J.B. Hotel Hat Yai

... placed by white Farang behind on an old sofa in the lobby of my hotel, sketchbook and acrylic colors close at hand, watching both the going-ons in my hotel as well as the spectacle outside where once pious young malay men have by now become semi-professional drunks being approached by sluttily dressed women whose age I guess from early twenties to mid thirties, all of them from Thailand`s poorer Northern provinces, no Thai muslim ladies here to satisfy these hordes ...

Mon.04 May. Left Ipoh for Hat Yai 8.30 - nice and early thinking it was going to be a big day with the border crossing. A nice relaxing drive through lush tropical rainforest taking in hills/scenic routes. An hour into our journey we were horrified to come across a terrible road crash involving 4 or 5 cars. It was not surprising, given the way they drive, but still very upsetting. <br><br>Still acres and acres of palm ...

We didnt do a lot in penang, just chilled out really. Got our thai visa's sorted, visa is free at the moment but we had to pay 30ringgot to the guy who went and sorted them for us but it was cheaper than doing it ourselfs. Met a guy from Swindon last night and chilled with him, he had some funny and mental stories to tell, especially about thailand lol We didnt end up going to the shrine in the end, was raining and we couldnt be bothered ...

... 100 Baht, haggle for half an hour to save 30 baht on a ride to the bus station and then, after a meagre 20 baht supper of fried rice, will spend 850 baht on beer. With many of these financial wizards having spent their last few baht getting to Bangkok for their flight every day brought more and more desperate faces to town, plugging away in Internet cafes in search of options, lined up around the block for the Western Union counter, jostling for space at the ...

... and said, "Keep the change!!". Thanks to another nice old man exchanging our last remaining Thai Bhat for Malay Renghit (RM), we grabbed supper at the Pizza Hut where Reuben and his friend met us. I prayed before arriving that God would provide a way for us to find Reuben, and he did in a fun way.Riding in a rickshaw with all that luggage was a hoot!! Sometimes God provides angels in ways we would never expect. We are now set to begin our weekend in Pinang!!!

... as much as we could but we still saw a lot. We saw 2 huge sea turtles, a million different kinds of fish and coral, some people saw sharks. I stubbed my toe on the coral in the first 5 minutes because I didn't realize how close it actually was. I made Becca clean it when we got home. DONT WORRY I'M FINE. Anyway I had a great time and I'm quite brown now. Swimming with flippers on is good fun. I only became exhausted one time when we were in the shark area ...

... spent the rest of the day watching The Office- which the swedes fell in love with. (pam&lt;3) Other than that we played a good amount of cards- they love poker, I suck at poker. Blackjack. And flipping coins for money. All fun. Also saw Ratatouie(fell asleep)- Rescue Dawn- Rougue Assassin (fell asleep) and 1 more that I cant think of. Our final Night we went to the Reggae Bar. Live music is fun. Upon waking up this morning we discovered our DVD player had been stolen. I ...

... OK, you're full of ****." "Good. Now make me a better offer." "950 baht?" Mr. Qu sighs. "I can tell you are smart man, but you are giving a stupid man too much trust." He pushes the opal over to me. "Here, you were good luck for me today. You keep it." Thanking him, I take the small, milky stone and carefully drop it into my pack. "What makes you think I'm good luck?" He shrugs. "I am just stupid man." What characters you meet when traveling! I still have the stone. Best~

... will drop you off outside a Tourist Information office. TI in our countries are informative and helpful. TI in Thailand are actually just one of a million different booking agencies trying to get you to buy a boat/bus/tour ticket from them and they don't like it if you leave and try to go elsewhere 5)Once you talk to a taxi/boat/tuk tuk driver about a fare or you go with them and they wait for you - you ...