Up at the crack of dawn, headed down for breakfast and was the first one in. I toasted for bits of bread and a dollop of jam followed by two fried eggs, black coffee and fruit and I was set.

Packed me bags and a ordered A Grab to the border crossing, no way was I taking the cheaper option of bus or tuk tuk. It cost about 800 bhat and it was well worth it. My taxi was an EV, so plenty of leg room in the rear and I felt quite the highflyer.

An hour to get to the Pedang Besar train station and this is where I was lucky because I didn’t realise I had to get to the Malaysian side using the train at this crossing. There is another crossing that foot traffic and cars use but I was told to come here. A train came after only 30 minutes.

On for one stop and turn through immigration to leave Thailand and then immediately onto Malaysian immigration. A 90 minute wait for the train to Butterworth.

The train was busy but I had a seat and it was air-conditioned, which you can’t say about the Thai train. There is an immediate noticeable difference between the two countries. Malaysia is a very wealthy country by comparison.

At Butterworth I decide to get a taxi. I have no money only a credit card. The ferry on the other side is a short walk to my hotel, but I don’t fancy carrying my cases, and so I just grab it Grab.

It’s an old driver in an old car and he is scaring the hell out of me at times. Just staying in his own lane would be a start. It’s a relief to reach the hotel.

Not sure what to do here in Hat Yai, it seems that this is a place where many people come to buy. There are many Malaysians here, I can tell because of all the cars with Malaysian plates and of course they are just slightly different to the locals.

In the part of town I’m in, it is very straight. No bars, no massage parlours, however there are a few hair dressers and they sometimes have reputations of being a bit dodgy. Mind you there are a lot of businesses closed because of the flooding that took place here last month.

The telltale signs are all over the place. You can see the remains of debris caught in fences and trees. Still flood damaged items on the kerb. Many cars with tide marks on the doors and roof. A few cars had obviously been completely submerged.

As the wee taxi driver said, her car was flooded and I saw a few others that had the remnants inside on the seats and steering wheels. Having been through a flood myself I can understand just how traumatic it is. And the water marks are still visible on many places and they were well above my head in places.

I went to the street market today and then up to the main shopping mall, mainly to escape the heat and find food but I ended up just having coffee and a muffin. Got a taxi back to the hotel and that was it for a while. After a siesta and a bit of YouTube I had my 200 bhat buffet in the hotel.

Mind you, on a different note… the people seem a little bit chubby down here. The food has way more calories and I can even feel it and I’ve only been here a few days.

Well I feel like I was. When I arrived the other day into Surat Thani I went in search of a bus to Hat Yai. I first of all went to Phantip Travel, however they said that they could not help and they pointed to a street opposite and ushered me to go there. Due to the lack of communication skills on both sides and my misunderstanding, I thought they meant the small place on the corner and not the bus station at the top of the road. If I had walked another 5 mins then I would have got what I thought I was paying for.

Instead, what I got two days later was a small mini van crammed to capacity and I was at the back on the drivers side which was and is the worst place to sit. I was expecting a big luxurious coach, not some old fuckin thing.

5 hours stuck in this god forsaken hell hole unable to move my arse, not even one iota. Cramped because the seat in front was reclined slightly and unable to move. Unable to see out the window because the seat at the rear is higher. Sitting with the sun blazing in the window, I mean, what the fuck did I do to deserve this?

When we finally arrived I ordered a Grab. I couldn’t find it and the driver was calling me and I can’t pick up the call because my Esim is not set up for calls. Next thing I know, this young women is asking me if I was looking for 8182, the car registration, I said “Yes”

She points to her phone and sure enough it’s the correct driver but a different car. Apparently she lost her car during the recent floods here in Hat Yai. She was such a nervous wee character. She said that she needed petrol, was it OK to stop… Sure.

She only put in 300 bhat because that was all she had and I kind of believed her because her car was very old and needed a bit of work. The fare was 80 bhat. She was apologising because of the traffic and so when we got to the hotel I gave her 100 bhat tip. She was very grateful and I have hopefully bolstered my Karma.

My second choice of hotel when I was looking for a place to stay for a few days and I’m so glad that I came here.

The room is large, although a bit dated, and the best part of this place is the view from the large windows facing the river. Sitting here having breakfast you can watch the aerial dance of the swallow feeding and the back drop, the fisherman throwing their nets chasing the elusive river fish.

There are rafts of water hyacinth meandering slowly towards the sea and at times they just sit, large islands where I’ve seen birds and Asian Water Monitors perusing looking for snacks.

Mind you no matter what time of the day the river seems to be a hive of activity and it’s better then watching TV, ’cause it’s in 3D.

I hired a moped last night so that I could get up early this morning and head off. I had read that the small town called Chaiya was very old and had an interesting museum and it was also near to the beach.

I’d not been on a bike for many a long day and this wee Honda felt quite intimidating when I picked it up around 7pm, mainly because it was getting dark and the traffic was mental. I had less than a kilometre to travel but at night in Thai traffic 😩

At the back of eight this morning I headed north, found the quietest path to the beach. Only problem doing this was that the village roads were as rough as a badgers arse. It’s not only the UK that has big holes to traverse. I was doing a steady 30 kph and every man and their dogs were passing me and so it took a wee while to reach my beach destination for coffee. Leam Pho beach is small but pretty and before I came here I looked at Google Maps and thought that it would be a lot bigger. However after I left this beautiful oasis there was not much left to see apart from farm land and coconut palm groves.

But the coffee was good and the view did not disappoint.

When I finally reached Chaiya the oven I was in was on high so I instead of the museum I hit the shopping centre for air conditioning and food.

On the way back I cranked it up to 50 kph and was back in no time. 70 bhat to fill the tank and back to the hotel for a nap.

When I dropped the bike off they were trying to blame me for a few scratches on the fairing, and you know I can’t believe I never checked it thoroughly last night or that I didn’t take a few snaps. But after a few words we were good to go.

Tomorrow I’m on the bus to Hat Yai. I’ve really enjoyed my stay here. It’s been very different not having all these loud foreigners drinking, chasing bar girls. I wouldn’t know where you can find that scene here and I’m not interested. It’s definitely more of a local feel to the place which is refreshing.

PS, I thought it a bit strange to be on a bike and not be peddling 🚲🤔

Well I’m glad I’ve stopped here. It’s way less commercialised, the food is more authentic it seems and it is a very different style. I had red pork soup with wantons coupled with pork dumplings. Bloody delicious. You don’t have to walk too far to find small local restaurants that cater more for the locals, although there are pictures and translations sometimes.

The night market by the river has every kind of food you can imagine and many other things. I got a few rice paper rolls filled with pork and vegetables and the green spicy sauce was magic. A big bit of chicken on a stick and a bag of mandarins to close the deal. I’ll be heading there tonight if its on.

Getting from the airport was easy. There is a bus that will drop you in town and it costs 100bhat and takes about 40 mins. I had a short walk to my hotel which sits on the opposite bank of the river to the main centre, but well worth the slight inconvenience of a 15 min walk to get into town.

Not sure how long this place will stay like this, as most places try to cash in. Surat Thani is usually a transit town where people head to either Koh Samui or Phuket and Krabi, however I would recommend that you stay for a couple of days and experience a different side to Thailand.

This is the view from my hotel room.

I was worried about getting a taxi this morning, but it turns out there was no need. I wandered to the end of the Soi to the main road and waiting the was a songthaew.

A songthaew (meaning “two rows”) is a popular, affordable shared taxi in Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia, adapted from a pickup truck with two rear benches and a roof. They act as local buses or shared taxis, flagged down on main roads, with fares typically 50-60 baht or higher for tourist routes.

The going rate to the airport is 150 bhat, and that’s what he charged me. I could’ve haggled, however I didn’t see much point. If I’d got a proper taxi then I would have paid that. So a little windfall for this driver.

It’s only a ten minute ride from the old city and in the morning it’s fairly quiet.

On this trip I have not once checked in for a flight in the conventional way. It’s all self check in. You retrieve your booking on the terminal, print the boarding pass and baggage sticker and then drop off at the baggage counter where they scan it and if all is okay then you are on to the security check.

I’m happy to do this, but I’m sure there will be a few individuals that may struggle learning this new tech and system.

Some images from Chiang Mai

I think Thailand is slowly poisoning me. A few years ago I began to get eye infections, and it turns out that my diet was too blame. More importantly sugar was the enemy. Back then the only sugar I consumed was chocolate and as a reformed chocaholic this was disastrous news. However I gave up chocolate and only dabbled in the smallest of amounts and when I did, no more eye infections and I just felt better.

Last week I had an iced tea with carnation milk and almost immediately my stomach rebelled. Two days of an unpredictable stomach made getting around a bit scary. I fixed this issue by having bread, banana, yoghurt and muesli until things settled.

I returned to eating Thai food and I had a couple of beers, but now my eye infection has returned and it feels gritty and sore. It could also be due to the high levels of pollution too mind you. But I think it’s because there must be too much sugar being added in the food, this is something I never use in cooking. I usually only eat raw vegetables too and most places apart from a Korean place I went to seem to have them cooked too much.

So I’m kinda looking forward to getting home and getting back to normal which is a bit sad.

Tomorrow I fly to Surat Thani, pastures new and maybe the food there might not be so catered to the western palate. Chiang Mai is full of western tourists and guess that have to give them what makes them happy, although because my guts had played up before I’m a bit apprehensive of going native.