Southeast Asia
Kingdom of Thailand aka The Land of Conditional Smiles
Satun
Thanon Samanta Prasit 4 - 6
Rain Tong Hotel +6674711036
Basic but adequate und clean double room (no. 340) with private bathroom for THB 220.- or US$ 7.40 per night. Friendly staff, very limited English.
Beer: 330-ml cans of ice-cold Chang Classic (c. 6.4 % alc./vol.) for THB 28.- or US$ 0.95 per regular can from the friendly Chinese greengrocer opposite the hotel.
Matt: Overnighting in un-touristy and slightly ordinary Satun (where ordinary Thai 7-Elevens, ordinary Thai night markets and ordinary Thai massage parlours compete with each other to provide cheap and reliable happy endings for visa-running ex-pats from Langkawi/Malaysia) and, the next morning, taking a rugged săwngthăew from the unmarked bus stop on Thanon Sulakanukoona (THB 20.- or US$ 0.60 per person) to the ferry pier aka Tammalang Pier, about 7 km south of Satun, embarking on the thrice-daily a/c ferry “Kenangan 6” from Andaman Ferry Ventures +6049661125 (c. 20 nm, 1 ¼ hour, THB 310.- or US$ 9.60 per person, one way) bound to bus-free and duty-free Langkawi Island, thus leaving a land of frowns and entering a land of smiles, changing my watch from Thailand’s Indochina Time (GMT + 7 hours) to Malaysia Standard Time (GMT + 8 hours) and being issued with another 90-day-visit pass for a “social visit” to Malaysia on arrival, free of charge and without any hassle; "...selamat datang Malaysia Truly Asia!"
Matt: Meeting up with our close Dutch/Kiwi friends and ex-yotties/liveaboards Deena & Jacob (SY “Crimson Tide”) at our favourite vegetarian lunch joint, the superb Chinese-Buddhist Langkawi Vegetarian Restaurant +6049666405, supported by the Vegetarian Society of Malaysia, and thereafter taking an asthmatic Proton Saga taxi from downtown Kuah to Cenang Beach (c. 25 km, ½ hour, flat rate of MYR 24.- or US$ 8.- per ride; there are no buses on Langkawi and the whole public transport is tightly controlled by Langkawi’s price-fixing and heavily politicised Malay taxi cartel).
Click below for more blog posts about interesting land/sea-border crossings
01 Sep - 03 Sep 2013 Serian (from Malaysia to Indonesia)
29 Jan - 01 Feb 2013 Songkhla (from Thailand to Malaysia)
13 Dec - 17 Dec 2012 Hong Kong (from Hong Kong to Macau)
08 Dec - 13 Dec 2012 Guangzhou (from China to Hong Kong)
09 Nov - 14 Nov 2012 Bac Ha (from Vietnam to China)
15 Sep - 17 Sep 2012 Xiamen (from China to Taiwan)
15 Aug - 18 Aug 2013 Ulaanbaatar (from Mongolia to China)
31 Jul - 01 Aug 2013 Erlian (from China to Mongolia)
27 Nov - 29 Nov 2011 Hat Yai (from Thailand to Malaysia)
03 Jul - 04 Jul 2010 Dien Bien Phu (from Vietnam to Laos)
02 Jun - 05 Jun 2010 Phnom Penh (from Cambodia to Vietnam)
03 May - 05 May 2010 Trat (from Thailand to Cambodia)
Click below for a summary of this year's travels
2013 Map Konni & Matt
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| Facing Thailand © Konni & Matt |
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From the 2013 Moral Travel Compass for our Grand Children's Journey of Life:
It’s bad to wear any uniform;
It’s good to put on motley stuff.
Keep your bearings!
