Malaysian capital at 7:00am the next morning.
