Saen Sabai Hotel Songkhla

... palm. The sight has fully vanished over the years due to rapid urbanisation.Jackfruit (Thai: Kanoon) @ Ko YoPetai or Stinking beans (Parkia speciosa)There are many tropical fruit trees growing in the island like Jackfruit (Thai: Kanoon), Sapodillas (Thai: La-mut) and Mangosteens (Thai: Mangkhut). I did not ...

... east of Thailand, the nearest border was Myanmar, though we did not want to pay the fees supporting the Myanmar government and so we went further afield to Padang Besar in Malaysia. We bought our bus tickets, despite knowing better, on Kao Sarn Road which is notorious for travel agent scams. The first leg of the journey went smoothly on an overnight journey in a very nice bus which took us as far as Surat Thani, about two ...

... was too freaked out to go on further. Everyone we talked with had been attacked by 38998234 leeches. Leeches are funny and gross but don't carry disease. Still, I wasn't too keen on having them sucking my blood. We made it out safely. After the jungle we thought it was finally time to head out to the islands so we made our way over to the town that has the boats but the weather was bad so we stayed for a few days and saw a cultural performance with drumming ...

... s hand in marriage..JM asked me..."But what did Charmaine say?" well...I asked Charmaine several months ago...long before we ever met in person..."Pakasalan mo ba ako?" (Tagalog ,"Will you marry me?") Charmaine's response was, "OO'!OO'!" (Yes! Yes!") (I think that's about the only full line of Tagalog I can recite!) I asked her again (at the airport upon arrival) and again I got the affirmative.... :) -Shane ...aka..Braverhund-

... market and to the grocery store ...The "Lee" it's like the Jewel but no Barb Nelson....but they do have this guy.....yes guy.(note adams apple?) (There's your $1600 at work Johnny Mac!) Pretty much a traditional grocery store ('cept the tranny) Ketchup Twinkies...a bit of this and that..... Interesting supper...fish....veggies...rice....noth ing abnormal there ...

... other travellers have stayed. It's in LP as a Budget place with a good vibe, but it's the most horrid establishment we've ever set foot in. What do you expect for 200 baht a night? For that price, we laid our bags in the room and set about securing our bus/ boat to Ko Lipe the next day, and checked out a few more hotel options. Cathay had wide hallways with windowless rooms and linoleum that was put in decades ago, almost like it used to be ...

... buying and selling resembles a dingy sort of back-alley trading floor. My Indiana Jones fantasies are suddenly rekindled. One of the buyers, another American, immediately recognizes Mr. X. "Hey X," he says. "Did you already blow all your money on the girls? What did you bring in for me?" Mr. X starts to show him the rough stones. "Look here," he says to the American. "This garnet is winking at you. What do you give me for this?" The American laughs. "What do you say ...

... way there, and the ticket only cost fifty pence. It turned out that the train took four hours to travel forty miles as it went back and forth over the same line for some time.... still, you get what you pay for. We still couldn't get a train to Hat Yai so we stayed in a sub-standard hotel instead. Phatthalung is a tiny place, and everyone stops to say hello to the foreigners - which is nice, and reminded us of being back in China. Anyway we got the six am train to Hat ...

We finally left Tonsai - which was hard because of ideas of perfection - and headed to the east side before we head into Malaysia. Just about the worst time of my life. The bus ride was at night, so we thought there would be no one on. Wrong. Overpacked, I had to stand for 4 hours next to a guy who hadn't heard personal hygeine was all the rage in the 1500s. And somehow everyone's breath was murder. MURDER! BURGER! NINJA! So we got to Hat Yai about 12:30 at night, no ...

... and priced, tourist spread Places Visited: Bangkok, Koh Toa, Chong Mek, Chang Mai, Pai, Lampang, Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, Surrathani, Hat Yai, Songalokolok Days Visited: 38-Days Budget: GBP 9.01 per day per person (1GBP=72Baht) Total Distance travelled: 3900kms Cost of transport: GBP 104.52 (Road, M.Bike, Water, Air) 1Km = 2.6pence