Day 9 : George Town, Malaysia to Hat Yai, Thailand, Sunday 16th June 2024
Cloudy / Fine / Rain, 31°
NZ$1 = MYR3 ( Malaysian Ringget )
MYR1=NZ$0.33
NZ$1 = THB22 ( Thai Baht )
THB1 = NZ$0.04
Up at 6am, and down for breakfast at 6:30am; ok breakfast but basic. Back to the room and finished packing, and left at 7:15am. Got a Grab ( possibly the slowest Grab driver yet…of course we were in a hurry ) and arrived at the ferry terminal at 7:40 ( the time the ferry was due to leave ), raced to the terminal building ( about 300m ), bought 2 tickets ( MYR2 ea ) and waved at the nice man who was closing the gate to the ferry and he let us hurry aboard. The train from Butterworth that we needed to get was at 8:35am so we needed to be on this ferry.
Off the other side in Butterworth at 8:10am and walked the ( what felt like ) 500m to the train station, bought 2 tickets to Padang Besar ( this train couldn’t be prebooked as it was just a Kommuter train ( a local train )) for MYR11/$3 each.
Through the gates ( again I had problems with my ticket QR code not scanning properly, so the woman behind me scanned her pass and pushed me through ). The announcement board in the waiting area and the announcement over the PA system said platform 2 for the train to Padang Besar, but everyone was heading down to Platform 4. We asked the guard and he said to go to platform 4, so we did. Onto the train at 8:30am and off at 8:40am.
The train travelled east for a bit then north through flat rice fields and the occasional town. Most people on the train seemed to be heading to the border, but lots of people got on and off on the way. The landcape stayed flat right through to Padang Besar ( and actually all the way to Hat Yai, which given they are on different sides of a mountainous peninsula is interesting ) with some interesting rock formations nearer to the border.
The train arrived in PB at 10:30am Malaysia Time ( Thailand time is 1 hour behind, so 9:30am Thai time ). Off the train, up the stairs, and across the waiting area to where a small sign said “Departure for Thailand”. Unfortunately in this area was also the ticket booth where we were supposed to buy our tickets for the train to Hat Yai, and exchange money; but we saw neither of these.
Anyway down the stairs, through Malaysian immigration ( Liz got called into the office for a double check of her age ) and then through to Thai immigration, and then straight out to the train to Hat Yai. This is when we realised that we had no tickets, but there was nowhere to buy them, and no one to ask. So we figured it would sort itself out and got onto the train and left at 10:15am ( Thai time ).
The train crawled across the border and into Thailand ( the Station we came through is jointly run by Malaysia and Thailand, but it is inside Malaysia ), and stopped at the Thai version of the Padang Besar station. Then we headed off north.
The change is clearly visible when entering Thailand; Malaysia is very tidy and organised, Thailand has more dirt roads, shacks for houses, cows beside the railway lines etc. The landscape was the same but felt very different.
After a couple of stops the ticket collector ( and his assistant ) came through; we said we didn’t have a ticket and he signalled for his assistant to deal with us; he said 50Baht ($2) each and then we explained that we had no Baht just Ringget. He then walked down to where his boss was and had a chat. Then as they both walked passed us back to other end of the train they waved their hands which we assumed meant don’t worry about a ticket/we can’t be bothered dealing with you. At the next station I thought they might tell us to get off the train but they didn’t, so we carried on.
We arrived in Hat Yai at 11:10am, and after walking across the tracks to get to the terminal building ( this would not happen in Malaysia ) we went through the station, with the usual “tuk-tuk?” offers, which again we didn’t get so much in Malaysia.
We quickly checked to see if there were any tickets available for the trains to Bangkok ( nothing for a week, so we would need to change plans ) and walked across the road to a mall ( Robinsons Department Store ), got some cash at an ATM and had a drink at Café Amazon ( a chain of coffee shops modelled on Starbucks ).
We decided we would walk to our Hotel at 12pm ( a few blocks walk through the centre of Hat Yai ) and checked in. The hotel felt very fancy, lots of concierges, restaurants etc. (Hotel Centara, THB9600/$426 for 3 nights, breakfast included ). Up to our room ( 1514 ) with a view over the railway etc to the west.
We relaxed. As we relaxed/watched out the window the rain came in from the west so we decided to stay in the room. This is the first rain we have had since Singapore. It was pretty heavy and thundery for the rest of the afternoon.
As we had decided that catching a train from Hat Yai to Bangkok was not an option ( due to difficulty booking short hops on the through sleeper train. So we had a planning meeting to make an alternative plan. We decided that we would fly from Hat Yai to Bangkok, spend a couple of nights there, then head to Kanchanaburi by train, then back to Bangkok, then down to Hua Hin on the coast south of Bangkok for a couple of days ( to get our beach fix ) then back to Bangkok.
So we booked:
Flight : Hat Yai to Bangkok (11.05am 19 June, Thai Lion Air, $327 )
Hotel : Bangkok ( Siri Heritage Bangkok, 19 June to 21 June, $169 incl bfast )
Hotel : Kanchanaburi ( Bridge Residence, 21 June to 23 June, $136 incl bfast ) Note: the train to Kanchanaburi must be bought on the day and can’t be prebooked.
We would book the rest later but for the sake of simplicity in this series of blogs we would also book over the next few days:
Hotel : Bangkok ( Citadines Sukhumvit 11, 23 June to 26 June, $282 incl bfast )
Bus : Bangkok to Hua Hin ( 26 June, $33 for 2 people, return on 28 June, $33 for 2 people )
Hotel : Hua Hin ( BTC Boutique Resort, 26 June to 28 June, $294 for villa with pool incl bfast )
Hotel : Bangkok ( Taipan Sukhumvit, 28 June to 29 June, $100 incl bfast )
We had already booked the rest of the trip from 29 June ( to Siem Reap in Cambodia, and then back to Singapore ).
We went down at 3:30pm, checked out the pool ( closed in the rain due to the risk of lightning ) then down to the street ( Saneha Nusorn Rd ) and along to Starbucks for a drink and a bite to eat. Walked around the block afterwards ( the rain had eased to a dribble ) then through the Lee Gardens Mall and back to the hotel.
I was feeling a little unwell due to something I drank/ate and spent some time in the toilet. It won’t be mentioned in the diary again but I was unwell for the next 4 or 5 days.
Out again at 7:00pm, walked around the streets looking for dinner; wound up at The Swan ( an English pub! ) and had Thai food ( THB375/$13 for 1 dish and 2 beers ). Walked back to the hotel through the night market in the street outside the hotel. I bought a bag ( back pack with wheels ) for THB2200/$97 and then back to the hotel to rest ( and spend some more time looking at the inside of the bathroom ).
During our walk around Hat Yai, and while sitting having dinner, we noticed a lot of shops selling marujuana; after a bit of research we found that it was legal to smoke / take it, but also that the Government was looking to reverse the legalisation due to the number of people getting bad batches and the number of tourists coming to Thailand just to get stoned.