Running rings around Satun

Trip Start Nov 01, 2006
1
101
179
Trip End Oct 31, 2007


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow

Flag of Thailand  ,
Saturday, April 28, 2007

Sorry; me again, but I promise Rachel will do the next one.  We left Koh Mook yesterday by transfer from Charlie Resort (it was 50 Baht more each to leave the island than to arrive for some weird reason - probably that you can't really say 'no').  A plush minibus took us from the jetty into Trang once again and we got off at the main bus station.  There were no air-con buses leaving for Satun (just north of the Thai-Malay border) for a couple of hours, so we made do with a 'local' bus.  It was raining hard which kept the heat at bay but also slowed down an already slow journey.  In the end it took 3 hours to do 150km which works out at an average speed of about 30 mph (only slightly quicker than British Rail Intercity - miaow!).

It was really chucking it down when we arrived so we had to just run to our proposed hotel as fast as we could (our cagoules were, of course, right at the bottom of our rucksacks).  Once there, we couldn't face moving on to find another place - even though our room was pretty dirty, the place was run-down and the bed/mattress combination quite the most squidgily uncomfortable we've had on the trip so far. It was a very cheap room (about 3 pounds fifty) but frankly we'd rather have paid more for a better last night in Thailand.

We grabbed a quick lunch at On's bar, picked up a few essentials from 7-11 and then caught up on this blog. (I know; a blog about blogging - how interesting.  What a 21st C. madness?).  Then, in the evening, once the worst of the rain had lifted we had a last 'go' at a Thai nightmarket: two types of curry over rice; some delicious fried chicken with not a geriatric goatee-sporting colonel in sight; and some perfect mango with sticky rice.  We'll really miss these nightmarkets and hope there's something similar in Malaysia.  Tomorrow we say farewell to Thailand and head to the Malaysian island of Langkawi. See you there. (T)
Slideshow Print this entry