Roy was a well spoken Englishman whose face told me he had spent more years here than I ever wanted to imagine. He arrived on a cross between a bike and a wheelbarrow in a white tee-shirt, kaki shorts, and a pair of well worn leather sandals. He spoke to the cowboy whom he obviously had met before, and without much fuss and started to layout a tarp on the ground and then arrange a selection of books on it. I didn't see any classics but there were a few older versions of the Lonely Planet in Dutch and German. Roy then took up his position beside the cowboy and crossed his legs, and without looking down he took a small tin box from his pocket, opened it and preceded to role a cigarette. He spoke very gently, very measured, he wasn't heavily tanned but his face was like a ploughed field. This was what Roy did, he went from hostel to hostel buying and selling books and getting books that travelers left behind for free. It was obvious he had been doing it for a long, long time.
"Dermott!"
I was snapped back to the sofa, "which way are you going into Thailand?" Claudia had been buried in her guide book since sitting down, but now emerged with this question. She too needed to see about getting into Thailand, but then onto Krabi. I told her I was heading for Langkawi and then on to Satun, "but", I said "I'm going a round about way to get there, so if it's just getting into Thailand you're looking for, someone here might be able to point you in a better direction". I was of course thinking of Roy. Roy was at this very moment in the midst of a conversation with the Shadow who it turned out was a New Zealander - he was now trying to tell Roy he knew more about Malaysia and Thailand than Roy. Roy was currently correcting him! Kick his ass Roy! I said to myself. I turned to the Cowboy who was my next best hope, and put Claudia's problem to him. Claudia had the skills and equipment to get the best advice from people, so having gotten the ball rolling I then left her to it. For all intentional purposes Cowboy was a local and suggested Roy was the one to ask. I was firmly getting the impression Roy was the Yoda figure round here, and I was right. He has been in this country for 30 years on a holiday visa, something which given my current situation not only boggled my mind but brought a whole new dimension to Roy. "You hard, bad bastard!", I thought.
Roy indeed knew his stuff and was more than willing to share. He suggested Claudia take the Kuala Perlis long boat, a route I had been considering but had overruled it so as to see Langkawi. A bus from Penang to Kuala Perlis cost only a few Ringitt and the long boat, albeit a bit basic, would still get you into Satun in Thailand. This was Roy's preferred, and regular route as it was low key which suited him. It was easy and quicker than the border crossing which can be very busy, and you get a boat ride into the bargain. I got the impression Claudia was sold on the idea, and very happy with her new found inside contact. Roy went back to his conversation and Claudia and I went back to ours. I now could overhear the Shadow denying all knowledge of something in New Zealand "no, no, never heard of that, no". Roy was advancing slowly but sure footedly and had now taken his verbal battle with the Shadow from Malaysia into New Zealand, where Roy, incidentally, had also been, much to the Shadows surprise. He was now on the Shadows home ground and Roy was STILL kicking his ass, "never heard that, no, no" I could hear him say as Roy gently but persuasively illustrated to him and us that he was a bullshitter, and that he was out of his depth with Roy.
Roy's Kuala Perlis route is mostly used by locals so for any number of reason you're better to take it if you don't mind basic conditions. The Shadow having been suitably 'whipped' by Roy had moved on to someone else now, who I imagine, unlike Roy, he hoped he would be able to impress. Eventually he would find someone, people like that eventually always do. All in all Claudia would be getting from Penang to Thailand for just over half of what it was costing me. For Claudia it was definitely worth coming to Oasis for Roy's advice. For me it was worth coming to Oasis for Roy, period, but it was no accident that he was there. Oasis is on the fringe, and you have to go to the fringe to find the Roy's of this world. Even then they're not easy to see, they don't advertise, they're quiet, soft-spoken, and can be mistaken for part of the scenery if you're not paying attention. But they're well worth stopping with for a while, and spending time in their company if you can spare it, providing of course you're not a bullshitter.