In this blog post, I am going to share a story that I don’t usually tell a lot of people. And when I do, I get every reaction from shock, laughter, to relief that I was okay. I’ll walk you through several questionable decisions that I made during this trip, and you may read it and think, “what’s the big deal?”. But for me, it was a very real experience and something that I will always look back on as not just a lesson for travel, but a life lesson.
I planned a trip to Singapore in December of 2017, around Christmas time. At the time, tickets to France and Singapore were surprisingly around the same price, so I was contemplating the two. But I ended up choosing to go to Singapore, as it was closer to Japan. I checked out some food, restaurants, and sightseeing spots that I wanted to check out in Singapore—I was so excited for my trip. Little did I know, I’d be spending most of my trip in Malaysia.
The day after I arrived in Singapore, I was just out exploring, munching on some delicious food, when I happened to come across a bus station. Still, to this day, I am not sure what prompted me to venture over and look at the bus schedule, but I did. And when I did, this overpowering desire to add another country on to this trip overtook me. So, what did I do? I walked right up to one of the desks and asked if there were buses going to Malaysia…there were. And for very cheap—if I remember correctly, maybe about 10 SGD ($8 USD) one way. So, I bought it. And may I remind you that, 1) I already booked my Airbnb in Singapore for my whole trip and it was nonrefundable and 2) I literally had not done a single minute of research on traveling in Malaysia or the process of traveling to Malaysia by bus. I knew it was probably not the smartest decision to just take my trip for an unplanned, unexpected turn like that. But, the excitement and adrenaline was overwhelming. My bus was leaving that night, so I went right back to my hostel, let the host know that I would be canceling the remainder of my stay, and picked up the couple things I had left there.
After I retrieved my things from the hostel, I explored some more before I had to get to the bus terminal that night. It didn’t even occur to me to, you know, use that time to research a bit about Kuala Lumpur (the capital of Malaysia) before taking a night bus into another country. So, when the time came, I went to the bus terminal, showed my ticket, and got on the bus to Kuala Lumpur.
I remember an older gentleman sitting across from me, asking where I was going, and I told him Kuala Lumpur. I thought nothing of it. I stayed awake for a little, then was awoken when we reached customs and had to get off of the bus. We got through customs rather quickly, likely because it was around midnight and traffic wasn’t too bad. I fell asleep again after getting back on the bus, and the next thing I knew, the older man across from me was waking me up, telling me we were in Kuala Lumpur. So, I grabbed my little green bag and when I stood up to get off the bus, I noticed I was the only one doing so. I asked the older man why people weren’t getting up and that’s when he told me that everyone else was going to Thailand. Guys, I didn’t even know this bus was going all the way to Thailand!! I was the only one getting off at that stop!? So, I got off the bus and it drove away immediately. It was around 2am and all I had was my bag and a phone that was not working. Oh, did I forget to mention? The sim card that I purchased at the Singapore airport that advertised being compatible for both Singapore and Malaysia, did not, in fact, work once I got to Malaysia. Add that to the result of my poor decisions that day. (:
There was a hotel across the street, so I walked over there as fast as I could, praying that they had a room for the night. They didn’t. Next stop was 7-11 across the street so I could get a sim card that would work in Malaysia. Guess what? They apparently did not sell sim cards til 7am—I was a few hours too early. And this is when the excitement was replaced with fear and panic. I was a young woman, alone in a country that I had never been to, in the middle of the night, no place to stay, and no phone service to search for anything or call anyone.
So, my next question was, left or right? I chose right and started walking in search for a hotel. It was pretty dark and I saw a few groups of people out and about, and I was on guard, not knowing what the heck could happen at any moment. Lots of feelings of regret surfaced at that point, but I kept walking. What else could I do? And that’s when I started to hear music and peoples’ voices in the distance. “Thank goodness,” I thought, with a slight sigh of relief. I followed the noise and finally, I saw a long street filled with open air restaurants and bars, people eating, drinking, mingling, etc. And that’s when I let myself breathe a little.
Walking down that street, I saw what looked to me like a little convenience store, so I thought I’d try there for a sim card. When I asked the guy about a sim card, he first told me no, that they did not have sim cards. But right as I started walking away, he called out to me, gave me a look, and asked again if I needed a sim card. I said yes. So, he pointed to a shop that was across the street and kind of diagonal from him and said, “See the green sign there? Go there and say I sent you.” Against my better judgement, I did exactly what he said. But everything turned out fine and the man at the shop with the green sign sold me a sim card for about 60 MYR ($15 USD). Definitely did not trust these men, but I had no other option and knew I’d feel a bit more at ease if I at least had internet and phone service. Now that I had phone service, I allowed myself to go in search of food to fill the hunger that had built up since departing from Singapore. So I randomly picked a restaurant along that busy street and spent the next hour there to let myself enjoy some food and regroup.
After leaving the restaurant, I walked down that same street until I found what looked like a small hotel. There were a couple guys hanging out, charging their phones in the front “lobby.” I walked up to the clerk and asked if they had any rooms available, and upon checking his computer, he informed me there were not any rooms available, but to wait because he was going to call a friend of his at another hotel. He got off the phone with his “friend” and told me to follow him. And, again, against my better judgement, I followed the man to his friend’s hotel. After I get there, he showed me the room that was available, and was kind of pushy about it. I’m not going to lie, I was pretty much 90% sketched out and in panic mode…but I did not allow myself to show that. So, what do you do in a situation like this? I put my earphones in that were connected to my phone and told him to just wait a minute while I go talk to my sister. I walked outside, where I knew he had to still be watching me, and pretended to talk on the phone. I walked back in the hotel and said to him, “Hey, thank you but my sister is actually not far away so she’s going to pick me up.” I walked back out the door, walked swiftly back in the direction I came from, and when I knew he was out of sight, I ran until I returned to the street with all of the lights, music, and people. There’s just something comforting about noise, lights, and busy streets when you’re alone in the middle of the night in a country you don’t know.
It was probably around 4am by this time, and buses to Melaka were scheduled to run in a couple of hours. So, I gave up on trying to find a hotel to sleep in—I had to accept that I would not be getting any sleep that night. I did, however, go back to that one hotel to finish charging my phone. One of the guys that was staying there ended up talking to me a little and he was super nice. When it was about 5:30, he offered to order me a Grab, which is kind of like the Lyft or Uber of Southeast Asia. Even though he was nice, I politely declined and said I’d find a way to the bus terminal myself. But he insisted that I shouldn’t continue to go out alone as a young woman and that he’d make sure I got there safely. I cautiously accepted. The Grab picked us up, and I followed us on the map to make sure we were, indeed, heading to the bus terminal. We were. I was dropped off at the terminal and I found a place to purchase my ticket to Melaka, grabbed a quick breakfast before it departed, and I was on my way.
On the 2-hour bus ride to Melaka that morning, I reflected upon the prior night and vowed to never again travel so recklessly and put myself in potentially dangerous situations. No, there was no immediate danger—I wasn’t attacked or forced to do anything against my will. But my questionable decisions put me in a vulnerable situation where literally any of those things could’ve happened. I was beyond grateful that I was okay and was unharmed throughout the night. But, I learned my lesson to ALWAYS do research, plan ahead of time, and make sure that you don’t end up alone in the middle of the night in some random country. I’ve taken multiple solo trips and I can be quite the spontaneous traveler. There’s nothing wrong with being spontaneous and adventurous—but my advice to you is to make sure that important things like accommodation and phone service/internet are planned ahead of time so you don’t run into the same issues I did.
Now, I know that was all quite the dramatic story, but rest assured – the remainder of my time in Malaysia turned out to be amazing and so much fun! I cannot wait to share with you how it went. (:
Ever been in a sticky situation while traveling solo? I want to hear your stories! Share below in the comments, or head over to the contact page and shoot me an email. (:
