Had Yai – Down The Road

Festive Shift

I chose the 9th to the 16th January for my festive season break because I have come to detest jams, queues, crowds, and the increased noise and air pollution that peak period holidays bring to a ‘break’. Break.. how apt! Break, it probably would do, certainly spiritually and probably financially too. Most holidaymakers are easily herded into the tour operators dream mindset of: ‘we’ve paid a lot for this holiday so we must enjoy a lot’ (and to enjoy a lot, a lot more is paid at the destination for a rich variety of rich foods, a rich variety of outings and day trips at prices for the rich, and everything else in between at a peak season premium designed to ‘break’ you and make the locals rich).

So with my slightly mal-aligned festive season break I was hoping that I would not be broken. The break I needed was a break from the slog and monotony of routine and quite honestly the boredom of Ipoh.

Ipoh to Hat Yai via the New Hoover bus company cost me RM40 and six to seven hours bed rest. Arrival in Hat Yai , the closest Thai town to the Malaysia Thai border occurred at an unearthly hour that became positively cosmic when one remembers that Thailand live an hour behind Malaysia. In an aimless wander away from the Hat Yai New Hoover office I veered into the third early morning breakfast operation to appear in the street. Coffee and a bowl of noodle soup (to rival the best in Ipoh!) were consumed and left me feeling rather pleased to be in Hat Yai again.

Vague, hazy, early morning, time killing research into my plan to follow the Hat Yai visit with onward travel to Krabi and Ao Nang produced the, also pleasing, bi-product of a deal at the Hat Yai New World hotel of 450 Thai baht for a room with air con, attached bathroom, hot water, tv, fridge, clean and firm bed, but no b’fast. Another benefit of off peak holidaying.

I always enjoy the retail therapy experience of Hat Yai. However after the mind petrifying experience of Malaysian clothes and shoe wear shopping it doesn’t take a lot. Hat Yai food and beer are also a pleasure and a step function improvement over Malaysia tooooo! Wake up Malaysia!!!

Despite the Hat Yai pleasure, depart I had to, and the next day was transported from the New Hoover office ( a block away from the New World Hotel) to the bus station by Sao in her Honda Jazz. Apparently she is in league with the New Hoover organisation and obviously earnt something of the 300 Thai baht I paid for the 12.30 (which turned out to be the 13.30) aircon bus to Krabi.

A forty minute TUK TUK (a large tuk tuk) ride from Krabi bus station to Ao Nang brought me to within what I hoped would be no more than thirty minutes of having moderate cost accommodation at a modest walk from the beach.

I walked from the beach road east up the gentle incline amongst the bristling and not so gentle but inclined to be in your face commercialism of a much changed Ao Nang. It had everything that I could remember feeling disappointed to see in Chaweng on Koh Samui six years ago. MacDonalds, 7-11’s, Starbucks and a host of other franchised chain’s all bringing their own brand of western commercialism to what otherwise could be an eastern paradise. Ao Nang’s twee-ness was disappearing fast.

The fourth accommodation enquiry was at a place called Adams bungalows. Adams bungalows are set in half a football pitch size, well maintained garden of palms, shrubs, a pond and winding paths. Creating a pleasant ‘back to nature’ feel that I welcome so much in my life, particularly in this instance after the commercial lashing I had sustained during the twenty minute walk up through Ao Nang toward Adams bungalows.
I didn’t need anything fancy and was satisfied with a negotiated 450Thai baht per night for a clean firm bed, attached cold water only bathroom, fan, no tv, no fridge, no aircon, no b’fast deal. One night changed to three nights and then four… there may even be a fifth.

The days were sunny, very hot and spent between the beach and the book , the beach side restaurant and the book and the internet and no book. Western food choice is blazing and in many cases good quality too (I had to make the most of the terrible appearance of those beastly western franchise operations!!). Mostly because of its comparative scarcity in Malaysia I was attracted to the Western food more than the Thai food.

I have detected an air of irritation and dissatisfaction amongst Thai business owners and workers. I hear more westerners expressing concern at prices and I suspect that the decline in the strength of European currencies against Asian currencies make it a little tougher for the westerner to holiday here in the style they were accustomed to. Thailand needs tourists. Will they wake up to the realities of the new global financial situation or just keep raising their prices and only realise their mistake when their customers have found new locations to holiday. The latter I suspect. Greed is a terrible thing. Nevertheless they have had a good run.

Header photo is of Adams Bungalow’s.

Air Asia – loathing increases

Air Asia…get organised!!! As a consumer I have a love Hate (little l, big H) relationship with you that continues to slither toward hate.

Travel within South East Asia definitely took a leap into the era of accessibility with the advent of Air Asia. One of the first Air Asia flights I remember taking was from Hat Yai in Thailand to Kuala Lumpur almost five years ago in early January 2005. The plane was two hours late arriving into Hat Yai and 3 hours late departing. There were leather seats, I remember, but they were a mixture of shapes and colors that gave one the impression the plane had been purchased at a used plane dealer and then ‘souped up’ to fit the demands of it’s new owner which, I suppose, it probably had!

Several months back I had, a long time in advance of the travel date, booked a trip back to the UK. It was via a Singapore Airlines night flight departing from Singapore at around midnight. I thought I would try to ease my travel burden from Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia to Singapore by flying Kuala Lumpur to Singapore on Air Asia’s evening flight. The flight would arrive in Singapore at around 21.30hrs if my memory serves me correctly. It gave me a full two and half hours to collect my luggage, transit from terminal to terminal if necessary and check in for the long haul flight to London. Forever positive, I was convinced it could work.
The last piece of the jigsaw for the passage from Ipoh to London was finally pressed into place with the purchase of a YoYo Travel bus ticket for the Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur leg. Everything was fitting together nicely and I was hoping for a pleasant, restful nights sleep before the Ipoh departure.
Air Asia had a different idea! Clearly realising they had a reputation to uphold they chose to press their relationship with me a few more degrees toward hate along that travellers line of emotional imbalance. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr. In the middle of the night (past midnight) prior to my departure Air Asia informed me of the re timing of the Kuala Lumpur to Singapore flight. It was pushed out over an hour and I was informed of it by a post midnight sms!! Fuzz!!! It meant my time for that luggage collection/transit/check in process at Singapore would be reduced to one and a half hours if everything went smoothly. I couldn’t risk it! Between waves of frustration, disappointment and anger that evoked room pacing in a black mood and underpants, I slept very little.
By 08.00hrs in the morning I had embarked on an all or nothing plan B. A different Ipoh bus company made a daily trip to Singapore departing early morning. At 08.15 in their booking office I was able to purchase a ticket. However I had to pay a taxi surcharge to have him race to the second pick up point as I was just too late to make the bus departure from the booking office… the buses start point. I made it. The bus trip was very pleasant. I had to forego my Yo Yo bus fare, my Air Asia Kuala Lumpur – Singapore flight fare but at least I made it comfortable time to catch the long haul.

Karma spurned compensation created an otherwise smooth journey and my time in the UK was fantastic; no thanks to Air Asia.
The image at the top of this article is from Bath… a city of history and architecture not far from my home town in the UK.

Hi, Bye Had Yai

Rm75 return fare for the coach to Had Yai from Ipoh tethered my travel plans. I departed from the New Hoover coach office in Jalan Yang Kalsem at 1.45am on Thursday the 23rd July 09. I would meet my friend in Had Yai, mid morning at Had Yai Junction. Not a pub, a railway station! And so it unfolded. A pleasant two night, three day visit to Had Yai in southern Thailand. We ate, drank, sang, danced, walked, shopped, spat rice, perused hotels and generally had a great time. The weather was kind to us with fine days and temperatures a little lower than the Malaysian scorchers.

Had Yai hotels ranged from the perfectly acceptable Num Huat in Thanon Inpatuthit 3 at 300 baht per night for a room with twin or double bed, aircon, tv, and fridge and own bathroom; 350 baht per night for a similar room but with no fridge at the Tong Num in Trok Sukonthahong near to the Seven Eleven; unattractive options at the Metro Hotel and the Park Hotel for 360 and 400 baht a night respectively; then on up through a selection of mid range options with the Cholatern at 450 baht per night, the Indra at 500 baht per night, the Yong Dee at 580 baht per night, the Sakol at 680 baht per night and the Grand Tower with it’s own swimming pool at around 900 baht per night. Every hotel had rooms available on this Thursday morning.

Seemingly run by football team of brothers, we ate superb food at a ‘Thai name only’ restaurant behind the Grand Tower hotel. Hauling our full tummies to the livelier of the two central live music venues, Deep Wonder, situated (steeply but not particularly deeply) below the now defunct Odean Shopping Centre was a small matter well worth the effort. Deep Wonder’s happy atmosphere and moderately priced beer kept us smiling through a medley of numbers from it’s talented resident band that included, Dire Straights’ Money for Nothing, Rolling Stones’ Honky Tonk Woman, Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall, Boy George’s Carma Carmelion, U2’s With or Without You and many many more.

Full marks to Had Yai for a creating a scene that far exceeds anything that similar sized towns in Malaysia have to offer. Malaysia still has a lot to learn (from Thailand) if they wish to increase tourist revenue!!! The photo shows hawkers on the Had Yai Junction railway platform.