Hat Yai

I woke up to the sound of rain and was thankful I had looked out my lightweight, quick drying clothes. I made sure I had everything and as quietly as I could made my way downstairs where the hostel owners greeted me. As if helping me get to Bangkok and running a fabulously welcoming hostel wasn’t enough they offered me the usual tea and toast for breakfast then one of them announced she would drive me to the van pick up point. At this point she became my hero.

The van was late which was a bit of a worry but not much as I suspect Malaysians don’t take time keeping very seriously. It turned up only 15 minutes after expected and I was on my way to Thailand. The hostel owners had advised a later plane to give me time to get to the airport so I booked one at 8pm not realising my ride was so early. By 9am I was in Hat Yai and since I felt it was way too early to go to the airport I decided to run some errands. I was to be in Thailand for 2-3 weeks maybe more if I found some good diving so I wanted to get a Thai SIM card. I had some Thai money but felt now would be a good opportunity to take out some more. Since I was in an unfamiliar city I found a nice cafe for breakfast that conveniently had free wifi. This allowed me to find the nearest bank and find the best place to buy my SIM card.  

Once I had run my errands I was left with time to kill and a new city to explore. With all my positions on my back I felt it wise not to venture too far and decided this would be an excellent opportunity o get a much overdue haircut. I stopped at the first friendly place and the ladies running it were lovely. They spoke very little English but we managed to communicate very well despite my complete lack of Thai. The haircut was a brilliant idea. The hairdresser insisted I sit and brought me a cold cloth. Post haircut my head felt much lighter and cooler and I felt very relaxed. With many hours until my flight I thought I might as well indulge in a foot massage as well, after all my poor feet were much abused and it was only going to get worse for them. It was bliss. As well as my feet the legs, arms and shoulders also got worked over. I was a puddle by the end of it. The salon also had free wifi and they were happy for me to sit and surf the net on my phone with a cup of tea whilst I de-puddlefied.

By lunch time I decided it was time to venture back out to the city. I did my usual point and look confused at a nearby cafe and ended up with crispy pork and cabbage with rice. It was much tastier than I make it sound. It looked to be an interesting city but as I was walking about with all my luggage I decided I should head to the airport sooner rather than later. Once there it was the usual waiting game until I was able to check in and only three days later than originally planned I was on my way to Bangkok!