Hat Yai - Why would anyone come here by choice?

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I left Kuala Lumpur today on my two day trip up to Phuket in Thailand. Today would bring me to Hat Yai, just across the Thai border, where I’d spend the night until my trip resumes tomorrow.

For some reason, Hat Yai is a popular destination for Malaysians to vacation. I learned on the bus today that this weekend is a long weekend for Malaysians because of a public holiday. That explained the lack of room availability and the full bus. But since Hat Yai seemed to be the last place anyone would want to go on holiday, I was left puzzled why they come here.

As I enter Thailand, I begin a few weeks in a region with some of the biggest health issues in the world. For the last few weeks I’ve been prepping with pills for one such issue known to the region - malaria. It’s not something I want to experience. When I was sick in Florida last summer I had something with similar symptoms - severe fever and night sweats - and joked around that I had malaria then. Maybe I did. I wonder if I could be immune to it?

The bus was set to depart from Pudaraya, the same station where I arrived, which is close to the hostel. I made it with plenty of time to spare, something I’ve continued to do this trip as the transportation has been much more difficult and often times haphazard. Today’s was more of the same.

I went down to gate 19, from where the bus was slated to leave. There were buses in and out so trying to find the right one was a bit tough. I talked to a couple others that were trying to find the same bus and they had no luck, too. We finally found out why - the bus was actually outside the terminal. Fortunately a guy did come down to inform us of this but with his broken English it was miraculous anyone knew what to do.

The ride was very long and seemed even longer since I opted not to eat lunch, foregoing the questionable foods at one of the stops that appeared to be sitting all day. They looked and smelled delicious but the last thing I needed was to aggravate my stomach even more than it already is. I did manage to pick up some chips, a Snickers bar and an apple juice (what a nutritious meal) later in the day.

The border crossing process went fairly smooth, except when, to the bemusement of a few others, I tripped and almost took a digger entering Thailand.

A couple hours late due to terrible traffic in Hat Yai and an aggressive timetable I was very excited to get off the bus and get to my hotel. When I got off, I was immediately flooded with motorbike and tuk tuk drivers wanting to take me to the bus station to get an onward ticket or find my hotel. I kept my wits about me but easily could see how people get flustered and end up getting their bags stolen by dealing with the people and not concentrating on what they’re doing.

As I started to walk off to figure out where exactly my hotel was, I came across a German woman and her Thai husband who were more than happy to assist. It turns out they know the hotel’s owner and walked me to the hotel.

Inside, they waited around to make sure my check-in went through as the painfully slow staff had to get a manager to approve my hotel voucher (and one other guy’s from my bus). While we waited I spoke more with my helpers. It was really strange that they did this for no real reason other than to be helpful. I was incredibly grateful.

After about 10 minutes, my room was finally ready. I checked in and went out almost immediately to take care of my bus ticket and find dinner. I found a shop nearby that sells tickets on a minibus that I’ll use tomorrow and then had some dinner - some piping hot soup from a street vendor. The language barrier was pretty strong but I was able to point at noodles and seafood for the soup, which turned out great. It wasn’t spicy at all but the sheer temperature of it left me a sweaty mess.

Following dinner, I went to use an ATM to make sure I had plenty of cash on me for the next few days and my card didn’t work. I had to go back to the hostel and use Skype to call Wachovia about it. They decided that they would shut down the card because they feared fraud. It took the mental midgets over a month to become concerned about my traveling but as soon as they did, they felt the best action was to just cancel the card and send me a new one without informing me of any of this. The card companies typically justify this as “in the interest of customer safety”. I’m quite amused by this. Which is in my best interest - having an account at risk temporarily while you ask me to verify charges or potentially leaving me stranded in a foreign country with no access to funds for things like food and shelter? It sounds to me like maybe it’s not in my best interest but perhaps that of management and the stockholders. Let’s at least call a spade a spade.

There was no reason for the shut down; I went online to my account and everything appeared to be in order. Now I get to wait until I get to Bangkok for my new card to arrive. Fortunately, I have my credit card and a backup account with M&T. I checked in with M&T to make sure they don’t decline the use of the card. They said they would not and everything was in order.

I headed back out to try my M&T card and also encountered problems. Now I was hopping mad. I had to go back to the hostel and get things sorted out with them on the phone (with a weak internet connection not helping my use of Skype). It turned out that my account was dormant for lack of use. Again, why can’t you notify me of this BEFORE you take such actions?

We finally got that straightened out. I went back out, got some money, walked around briefly and went home to bed. I have another day on the road tomorrow.

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Photos

Hat Yai
The busy main road.

Dinner
My hot soup.