Just Cruizin On Bluemoon

Log 75

Hello to you all from Langkawi!Hoping that your year is going well and all is working out for youall.... so far it has been a great start to the year and already weneed a holiday LOL

We just got back from Hat Yaiwhich was quite a place! We decided to go to Hat Yai which many peoplehave spoken about which is in Southern Thailand, to experience theplace, renew our visa's and do some dental work ....

TheWednesday morning, early, Justine flew down the stairs into the galleytripping over herself and spraining her foot real bad.... shame!

Wechecked it out and no break - just a bad sprain so were hoping shewould be able to limp on it before Sunday as that was our day forleaving for Hat Yai... unfortunately she could not even put her footdown it was so painful, so we organized a pair of crutches to sort outthe problem... little did we know how big a problem the crutches wouldbe!!!!

We were up before the sun rose, cleaned and sortedBluemoon for our little trip away, got our back-packs ready and headedfor the jetty just a short way from the marina... Justine on thecrutches for the 1st time... first they seemed a little high, and shewas not using them as crutches but as an extra leg and was hopping onher other leg!!!! She was dripping wet by the time we arrived at thejetty point to go through customs and immigration .... and she hadroasted her skin under her arm right off! She was bleeding, bruised andswelling! I wanted to just give her a piggy back which I can assure youwould have been very dangerous for the both of us!!! hehehe Yet we feltso sorry for her!! She really looked like she was pulled through thebushes backwards and her foot was swollen really bad.... she stumbled afew times on the crutches which brought many laughs from us and manydisgusted stares from the onlookers!!! Clearly they did not understandour sense of humour!! And we all thought we should have got a pair ofcrutches for all of us!!! Boy did we feel bad about that! Yet wemanaged to get her down the gang plate with everyone trying to help,onto the ferry. Then she was given the best seat on the ferry!!! Andeveryone was sent to different seats, soI of course I sat right next toher while John, Jess and Jono went downstairs to their seats, yetthankfully John was able to join us as the one seat next to me wasavailable ... then on comes the t.v  with the most violent movie evershowing!!! I was ooohing and aahing in absolute shock at the airing ofan unrestricted movie!!!! There were lots of kids aboard and wereSOOOOOO happy to reach Satun in Thailand when the ferry stopped... mystomach felt so weak... John even felt a little shaky!!

Wegot off the ferry with everyone trying to help Justine, yet Justine waswhisked away with a sharp hand signal and a Thai command that we staywhere we are!!!!!! OH BOY!!!! The kindness and compassion they showedto Justine was really touching!! They shoo'd every one away from herand put her first in the long que! Speaking so kindly in broken Englishto her! Then got her to sit down and wait for us... who were right atthe back of the que!!! All went well and lots of laughter was had whiletaking all our photos for the immigration and customs people.

Now came the bargaining again as to how much, to get to Hat Yai from Satun!! Our introduction was no surprise as to the barrage of taxi drivers which you find all over in Asia.

Satun is the last province of the Western Andaman Coastline before reachingthe Malaysian Border. It is at the tip of Thailand’s Southern Regionwhich has the area adjoining Trang and Songkhla with the north and theeast of the high plateau having Sankharakhiri Mountain Range as theboundary between Thailand and Malaysia.

Satun is asmallish town which services the boating industry.... they have a drydock where you can take your boat out to work on....  a rather dustyand dirty place....

Hat Yai, is in effect the south'smajor city, its commercial, shopping and 'entertainment' center.Located in Songkhla province,  Hat Yai is also the region'scommunication hub and is well served by road, rail and air access. Bestknown as a fun city! Bull fighting is also a big thing here!! It is atraditional southern entertainment in which two beasts lock horns in atrial of strength. We have watched a few of these animals lock hornsand is not a gory or blood thirsting sport at all!

Shopping is another big attraction - as well as a large varietyof wonderfully presented  preserved Thai fruits, dried seafood andother culinary delicacies.The variety of fruit is astounding! And really beautiful!

Being somewhat of a cultural crossroads, Hat Yai affords ampleopportunity for dining on a variety of cuisine. In additions to spicyThai cooking and seafood for which the South is famed, Chinese andMuslim specialties are to be enjoyed at a number of excellentrestaurants. We ate a few times at the Chinese Washington Restaurantwhich was quite an experience in itself which was also a karaoke bar!Hat Yai has an excellent nightlife in the form of its numerousnightclubs.

On September 16, 2006 a series of bomb attackskilled four people andinjured over 70. Although no-one claimed responsibility for theattacks, local separatists are suspected. Thankfully there is so muchsecurity and police everywhere which made us feel alot safer! It seems prominent Chinese... 

For anyone interested, the co-ordinates are : 7.017°N 100.467°E

With a population of 157,359 (2008) in the core city and about 800,000in the Greater Hat Yai. Hat Yai is the biggest city of SongkhlaProvince and the largest metropolitan area in Southern Thailand, and isthus often mistaken as being the capital of the province. HoweverSongkhlais the capital and the center of administration and culturewhile HatYai is the business center. The two cities are considered astwin cities due to the close connection, accordingly, Hat Yai andSongkhlaform the Greater Hatyai-Songkhla Metropolitan Area.

Thename "Hat Yai" is a short version of "Ma Hat Yai", meaning big Ma Hat(Thai: มะหาด) tree, a relative of jackfruits in genus Artocarpus.

Wikipedia is a brilliant reference for finding information about Hat Yai or any place you want....

HatYai has a busy feel that is quite captivating with such a wide choiceof restaurants. However,the preponderance of massage parlors anddubious karaoke places lends the city a certain seedy feel. Because ofits proximity to Malaysia,many Malaysian men make the trip over forThailand's liberal 'entertainment' laws!.

You can feel a bit claustrophobic in the city, especially at rush-hour traffic!!!!

Do not put your elbows out the side!!!! lol

Weeventually managed to catch a tuk tuk to the taxi circle, then caught amini van to Hat Yai which was about a two hour drive... which put mostof the people to sleep! We had met in the tuk tuk these European girlsthat were part of a big group doing a years trip around the world!!Veryinteresting to hear their stories and places they have been!

We arrived at the fountains in Hat Yai, went straight toseven eleven for a good cuppa coffee with hazelnut! Caught another tuktuk to Kings Hotel which was rather old fashioned in a way... yet veryfriendly and ever so helpful in carrying our back packs up to our room!

We hired two rooms, where the kids got the three beds roomwith air con, a fridge and TV with satellite! We were down the hall andaround the bend which was really quiet! lol

We enjoyed the coffee they had an so drank lots of cups!

Nowthe funny thing, shortly after arriving, we all took a shower tofreshen up, yet with our air con set on 15 I think, it was freezing!!!Loved that feeling of being cold as we have not felt that feeling foryears now!!!!!! So we never changed it! I then jumped into the showerand had a really hot shower which was a mistake actually as when I cameinto the room, from the hot shower, my arm muscle on the inside of myelbow went into an unbelievable cramp!!!! It was terrible! I have notexperienced such pain with my veins sticking out and a feeling likesomething running up my arm, so John getting very worried help me dresswithin one minute flat, had me dragged out the room and off in a tuktuk to the Bangkok Hat Yai Hospital thinking it could be a blood clot!We were so surprised at the efficiency and was seen to not even fiveminutes from arriving! The doctor was quite sure it was not a clotwhich made John relax for the first time since the start of thecramp... I was given strong anti inflammatory's  and a aerosol ofanesthetic! It was incredible stuff!! The muscles spasmodic manneralmost pulled itself off the bone!!!!!

Yet no worries....all is good and my arm is healing well x Also used it on Jusines footwhich was quite nice to see when the pain eased!

The place itself was really quite bigwith lots of amazing sites! The third largest reclining Buddha image ofthe world reposes at WatHat Yai Nai on Phetkhasem Road near Ou-Tapao Bridge. The statue, namedPhra Buddha hatmongkhol, is 35 meters long, 15 meters high and 10meters wide. This is considered one of the most revered statues in theregion. What a sight!! Incredible! It is just so huge and has aninteresting face, giving different expressions depending on the angleyou look from! Also the most amazing thing from out the city is a huge20 or so meter Buddha, standing hundreds of meters above the parkthere.

Manylocals make their way up by motorbike but it's an energetic andrewarding hour long climb up. The views over Hat Yai and thesurrounding hills are magical - and across to the sea in thedistance.There are many attractive hills around the city, although,aside from the 'Buddha', we didn't make it up the hill.

John spoke to our tuk tuk guy who seemed to own us while we werethere lol and asked for a twenty minute tour ride for Justine mainly tosee the place as she did not go out of the room except to eat as herarm was raw and really sore, so off we went, landing up in places wenever expected to go and seeing things we never expected to see! It waslike a three hour tour and so all had a wonderful time and were veryimpressed with the little money he asked for to which John doubled!

Wegot lost a few times, ran out of fright at chasing dogs which areeverywhere!!! You cannot believe how many dogs run freely and fightcontinuously in these places!!!! They have about twenty hairdressingshops all in one road next to each other... really quite amazing tosee! The woman seem to have a certain respect for men that they don;thave for woman.... yet we all had a wonderful time, enjoyed our stayand the things we learned!

We decided to finely pack our back packs and head for home, Bluemoon x

Wewere picked up outside our hotel by our very own tuk tuk driver lol whotook us to the taxi van terminal outside of town, then crowded into amini van and headed for Satun, and finely the port to catch our ferryback to Langkawi.

We received a very kind hand of help forJustine yet again and were welcomed back into Langkawi by the amazingMalaysians we have come to know.....

We were so happy to behome just as the sun set, had a great few cuppa's, chatted, had chinesenoodles which we have come to love! The kids headed for bed while Johnand I watched a great movie before heading for bed....

Todaywas filled with such wonderful visitors coming in to say hello and findout how everything went! So wonderful to know such amazing people inour lives!! We are truly blessed!!!

Justine'sfoot is healing! She can now put it down and put a little pressure sois thrilled about not using the crutches as the sores under her armseems more painful than the foot now!! Yet she will get through thisand be much more careful where here foot goes lol  Jono seems to havecracked his finger so it is in a splint now... whew!!!!

Wehope to hear from all of you! Just a note even letting us know you areall well and healthy! We think of you all often and love to hear wordfrom you ALL x

God Bless, and keep on living life to the fullest

John Jenny Justine Jessica and Jonathan x x x