We woke to some birdsong, more like chirping actually, even though we had a windowless room (there may have been a birdhouse for swifts to make nests nearby).
We investigated breakfast options around the hotel and decided against walking to the market so that we wouldn’t get too hot and sweaty before the long day. With some options closed and we settled on the Halal Dim Sum place a couple of doors away from our hotel. It wasn’t what I wanted, but it turned out to be a simple curry-and-rice breakfast with some extras for a set price.
We departed by a taxi / chartered vehicle, an old Mercedes Benz with no air-con around 0945. It was priced at MYR60 which was a little more than the available information from a couple of years ago.
The ride took just under an hour. The driver suggested we take motorcycle-taxis across the border as it was too far to walk to the bus station (for Hat Yai) on the Thai side. We’d need a ride either from the Malaysian side or the Thai side, so we might as well have the rides from the Malaysian side.
The first part of our journey today was from the hotel to the Malaysian border checkpoint at Rantau Panjang.
Motorcycle taxis took us from the Malaysian checkpoint, across the bridge through No Man’s Land, to the Thai checkpoint and finally the bus station in Sungai Kolok.
Waiting at the Malaysian checkpoint.
At the Thai checkpoint.
All done at the Thai checkpoint.
Unfortunately, the price didn’t come at all and was fixed at MYR18 per person for the 3km or so (including assistance and waiting tie). Our bikes, with us as pillion, were lined up at the Padang Besar Malaysian checkpoint at 1045 and were through after a short wait. It may have been faster in the pedestrian checkpoint as there was no queue but we would have to continue walking from there on.
We crossed the bridge over Sungai Golok to the Thai side where we were stamped into Thailand inside their checkpoint house. We came back out to our bikes and rode past a man who checked that we had indeed been stamped-in before entering Thailand proper.
It was only a short ride to the local bus station (at 1115 Malaysian time / 1015 Thai time), where I changed some money at a convenience shop and bought our tickets for the minivan to Hat Yai (THB200 per person). Everything was very easily transacted in Malay. People were very nice, helpful and not as shy as many Malay people in Malaysia. Their forthcoming and outgoing nature reminded me of Indonesians.
We were amongst the last passengers to buy tickets for the van, so we didn’t have much of a wait and were Hat Yai bound after about 30 minutes at 1045. The down-side was that we were in the back row which was less comfy but it was bearable for the 4 hours. The scenery was decidedly dryer than the southern parts of the Malay peninsula. Also noticed that Thai cars have number plate translations from Thai to Roman script in order for them to visit Malaysia (and vice-versa for Malaysian cars).
The journey from Sungai Golok to Hat Yai by minivan.
Hat Yai written in Thai, Jawi-Malay and Roman scripts.
Minivan from Sungai Golok to Hat Yai.
Along the way, we stopped at a nice place specially set up for transport operators, with toilet and food. We had fried chicken and papaya, thinking the good would neutralise the bad food. Thailand does seem to have more user-friendly infrastructure like this even though it may not be as well-constructed. Things in Malaysia are often well-intentioned but not maintained or well-operated.
Lunch on the road: fried chicken and papayas.
We arrived in Hat Yai station about 1425. The driver offered to take us to our hotel for THB100. He dropped us near a temple and pointed towards our hotel. But it turned out to be the wrong temple and we were nowhere near our hotel. We sought help at an ice-cream parlour cum restaurant. The staff were helpful and we made the most of the situation by having an ice cream. I chose green/sour mango which was served with chilli and dried-shrimp jam. Awesome!
Mango ice cream and Sour Mango ice cream with chilli and dried prawn jam. The latter was a new sensation and very yummy.
With no taxis readily available, the staff suggested we use Grab (like Uber) on their wifi to get to our hotel and that worked perfectly. We got to Get Guesthouse around 1600. It was a very friendly, clean place and perfect for our nightstop.
We rested before heading out in the evening for a walk and massage (THB200 for 1h). We past the Lee Garden Hotel which was bombed a few years ago by separatists. It’s a reminder that Thailand’s south-east is experiencing a kind of civil war the world doesn’t hear about. The area is largely Malay and the historical treaty between the British and the Thai king left many Malays in Thailand and discontented.
In 2012, a car bomb explosion in the basement Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel damaged that building and an adjacent McDonald’s in Hat Yai, killing at least four and leaving 416 wounded, mainly from smoke inhalation.
Vaginal tightening? Anyone?
Urinal with handheld wash (normally associated with a toilet). Having spent time in the Middle East, it is desirable to wash after urination (as well as after “bigger jobs”). But I was surprised to see this as I hadn’t encountered it before in the Middle East or in Malaysia. After all, south-east Thailand is very Islamic.
Big and bigger prawns. The bigger ones were THB300 (NZD13) each so we passed.
Even in Hat Yai (and our rest stop along the way), I was able to transact with some locals in Malay. It doesn’t always work because some people dress like Malay but are Thai Muslims and don’t understand Malay.
We had dinner at a Malay place, and included an otak-otak done Thai style. It was quite similar to the one we had in Johor Bahru a few nights ago. Mind-blowingly delicious.
Delicious dinner. Grilled beef kerabu, otak-otak and veges with prawn. The Thai otak-otak is a little different from Malaysian. It has an eggy/moussey mass surrounding seafood pieces, whereas the Malaysian version is pure seafood/fish paste.
It appeared that my Malaysian SIM did not roam in this part of Thailand. I recall that Malaysian SIMs were blocked as part of Thai efforts to control terrorism. People could buy them across the border and use them for undesired activities undetected by the authorities.
Dessert: Durian Ice Cream. Pretty authentic flavour! Yummy. 0% Dairy and yet very creamy.
