Veronica and I have recently returned from a successful visa-run to Indonesia.

Our 90 day visa was due to expire and Medan seemed like a good idea.

Unfortunately Veronica’s passport had no available space for a visa upon arrival and we refused to pay the US$500 surcharge required to ‘make it all happen’.

So,  Veronica’s papers were stamped officially as deported, we were escorted immediately to the departure lounge and spent the next 8 hours looking for anything that resembled food before our flight back to Penang.
Penang Immigration were happy to see us and reward us with another 90 day visa. Bless them.

I wish we could stay for another 90 days. Our house restoration is almost complete but the money has run out.
I return to Australia on the 16th and Veronica on the 25th. I can’t cook, so all offers of a free feed until the maid returns will be gladly accepted.

It is always so hard to leave here.

I remember reading about a chicken in the US who lived for 18 months without a head.
The would-be killer made a fortune out of carting the headless chook to every sideshow and carnival around and people flocked to watch the bird running about unbothered by its lack of a cranial appendage.

So it is in Malaysia, there are fully functioning human beings who live their lives without any vestige of brain activity.
Even more incredible, they allow these people to ride motorbikes and drive cars.
When they have an accident, because they drove down the wrong side of the road at 100 km an hour in a built up street, the newspapers report it as a ‘freak accident’.

If it’s a tourist who dies, the pain leaves no stain as the grief quickly moves off-shore.
If it’s a local, it’s the will of God or Allah or whatever deity is assigned to accept responsibility for acts of gross stupidity.

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