Seems to be a hate-hate dynamic b/t folks of Hat Yai and farang/foreigners. White/western farang anyway. Thai folk here seem less tolerant/patient/accommodating towards farang vs other parts of Thailand. Perhaps they've developed a bit of a complex over time related to not being a chosen destination of farang but rather a forced destination as you pretty much have to go thru hat yai to get to malaysia from Thailand or if coming to Thailand from Malaysia. Not to mention all those doing a visa-run from south Thailand to buy additional time in the kingdom. And not many travelers linger in hat yai. Which is not difficult to understand once you've spent a bit of time here. Which we did...again, not by choice but by necessity. It's unfortunate because it is certainly not representative of Thailand as a whole. And the kingdom would do well to try to effect some sort of a shift...as it has a tendency to leave a bad taste for those (like ourselves) who say goodbye to Thailand via hat yai.
Examples...not helpful with bags; little attempt to communicate in English.
Anyway, we're now in Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur (KL) in particular. Got stranded in Hat Yai for a night as we arrived too late to catch a bus to KL. Our predicted 10a-2p minibus arrived at 6p. And then our big air-con bus to KL that was predicted 9a-5/6p arrived 830/9p. Thai's are not to be trusted when it comes to predicting travel times says Marrie. Eleanor handled it all like a champ. Actually for the mini-bus she was mostly lethargic and running a fever. Had us rather worried. She's doing better now, fever subsided, more energetic, more of an appetite. We had a late meal of street food upon arrival to KL and let me tell you, my taste buds miss Thailand! Not a wonderful first impression. Let's hope it was misrepresentative.
What is the remainder of your itinerary?
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