After almost 5 days on Ko Mook it is time to continue south and on to Malaysia. We board the return ferry, (why oh why does the only ferry have to make the return journey at 7 in the morning?) and are collected by the minivan to take us back to PJs in Trang. After a swap to another minivan we continue on towards Hat Yai - a city and transport hub near the Malay border where we swap minivans AGAIN! David is feeling decidedly unwell throughout the journey, which is extremely uncomfortable and very stop start all the way. The Thai roads are excruciatingly potholed and he seems to feel every lurch and judder even more than we do. We drive on towards the border aware that we are driving through an area of historic unrest. Every 5 km or so there is a checkpoint with armed police monitoring the roads and in several places there are tanks lining the streets. The west coast border crossing towards Butterworth and Penang is the most often used by western travellers but this will take us out of our way as we are trying to get to the islands off the east coast of Malaysia - The Perhentians. This particular area of Southern Thailand has been subject to constant conflict, recent unrest as a result of fights for the independence of Thailand's predominantly Malay Muslim south. However, having researched widely, we feel that we will be safe to cross using this route, but that it will be advisable to travel by minivan, not train, and during daylight hours. In fact, the checkpoints are the closest we get to anything like unrest, the bus station at Hat Yai was more fraught! Eventually our minivan makes it to Sungai Golok, and we are dumped unceremoniously at the edge of one country and exit customs.
Across the border is Rantau Panjang, Kelantan, Malaysia and we must walk across a bridge in "no mans land" before going through entry formalities and then starting the arduous process of getting a taxi to take us the 45 km to Kota Bharu. 
This proves to be extremely difficult as none of the gathered taxi drivers particularly want to do the trip, amongst the excuses that they dont know our hotel and they certainly don;t seem to want to transport a family of westerners who are not as green as they look and will not pay the vastly over inflated first price offered. However, we are almost stuck between a rock and a hard place. They know that we have no other option but to take a taxi as there are no buses or trains which run from the border. We know how much we should be paying for the journey and David, however ill he feels, is refusing to budge and for a while there is a standoff. Add to this that we have no Malaysian Ringit, only Thai Baht, with which to pay. There is much sucking of teeth and laughing between the gathered drivers at what we offer to pay which only infuriates David further. Mercifully, another taxi arrives and David shows him the map and he agrees to take us. It is now pouring with rain and we are all tired, hot and hungry. Never have we been so please to arrive at our destination and the comfort of a hotel room! David goes straight to bed and the girls go across the street to the enormous Tesco mall and supper at the local food court.
No comments:
Post a Comment