BP Samila Beach Hotel Hat Yai

Since my last entry a lot has happened. After leaving Ko Phangan, I hopped on a ferry to another nearby island called Ko Tao. Ko Tao is meant to have some of the best scuba diving in the world, but was much too expensive for my budget. I stayed at a place called AC Resort on a strip of beach, and it was a great location. It was central to the beach (right across a walkway) and the nightlife. Ko Tao is a lot ...

... or maybe a mortar attack on a public school...all that in the name of Allah, never mind the innocent, unschooled local farmers whose main concern is trying to feed their families. I spend most of the day changing Song-Thaews, looking from the glassless windows at an endless array of rice paddies, women working the rice paddies covered in long black dresses and muslim headscarves, constant police road blocks with camouflage clad soldiers entering the Song-Thaew, their ...

... its appualing! LOL. There is absolutly nothing to do in this town except prepare for the border crossing into Malaysia, but I'm not ready to leave Thailand yet . . . . So tomorrow I am heading for the costal town of Songkhla, its about 25km away. I still can't find a computer good enough to let me upload photo's! but I keep looking.

... large resort (large in the scheme of Koh Lipe, not most islands) literally having opened during our stay. With no central power station, somewhat random garbage pits scattered around the island and seemingly no effort being made to minimize the damage, especially from bottled water, things could start getting real ugly around here at some point. A perfect example: as I write this I'm watching a group of guys dig up large quantities of beautiful white sand from the ...

... an experience. As it turned out, we arrived in Thailand for the Buddhist New Year (our 4th new year of the travels after 31st Dec, Chinese and Hindu). Unfortunately we were a day late for all the celebrations (the day before they cover each other in water and flour, drenching anyone that walks by) but the celebrations continued in Hat Yai with a huge street market and concerts (with real ...

On Sunday Charmaine and I took a trip to the Malaysian Border to get her passport stamped. This is common for foreign workers in Thailand. It's a long 2 hour trip by bus (van). Along the way were some interesting 'real estate' sites and a lot of Rubber trees. Chances are the rubber in your tires came from the southern region of Thailand. After arriving at the border, Charmaine went in to get her ...

... or how your getting there is beginning to be the norm, anyway we eventually got on another minibus and headed to Hat Yai, pretty ugly place really, and no reason i can think of why anyone would want to go, other than to catch trains and busus!!!! and thats what we did, we got the train down to Kuala Lumper. The train was a sleeper, and it was really cool, and very comfy, a bit rickety!!! but it had a ...

One of the interesting things about travelling is how a country so far away from Home, can actually feel like a second home. For us, it's Thailand. No matter what other country we go to, whenever we arrive back in Thailand it feels familiar, safe, and comforting. That's exactly how we feel right now. Visiting new countries is always fun, but you never really know what to expect or ...

... garantie de reparation car le gars m'avais laisse une belle empreinte digitale la ou je ne pouvais la laver... Une fois cela regle le lendemain, le surlendemain je constate une tache noire... ARG! Et je n'ai plus le temps de retourner a la shop! Je suis en fait sur mon chemin pour aller acheter 2 billets pour Hai Hin, une petite ville au nord de la peninsule Thailandaise. 1 pour moi et un pour Ae ...

... go with another driver. Once you've talked to a driver or done business with them they will shoo away other drivers and get mad if you try to go with someone else even thoughn you didn't say you would go with them. They will follow you. Hat Yai is a town you stay in when you're trying to get somewhere else. It is cool though and they have a giant mall with lots of colourful shops and Western fast food places. I ...