Regency Hotel Hat Yai

... where the rooms go by the hour and apart from a towel and soap, condoms are issued for free. My quick pen sketches of the world around me attract the attention of Hot Mommas going or coming from one of the many dingy rooms of my guesthouse, despite the Light My Fire from The Doors blaring out of and ancient juke-box behind the reception there is no mistaking the obvious grunts coming from these rooms!!! I pay several ladies a can of Chang while sketching them in my ...

... br><br>12.15pm saw us beginning emigration/immigration. The Malay side went smoothly and the Thai side not quite. Dave mistook the Customs Office for the swine 'flu interrogation room and being a N.Zer the doctor was very interested in his health and wellbeing. 45 minutes later he returned to the truck I was guarding. A real rabbit warren on the Thai side. At one stage a grumpy Customs Officer started yelling at us ...

... plenty of temples to see in thailand anyway. Today we got a minibus to hat yai in thailand. Wasnt the best of journeys, kept baning my head on the celing when we went over bumps lol. The suspension on there vehicles isnt great! At the border crossing the guy seemed to be getting abit funny with me not really sure why. They didnt check our bags or anything which i thought was very odd. Normally they put all luggage through scanners and ...

... food stalls, and trading oily *******s for bottles of Chang. Lyle and Nadine, however, were fortunate to have us on their side and, of course, some money, which allowed them to continue saving their baby oil for some future special occasion. Fast forward to Hat Yai, a transport hub in southern Thailand, all four of us at the travel agency nearest the train station jockeying for position among the crowd that had just descended like flies on a pus-filled scab. It seemed ...

... t find! We walked down to the water front and found people selling boat trips to the islands. But then we got chatting to some other couple who said that there was a ferry port about 3 kilometers away where the tickets maybe cheaper. So Helen's ears pricked at the sound of saving 40p so we i mean Helen decided that we should walk to this ferry port, we eventually get there 2hours later ! to find that the place is shut. There was only a security guard sitting in his little booth, so he ...

... a world-class combover. Our room was basic but the photographs in the hallways made up for it - hundreds upon hundreds of claim to fame photos, including one of Elvis with the Thai Royal family - random! We found a cheap place to catch up on the internet while it was still raining then went to explore the night market which wasn't open. Hat Yai doesn't ...

... breakfast was funny. I'm really glad we bought the language book. Becca and I want to take a language class, a cooking class, a 10 day meditation, the scuba dive lesson, see elephants make paintings, see the full moon party, and see some temple architecture. Also we've been looking into buying out tickets home. The first time we talked about it it felt really weird. Going home. It won't be for a few months yet but still. Wow. I'll leave you on that note. Love, Shari

... Koh Lanta or Ko Muk- which Ill decide tomorrow en route. This trip is funny. I had always wanted to plan the whole thing out. Even before I left I did elaborate planning. None of which I have followed. My original plan was to head to Malaysia for 2 days and then go to the Thai Islands for 2 weeks. Instead I wandered about and ended up on Langkawi and because of that I had the best time imaginable. Bottom line - plans suck - do what you feel like and things will probably work out.

... this is of note, is cos it was our last stop in Thailand! Went to see spiderman 3, which brings the total of comic book movies i've been to see in the last few months to 3, what is going on! Classic bit of dancing from spidey though, if you've seen it, you'll know what I mean! Also took the opportunity to eat some good Thai food, our last chance! Some nice moo gawp, some kueytiow naam khai, and khao niaow, yummy! (these ...

... wasn't eating though so none of it appealed. We were close to the Malaysian border too so the locals were mainly Muslim. Our room was in a dark, hospital like guesthouse, but it was really cheap and we all had a single bed and a bathroom in the room. All we did here was look around and bargain for our bus tickets the next day. Ben and I were both felling sick and were exhausted so we went to bed very early.