Journey to Hat Yai

Election flags
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The 8am boat back to the mainland wasn’t half as hard on the bum as the journey out and a taxi was waiting as arranged to take us to the border. We wanted to get out of Malaysia quickly that day as it was the general election and we didn’t want to take any chances of getting stranded anywhere if it all kicked off come results time, as can happen in this part of the world. Of course it was all fine and in an hour we had travelled the banner and bunting strewn roads to the Thai border. Lugging our cases we crossed the bridge into Thailand on foot, no footpaths of course so inevitably I got my foot run over by a car (the driver would not have understood my english but would have easily translated my gestures). After we got our passports stamped we walked/limped the half mile to the train station where we paid a total of £5 (3rd class - only the best for the Bates’) for the 4 hour journey to Hat Yai. Fans and open windows kept the sparsely populated carriages of 3rd class cool and we thought we had got a bargain. A few stops down the track however we were less comfortable. Our carriage quickly filled up with more passengers, sailors, monks, armed police and train staff selling snacks, fruit and larger meals, and doing a roaring trade by the way. Our seats for 4 were now populated by 7 and in the end I just had to stand to “ease the squeeze” on my poor old body.

Result! Loads of space..
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Hat Yai is a fairly large nondescript Thai city where we disembarked and walked the short distance to our accommodation for the night. In fact, all the internet could tell us about Hat Yai is that it is very popular with Malay couples who regularly cross the border and come here for the ladies to shop and the gentlemen to ‘have their hair cut’ while they are waiting. Strange though, didn’t see any barbers shops.

The Louise Guesthouse was clean and cheap (£7 for a fan room with private bathroom). We dumped our bags and went to sample the local culinary delights. A cafe down the road provided cheap eats although Sam was less than impressed with her first Thai curry in Thailand which contained a small cockroach. She must have been enjoying it though as she politely put it to one side and carried on eating until I managed to persuade her otherwise and the dish was returned and a different on selected.

...or maybe not.
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I ventured out alone later that evening in a rare attempt to find a quiet bar but found Hat Yai to be dead even though it was a Saturday night. Everyone was obviously too knackered to socialise from a hard days shopping and ‘grooming’ and the one bar I did find was empty apart from a couple of old hookers so I just grabbed a couple of beers and some pop for Sam and traipsed back to the guesthouse.