Hat Yai, rubber and Army
I must be the only Falang (Westerner) to ever spend 4 days in Sungai Kolok. Man, what a place! (not in a good way). I found a room in a cheap hotel that had a baby monkey in a cage in the foyer. I then sat in an old lady’s shop bingeing on 45baht BIG bottles of Leo beer watching the mayhem ensue in the nearby girlie bars. I liked this old woman - she was very friendly and helped me speak Thai. I chatted with Malaysian-Chinese men and their ‘temporary’ gorgeous girlfriends who would frequent this shop because of its ‘cheaper-than-the-bars’ beer. Quite a surreal place. I didn’t see a white person the whole time which is a rarity these days in Thailand. Beautiful young women from other parts of this country would invite you to drink 120bt bottles of beer and speak crap English (or Tinglish) in shitty little bars/knocking shops! Chinese KTV bars filled the streets with dreadful karaoke, thumping out through smoked-glass windows.
I don’t know how that last paragraph sounds - probaly a little seedy right? Well, my friends, it’s all part of the rich kaleidescope of the travel experience! You have to take the good with the bad. Admittedly, Thailand does have its seedy side like many other places in the World. London and Amsterdam would be European examples. It’s just more in your face here, but it’s easily avoided and the rest of Thailand is simply awesome - particularly the warm people (once you step away from Falangsville).
I was pleased to sample to sample Thai food again. It is delicious. I also managed to purchase a learn Thai book which I am studying now along with my Buddhist book.
So, today I jumped a bus to escape S. Kolok and I now find myself in Hat Yai again. In the AC minibus we passed many rubber tree plantations. You can see the white liquid rubber slowly dripping into black containers tied to the tree trunk.
Of greater concern was the heavy Army presence and their many road checkpoints. A little reminder that all is not what it seems here. I passed through Narathiwat and Pattani which have had their fare share of troubles. It all served make me feel vulnerable and uneasy - a feeling that was exacerbated since I was suffering my first hangover in a couple of months.
I also saw a dead man who looked like he had driven his moped into a truck - nasty. There were Armoured Personel Carriers at this point! They even had young men manning heavy machine guns from a turret on the top. All very unnerving.
La-gone-na = bye
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