Hatyai, Thailand

So, my visa expired on January 11th. That meant leaving the day before. My son had planned to return to stay in my house in order to feed the dogs, but I hadn't heard from them. I wasn't really looking forward to the trip, either, because Hat yai is the big, noisy, sweltering, bustling city.

The night before the trip, I was uneasy, so asked God for travel grace. I slept soundly, awoke early and ate a bite of breakfast.

After a quick shower, I left the house at about 9:15, hoping to catch the 9:30 bus to Ipoh. As I was hustling down the road, wearing one back-pack and pulling my larger back-pack on wheels, a van pulled up to offer me a ride. Sweet! Although they didn't speak much English, the Chinese people asked, "Go to bus?"

"Yes! Ipoh." I answered, jumping in the back seat with a lady. I spoke a few words of Mandarin to them and they were pleased as punch. I said, "I am an English Teacher. My name is Brenda. What's your name?" Then, "Thanks!" and, "Good-bye!" (There will be a rumour going around the neighbourhood now that the White Westerner English teacher can also speak Chinese! Ha!)

Not two minutes after they dropped me off at the bus stop, the bus to Ipo arrived and would have driven past if I hadn't waved him down! So, if I'd walked, I never would have made it.

I made it to Ipoh an hour before the bus was due to leave for Hat yai, too! What a relief. It couldn't have gone better if I'd planned it. Although, in my hasty departure, I forgot to bring my emergency travel funds!! What a blooper that was. All I had on me was the bare minimum.

Another little bad buzz that happened was that the "lady at counter 7" held onto my bus ticket. I got on the bus, asked her for the ticket and she said, "It's ok. Jus seet anywar." So, I did.
Then, an hour later, a group of Chinese boarded the bus and took my seat away! The bus driver says,

"Where's your ticket?"

Not a little annoyed, I answered, "The lady from counter 7" took it! She told me to sit anywhere.

"Ne' mine, ne' mine," he said, "Go back dar." (Right.)

"Now, I have no seat and someone will get on and kick me out of this seat, too!"

So, you start to wonder whether, the next time the bus stops, someone's going to come and demand to sit in your seat. I asked the ticket-taker if there was a change of drivers. He said,

"You'll be ok, all the way to Hatyai now, as long as you're not going to Bangkok." Phew. But still, "WHY ME?" I was the only person on the entire bus without a ticket! I think "the lady from counter 7" was trying to annoy me. Maybe I'll go and see her on my way back!

The trip altogether cost 50RM. The hotel cost 350Batt (35RM) per night and food expenses are from 50 Batt (5RM) to 150Batt (15RM) per meal. Though they have the nerve to charge 100Batt for a specialty coffee at McDonald's. It is hard to find good coffee here.