On Wednesday, August 20 we catch a bus to Rantau Panjang, a Malaysian town and major foot border crossing to Thailand. Our bus is fully air-conditioned and gives us much relief on this sunny, 90+ degree day. We arrive Rantau Panjang and walk to the border at 10:30 am and by 11:30 am with paperwork completed we’re walking into Sungai Golok, Thailand. Our first stop is at tourist information where we find out where to exchange money and how to get to the train station for the city of Hat Yai, Thailand. As we are walking to the city, we notice a man following us with his bicycle rickshaw. He older, he’s slight in height and weight and he’s pleading with us to ride with him. For 8 ringgits we say, yes. My backpack goes in the back, Andy and his pack slide onto the bench first and I squeeze myself in. We feel so bad, he’s working so hard to move this thing but I’m not going to lie, it was really nice not to walk to the city.
We quickly navigate the town to find a bank with an ATM machine and find another bank for exchanging Malaysian ringgits to Thai baht. With the hour time change, we find a mini-van at 10:30 am for 150 baht ($4) to take us to Hat Yai. After several stops, we arrive at 3 pm. Now we book two tickets for Krabi, our destination for today. Our mini-bus leaves at 4:30 so we have time for lunch of fried rice/rice with chicken and red curry. On this bus, as we are waiting, some music is playing. Sounds familiar as I’m humming along. It’s a song by the rock group, The Cranberries. Andy reminds me that it’s one of Becca’s favorite songs. So here I am humming along to a familiar tune, thinking of Becca as we’re driving on the streets of Thailand. There’s a smile on my face.
Traffic is heavy, buckets of rain are falling as people in open markets are scrambling to go under cover while merchants are quickly covering their wares of meats, vegetables, and fruits. The only vendors not scrambling are the fishmongers as they let their pans of fresh fish and shellfish fill with rainwater.
Four and a half hours later we are in arrive in Krabi. Our driver told us about a guesthouse of the night. We trust and stay there the night. Three hundred fifty baht ($11) for a nice room with a fan and a private bathroom. Don’t let me forget, and a TV. We watch a few highlights from the Beijing Olympics.
