October 23rd-24th
We decided to stay in Hat Yai, the largest city in the south of Thailand, to break up our journey from Ko Lanta to Butterworth in Malaysia. Driven by some people's desire for independence from Thailand, it is a town that has been targeted several times by violence. There were a series of bombings in September 2006 killing two tourists and further bombings in May last year. As far as I'm aware, however, there have been none since then (I can write all this now seen as we have already left, so no need to worry Mum!). We stayed in the Cathay Guesthouse, a place which turned out to have prison-like corridors and some odd-looking residents but which was cheap enough (although the same price as our gorgeous bungalow on Ko Lanta) and in a practical location. Not knowing what the prices would be like in Malaysia, we used our afternoon in Hat Yai to stock up on bathroom supplies (we were delighted to see a familiar "Boots" sign in a shopping mall where we knew we wouldn't have to barter over the price of each item), and to catch up on world news and e-mails. There really isn't much more I can say about our one night stay in Hat Yai, if you get my drift.
