Leela Resort Songkhla

... your approach.An island child @ Ko Yo (Songkhla province)For local products, Ko Yo cloth dates back to the 18th century and was presented to King Rama VII; it was given the fancy name of Pha Lai Ratchawat. The cloth is beautiful weave and durable and is worth paying the cotton-weaving industry a visit. Ko ...

... and put in my earphones - it was at this point that they struck up conversation with me. At the border Iwent through Thai immigration and as I was ushered towards Malaysia I started walking along the road thinking the minibus would be waiting the other end. After 5 minutes of walking I realised this was not the case and did an about turn to find the driver angrily waving at me to come back!

... the afternoon I took the train to Padang Besar, the border town with Thailand. After customs I had to buy a train ticket to Hat Yai and they asked for a ridiculous high price for the short distance to Hat Yai. So me and another Dutch guy René decided that we were not going to be ripped off (that much) and decided to find some road transportation instead. On the Thai side we found a songthaew which brought us to Sadao and from Sadao we took a minibus to Hat ...

Charmaine took me down to Seung Tale Beach. This is where the Salt Water meets the Fresh Water...aka "Brackish Water" There is a park which has a house of worship along with some interesting statues including the "Nag" The Thai's have keep their relic's from past wartime battles including a few cannons and a warhead....hope it's ...

... business card and was happy to speak of her background in marketing and public relations....maybe It's time the Ruff Housing Team had an Assistant....Of course I don't think that will pass with Charmaine...heh-heh.. Lunch today...thank goodness Mae was home as Charmaine is administering Final exams and was unable to come home and make my lunch today...good ...

... my way. 16 hours later I arrive at the South Bus Terminal. I ask around and am able to find what bus will take me to the Sky Train. 16 baht. I call Bank asking for a favor. I need a place to stay for the night and a way to get to the airport. His whole family is out for the next few days but he calls the maids and lets them know I'm coming and has them give me 300baht for the taxi to the airport. Again, I can't stop thanking him, and he ...

... seal the cracks, change the color." He holds up a garnet, which glows dark purple in the sun. "Cut this one here, you get 8,000 baht. You want to buy?" "Um, uh..." When I stammer out a few skeptical excuses (I mean really, could I and should I afford this?), Mr. Qu shrugs and pays the 1,500 baht himself. "No worries," he says. "We're just playing games here." The Thai man transfers the stones into a plastic grocery sack and our driver fires up the Mazda. "Now we go ...

... twenty pence) got off the train in the middle of nowhere for some reason, walked down the train tracks for half an hour to find the station, and had two minutes to spend all our remaining Thai Currency on snacks before we were again on our way, heading for the south west border crossing. We walked from Thailand to Malaysia, as we have found that this is more fun and less hassle than trying to get a bus or taxi or anything else that will drive you. The border was fine ...

... at an open-air downtown restaurant, but we passed on the "sea slug with greby sauce" (our hotel was "greby" enough). The next morning at the airport we thought we played it safe by ordering boiled eggs & toast but our boiled yolks came swimming in water in a mug. Nonetheless, we had a smooth flight to Bangkok (and more breakfast there too).

... my hotel) was actaully really good, even for a non-Museum kind of guy. The looong beach was also very nice, with shady Casuarina trees along the way. I spent the day wandering around the old part of town and Samila Beach. I went back to the beach for dinner to find out that it was the Songkhla Seafood Festival. That meant markets, food stalls, sideshow alley, rides, dancing displays, concert stage and the obligatory singing and dancing kids on it. It was actually a very ...