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| Krabi Town's traffic lights are a highlight... |
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Following a one night stop in Krabi Town, I grabbed a bus to
Trang not knowing what was there. I
arrived an hour or two later but had the urge to move on further as the town
really didn’t get me excited and I think I was becoming impatient and wanted to
keep moving. I asked around at the
station where a couple of friendly happy ladies approached me to ask what I
needed. I told them that I wanted to get
to Nakhon Si Thammarat and pointed to the map.
They told me that I wasn’t able to get there from this bus station and
told me where I needed to go. It was
quite far across the other side of town, which meant I had to get a
tuk-tuk. I ran across the road where I
saw one parked up and asked the driver who, unsurprisingly, requested an
obscene price for the journey. I saw the
ladies still standing on the other side pointing and laughing. I managed to get the price down and was
happily on my way with the ladies and me exchanging energetic waves. I got to the bus station where I had to wait
for all of twenty minutes until my minibus left, time enough to grab a bite to
eat. The driver’s assistant approached
me, invited me onboard and within no time at all the minibus was travelling
east towards Nakhon Si Thammarat.
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| Nakhon's walls... interesting.... |
My first observation of Nakhon Si Thammarat was the distinct
absence of PUTs and I was really looking forward to spending some time in real
Thailand once again. I spotted the sign
to the hotel which I was staying at from the minibus and managed to get the
driver to pull over so I could jump out. When I entered the main entrance to the hotel
I thought I had made a mistake as the place was rather up market to what I was
used to. I asked at the desk what their
cheapest room was and it was not too bad so I accepted. I was then taken to my room and it all made
sense. My room was in another adjoining
block, where you had to circumnavigate several passage ways, through the service
area and then up the lifts. Again, the
room was actually really pleasant with a double bed, tv, fan and an ensuite
shower/toilet.
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| Suchart Subsin, Puppet Master |
The city plays host to the grand master shadow puppet maker
and performer, Suchart Subsin, which was my main reason of visiting the
place. So early on my second day I made
took a short bus journey and the map in my hand, walked around a kilometre to
the Shadow Puppets house / workshop / theatre.
Unfortunately, I was the only person there at the time and despite my
pleading the lady told me he wouldn’t perform to any less than three
people. I cannot tell you how
disappointed I was. I absolutely enjoyed
the visit to his workshop and saw how he made the puppets and came away with my
third souvenir of my trip. The first being
a bottle of Russian Vodka and second being the flute I bought on Christmas day
in Beijing, although this souvenir concerned me as I wasn’t sure whether it
would actually fit in my bag. Shadow
puppetry was an enormously popular art form throughout South East Asia but is
now mainly confined to art festivals and national celebrations. The coloured puppets, made from leather, have
been made with moving limbs and jaws and are in my opinion extraordinary pieces
of art themselves.
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| Wat Phra Mathathat |
On my walk back to the main centre, I stopped by the Wat
Phra Mathathat which is the largest wat in Southern Thailand and is an
beautiful temple accompanied by a museum full of ancient artefacts and
religious memorabilia. There’s not much
more I could tell you about the wat as at this moment in time I was pretty much
‘templed out’. The rest of the walk back
into town was done at a relaxed pace, stopping in every 7eleven on the way as
it guaranteed ice cool air conditioning to cool my body down a little. On my walk I was confronted by a mass of
school children leaving their respective schools. The shouts of ‘hello’ was frequent and I had
missed such treatment and it proved that I was finally back in a place where
little tourists come.
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| Songkhla from above |
The next day I decided to move on yet again. This time to Songkhla. The motorcycle taxi took me and my bags along
the a few kilometres to the bus station avoiding oncoming vehicles to within an
inch. Once I arrived in Songkhla I was
shocked by the difficulty to get a lift into the centre of town. I asked one man on his scooter to take me, he
had no idea where I was asking for. I
pointed on the map. He took the book and
walked over to some other men and discussed amongst themselves whilst looking
upon the map as though it was a small baby alien. I finally managed to get one man to take me
to the guest house, however when we got into the centre of town he pulled up at
another guest house, not on the street that I wanted. There was no room anyway, so I persuaded the
man to drop me off at the address that I had asked for. Finally, I arrived at the address just as the
heavens opened and the streets of Songkhla became inner city streams. I looked up at the name of the guest house,
it was different but was still a guesthouse.
A lady came out and told me that she was full. Crap, I thought as I looked back outside with
the prospect of walking in the monsoon rains.
A British guy sitting at the table invited me over to join him whilst I
wait for a dry spell.
“Why are you here?” the man
asked.
“What do you mean, why am I
here? I’m travelling.” I responded.
“Nobody comes here anymore. Not since the terrorist attacks.” The man retorted.
It seems as though the city had been subjected to multiple
bombings which killed a few people and having retrospectively looked on the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office website, I discovered that they advise against
all but essential travel to that region.
Oops, I thought to myself as I walked on to find another guesthouse
which the Englishman recommended. It is
true, I looked around and there were no foreigners to be seen. Fantastic!
That’s exactly what I’ve been wanting!
My guesthouse, was a comfortable, single bed and fan with shared
bathroom and was inhabited by several bats which squeaked at night time.
There was a cultural museum a few kilometres out of Songkhla
that I was very keen to go and see. I
got on a Sangthaew and asked to be dropped off at the museum. It was actually some distance from the town
and seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.
The museum had quite blatantly seen better days and the drop off of
tourism to the area has obviously affected this site. I was, in fact, the only tourist there which
is a shame because the museum offered a wealth of diverse information from
prehistoric to the current culture of Thai people. It was actually one of the best museums I’ve
been to.
Back in town, I headed further up the road to the temple
that sits upon a hill which overlooks the city and surrounding beaches. There was the same threat from monkeys which
I had become accustomed to, although they still scare the crap out of me. Instead of walking up the hill, there is a
lift which takes you effortlessly up to the top. Such a wonderful little temple with moral
sayings which offer encouragement and a better society. That evening I was lucky enough to be able to
have a wonder around the Friday night market which takes over most of the
town. Local traders hit the streets
selling their wares, cooking up delicious food and school bands entertain
shoppers whilst they browse. It was an
unforgettable evening wondering around, watching the locals get excited over
their purchases and enjoying their freshly made Pad Thai. I, myself, found myself a wallet. My short time in Songkhla was wonderful, the
people I met were friendly and extremely welcoming, it’s a shame that they are
being financially affected by the recent terrorism and the subsequent decline
in tourism.
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| My wonderful dinner |
I now had a decision to make. Do I go against the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office advice and continue travel south along the east coast, or do I go the
safe/boring route via Hat Yai? Although
Hat Yai is still amongst the towns listed not to travel to. I decided to go the boring way via Hat Yai,
where I would stay a night and get a connecting bus and ferry to take me across
the border onto the Malaysian Island of Langkawi. The short bus journey to Hat Yai was uneventful
like the majority of my journeys through Thailand. Hat Yai is a large trading city on the
southern frontier with Malaysia. I found
an odd little guesthouse to stay in with massive corridors and padlocked doors
which secured extremely sparse rooms with a bed, a hose for a shower and a
squat toilet.
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| Beautifully made puppets |
I was lucky enough to hit the jackpot once again and enjoy
the Saturday market of Hat Yai. Markets
are one of the awesome opportunities that you get to see the locals at the
best. That is, as long as it’s not a
tourist market selling only souvenirs and complete crap that, for one reason or
another, the moronic side of us thinks they’re so good that we’d like to buy
them and will be on our mantle pieces for ever after. I was actively looking for some new T-shirts
as mine had seen better days but the problem with being a ‘large’ in Asia is
that the size is extremely hard to find as everyone is so petite.
The next day was my last in Thailand. I had got to the bus station slightly late as
the bus to the small coastal town of Satun where I would catch the ferry into
Malaysia had already departed. There was
no real need to panic as the lady in the ticket office telephoned the driver
and persuaded him to turn back to pick me up.
Absolutely fantastic lady, giving a service that you would definitely
not see in the UK as they’d say ‘You’re late, too bad… next bus tomorrow. Unlucky’.
Within five minutes, I was aboard the minibus and on my way towards the
port.
Thailand had had it’s ups and downs. Arriving after a couple of months in Laos and
Cambodia provided me with instant relief with them firstly driving on the
correct side of the road, something I hadn’t experienced since Hong Kong. Secondly, you had your own seat on the buses
which seemed to run on time and there estimated travel duration was largely
correct. Travel was so much easier and
relaxing. The only thing that ruined it
for me was the PUTs and the awfully disgusting sex trade. My faith in Thai culture was fully restored
with my trip through Nakkon Si Thammarat, Songkhla and Hat Yai. Absolutely fantastic places.
