"Home Base"

One of the interesting things about travelling is how a country so far away from Home, can actually feel like a second home.  For us, it's Thailand.  No matter what other country we go to, whenever we arrive back in Thailand it feels familiar, safe, and comforting.  That's exactly how we feel right now.

Hat Yai - our restaurant

Visiting new countries is always fun, but you never really know what to expect or where 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 of familiarity. A place where you can call "Home Base".

On Friday we took a 14.5hour train ride to Hat Yai, Thailand.  Because our train didn't leave until the evening, we had a "sleeper car" - a train car lined with beds instead of seats.  Now a lot of people would think, "Neat!  You get to sleep in a train!", however it's not as fabulous as it sounds.  It's not the smooth-riding, quiet, smoke-free luxury that I'm sure the train rides are that tour through the Rockie Mountains.  No no no folks, this is a bumpy-as-heck, need-to-take-a-gravol, babies-craying-all-night, smokey, cramped type of train ride.  As I'm sure all other people that have backpacked through SE Asia have experienced, the reason one takes the train is purely for the cheapness - not the comfort! haha.  Hey, at least we saved on one nights accomodation!

For such a small place, Hat Yai is really bustling.  It's a small city with not a whole lot to do.  Being in a city where we can walk everywhere instead of needing to take public transport everywhere, is a welcoming change from Malaysia.  I think we'll be here for a few days - relax for a bit until we head to our next (unknown) destination.