Hatyai International 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 ...

... around our biceps. Plus all the beachfront cabins were already taken so we were relegated all the way back to the third row, left in the embarrassing position of being too far from the action to actually get a rug burn yet close enough to see all the debauchery we were missing, like we were Little Bill in Boogie Nights pushing our way through the crowd in the parking lot only to discover that it was our wife getting the business right there on the pavement. So we ...

... bands!). A great introduction to Thailand and Thai food on the market. It was also here we realised travelling in Thailand wasn't going to be as easy as we thought, with virtually all Thai writing in Roman script - so we couldn't read a thing! We were pretty much the only westerners in the whole town and when getting food from a food market looked like complete fools when tryinig to ...

... I'm okay with that, but Jo felt a little freaked out by being such a novelty. We stumbeld into a nice looking chinese restaurant only to find we'd entered karaoke hell! There was a contest of some kind which involved well dressed women singing Thai love songs into a karaoke microphone. That in it self was entertaining, but trying to order something from the 6 waitresses who not only flocked to our table to take our order and stare at the farang, but actually sat down at our ...

I had an awful night's sleep in Georgetown and hd woken up so thirsty but unable to leave and buy a bottle o water as the front door was locked (it was 3am so I doubt I'd have found anywhere open anyway). I resorted to using my drinking straw with integrated water filter so fingers crossed I don't get sick! The next morning we got the ferry back over to the mainland (and didn't have to pay for some reason unless everyone buys a standard return ticket on their way ...

... on where you could get food and drinks, and there was a carriage you could go in to watch tv, which we did, but also in true Lois and Baz style we attract the only man on the train drinking who chooses us to want to talk to and drink with!!!! so i talked and Baz drank, we had a giggle with him, and then we went off to bed, and i slept most of the 10 hours left of the 14 hour train journey to Kuala Lumper.

... to go or where to stay or what to do - some of the joys of travelling, I guess. But when it comes down to it, and you want to take a break from it all, it's nice to have a place to go back to where you can just relax and not have to think about anything. A place where you have an idea of what to expect. A place that makes you feel like your not 50 million miles away from the feeling ...

... islands and there is nothing particularly outstanding about Hat Yai other than it is a connecter town with Malaysia. So rather than go to another night market, i think i may have worn myself out of them, we went to see King Kong which is very good and kills 3 hours of time! Also found out that you have to stand up and salute the King in the cinema, can't imagine us doing that to our lot!

... compter que nous avons ete trempes a quelques reprises... En fait nous avons eu 2 jours de pluie. Apres 3 jours elle est repartie vers Bangkok (elle avais 2 jours de conge regulier et a reussi a avoir un jour supplementaire) et je suis parti pour Surat Thani le lendemain au matin... J'ai reussi a laver la lentille de mon appareil moi-meme cette fois, et ai laisse une grafigne a la place... ARG ...