Hatyai Garden Home Hotel Hat Yai

... motorbike taxi, a bit expensive at 40Thb, but a good decision, as I would have been walking around for ages looking for my accomodation (Cathay Guesthouse). I checked into my room (for 200Thb) and had a quick walk around Hat Yai at night, the place has quite a buzz to it at night and plenty of shops and market stalls, as well as some seedy areas. I will investigate the place more thoroughly tommorow after some R and R.

Songai Kolok, 13-02-2009. Songai Kolok is supposed to be the heart of muslim territory in Thailand, within walking distance to the Malay border and - as rumour has it - the place of origin of the masterminds behind the Islam uprising in Southern Thailand. Basically this small and claustrophobic town houses a hotbed of islamic fanatics that are bend on total independence, create an Islam state in Buddhist Thailand, no matter what the cost!!! Blow up a police station, roadside ...

... Pulau Kecil, um genau zu sein. Dort geht jetzt die Tauchsaison los. A Propos Tauchen: Ich war neulich auf 41 Metern und hab viel Grossfisch gesehen, Leopoard Shark zum Beispiel! (8 Mile Rock) Jetzt aber heisst es fuer mich erstmal sparsam leben und nur tauchen gehen, wenn es wirklich sein muss... PS: Habe im vorigen Kapitel noch ein paar Fotos upgeloadet, enjoy!

... the first place we saw, B) had a whole set of basic (i.e. cheap)-looking bungalows on a gorgeous stretch of secluded beach and most importantly, C) it was called Porn Resort. Put the kids to bed and plug in the hair dryer, Martha, she's gonna be a wild one! Ah, if only it had lived up to its lofty name. Unfortunately, though, we found the staff to be somewhat aloof , as though we were just another in a long line of guys with gold chains, hairy shoulders and barbwire ...

... 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 ...

... most interesting of nights! Having stayed the night before just off the Kao San Road in BKK we'd had next to no sleep (despite quantities of beer with our Japanes friends) and we were understandably knackered! Once we'd offloaded our bags in the guest house room, which set us back 300 baht, we went in search of some scoff! Walking around the streets we found again, as on Ko Si Chang, that we were in the minority as far as "farang" were concerned and we received a lot of ...

... 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 ...

... so long and asked whether we had passed through Trang! 40 minutes extra on our journey to go back and drop them off. The driver also sees the journey as a chance to pick up friends, drop in on neighbours, old acquaintances, uncle tom cobbly and all! Needless to say, lesson learnt is never to book connecting transport in Asia, you won't make it! It was weird being back in a city after ...

... ceux qui s'en rapellent (c'est vraiment trop facile pour vous, vous n'avez qu'a aller lire plus haut... le 24/05 plus precisement). Nous avons donc passe 3 jours a voyager dans la ville et les environs, dont un jour memorable a parcourir la region en moto louee a la recherche d'un parc national que nous n'avons jamais trouve (ou en fait une fois sur le bon chemin il etait temps de revenir...). Cela ...