Breaking the Law in Bangkok!

I’m an illegal immigrant in Thailand as of today...

Why? Because of my stupid bank, that’s why! After arriving in Laos the first thing I did was check my account online (unusually) and to my horror I was $150 short! I couldn’t work it out, the money had been there this morning! So I panicked and after considering my options and how damn expensive Laos was I decided the best thing would be just to go back to Thailand, where I can stay with friends if need be. So the afternoon after my 23 hour bus journey from Hanoi to Vientiane I was back on another bus making my way to the Thai border to catch a 12 hour train back to Bangkok. At the border I was informed just as he was stamping me into Thailand that I needed to leave by the 29^th October, “You will go before this date?” he asked me.

But my flight to Malaysia is on 31^st!

I just agree and go on my way but inside I’m losing it. What am I going to do? First I double check my flight, yes, it’s the 31^st then I count how many days there is untill the 31^st and it’s 17 days to go so why do I have to leave on the 29^th? I'd forgoten that yes, we get fewer days to visit the country if you enter by land but I’ve always received 17 days in the past but to my horror I now had only 15 days stamped in my passport! Now after a quick Google check it appears tourists now only get 15 days, just my luck that the one time I actually need the full 17 days it’s now 15!  It was also just my luck that 3 or 4 days later the money was back in my account just as it should have been. How very GRRRR! I was really looking forward to seeing Laos as well but guess it will still be there next time. I did consider going back but the lazy side of me decided against it.

I’ve read and been told that as long as I don’t get arrested (but knowing my luck…) before I get to the airport I won’t get in trouble if I pay a fine of 500 baht a day. Having looked at my options this is the cheapest and easiest way to do it as a new flight would have cost me about $50 and catching the bus and train like I did last year was one 30 hour journey I don’t wish to repeat and I'd be paying about the same as the fine. Finger’s crossed I don’t get arrested then! If my blog ends here ya'll know what happened...

I can’t say I’m sad to see the back of Thailand for a while. Lack of money has meant for the last 2 weeks I’ve been stuck in my apartment doing sod all apart from snacking on too many packs of Lays and drinking too much bubble tea. I've been to Kuala Lumpur before but Penang will be something new and that’s always exciting.