Daiichi Hotel Hat Yai

... afternoon I visited the Odean shopping mall and also obtained my obligatory t-shirt. Although there wasn't much to do here I managed to see most that Hat Yai had to offer, it felt like a gentle, nice and different introduction to Thailand as opposed to flying straight into Bangkok, where all the mayhem is there from the word go. It was good to see somewhere a bit different although I look forward to seeing some of the islands in the south of Thailand, even if they are touristy.

... Song-Thaew with the driver patiently waiting for the - to him no doubt - daily procedure, unfriendly and at times even outright hostile stares from my other passengers. Leaving the bus terminal my eyes are under a strange and constant attack of contradicting impressions, sights so unusual for me in this part of the world. women pass me in the street dressed head to toe in mostly black islamic gear trying hard to avoid my eyes, looking down at ...

... all of your efforts to cover up in order to give a positive impression of westerners are wasted here because all caucasians in Thailand are half-naked, get laughed at by a lot of ridiculously well-turned out local women from fashionista to cleaner and buy a lot of gold. Or at least, pass a lot of gold shops. Anyway, we have our tickets, we grab some average Thai food (this first experience of Thai food is notably underwhelming) and head on our way.

... can I say? It worked. We meandered slowly out of the city via a winding set of detours, once having to driving in reverse for almost ten minutes after coming to an underpass that was too low, past submerged streets with women trudging through water with groceries held over their heads, kids swimming, a group of men actually trying to fish and one guy in the waist high water with a foolish grin on his face like he'd just finished ******* on your grilled cheese sandwich ...

... a little restaurant, where we had a beer and a game of pool........ On the way back to our hotel we pass the German lad sitting in a cafe, so we stopped and thanked him once again. When he dropped us off he went in a different direction to try and get some information on boat trips so he passed on the info, so he was very handy! hopefully the next blog will be about phi phi island and how easy it was to get there.... to be continued in the next episode of helen and merls travel disasters.

Auf dem Weg nach Nakhon hab ich dann in einem total ueberfuellten Bus Koy und Glom kennengelernt. Da der Bus, wie alles hier in Thailand, verspaetet war, hat mich Koy zu ihrer Familie eingeladen. Das war ein Dorf mit wenigen Haeusern direkt am Strand, wo ich die naechsten 2 Tage mit der Familie, Kindern, Huehnern und den Nachbarn verbracht hab. Am ersten Tag hab ich erstmal die Englischhausaufgaben des Nachbarsohns machen duerfen, wobei die Maenner den ...

... shots from the nearby tracks for my buddy Dave. I've also took this photo...a home near the tracks. The family that lives there waves to Charmaine each week on her way to Church....they always seem very happy. -Shane aka.. Braverhund-

... any where decent to stay so we checked out the prices of transport to Penang. There is no official mode of transport across the boarder. The only choice is taking one of the countless mini buses and praying you get there in one piece with all your belongings! We negotiated a reasonable price for the mini bus and departed at 4pm (just as it began to rain). All of us were of different nationalities and no one else spoke English. We all had to have our bags crammed ...

... the windows were opened all the way, resulting in us being pretty grubby when we got off! Also, there was the novelty of armed soldiers and policemen on the train, apparently this is the norm! They were very nice though, and all seemed to take a fancy to Stug, and practiced their english on him during the journey. Obviously, he was only too pleased to help, not at all influenced by the fact they were toting semi automatic weapons!

Tonight saw us catch the 20.30 overnight train from K.L. to Hat Yai in Southern Thailand. We were in a carriage of 40 bunks (each with a privacy curtain) but it was amusing the see the staff trying to weave the coffee trolley between all the back-packs strewn everywhere. (Come back aeroplanes, all is forgiven). Actually only joking it was great really and interesting to hear of everyone's travel tales.