The mini-bus from Penang to Hat Yai took a little longer than I had experienced before and I was a getting worried that I might miss the train to Bangkok, but trying to calm myself down, we were only about ten minutes later than before and the train is usually late anyway so I should get it okay. When we eventually got to the railway station in Hat Yai, I got out of the mini-bus quickly and grabbed my case, then set off for the ticketing area, but when I got to the steps leading up to the ticketing area, I could see that they were closed. I was looking up at the board listing the sheduled departures of the trains, when a station official came up to me and asked me where I wanted to go, I told him Bangkok and he replied to me that the last train to Bangkok for today, left five minutes ago and that was why they were closed now, so he just said to me "Come back tomorrow" and walked away.

This was a new experience for me because I had never stayed in Hat Yai before. I was at the train station, it was evening, I am legless, I had nowhere to stay, I did not know where to go, I was hungry and more importantly for me, I needed a beer. So I slowly started to walk out of the station dragging my bag behind me and thinking "Where do I go now?" I hoped that I could find a cheap guesthouse not too far away, but I wasn't sure because I didn't really know Hat Yai. There were many motorcycle taxis around the station trying to vie for my custom, but I knew from past experiences in Thailand that they would only take me to a hotel or guesthouse that would pay them the most commission. So I waved them all away and started walking slowly down the road away from the station, a small local shop was just closing up as I was walking past, so I approached the owner and I asked him in Thai if I could buy a cold beer before he closed. He got me a cold can of Chang beer and then he asked me where I was staying, so then I told him about my present situation and he told me where I could find a good inexpensive guesthouse by the name of Ladda Guesthouse not too far away, just next door to Robinson's Department Store, he then locked up the shop, wished me good luck and left.

I walked a little further down the road in the direction of the guesthouse, but my amputated leg which I had chafed in Penang again started really hurting, so I looked for somewhere that I could sit down, rest my leg and drink my beer. I was quite lucky and I found another small shop that was closed, but they had left a table and chair outside, so I quickly sat down, took off my false leg and started to relax with my beer. I could see the Ladda Guesthouse entrance diagonally across the road from where I was sitting, so I knew I only had about another 30 metres to walk. After finishing my beer and applying a handkerchief as padding for my leg, I put my leg back on and headed for the guesthouse.

The entrance for the guesthouse was small and there were stairs up to the reception, it took me a while to negotiate the stairs with my bag but I eventually got to the reception desk. I asked the girl behind the reception desk if she had any spare rooms available and I was expecting the worst and waiting for her to tell me that they were full. She told me that they still had two rooms available, asked me to sign in and asked for my passport and 200 baht (3 GBP) for the room. I felt quite happy, I had somewhere to stay now and she handed me the key. The next problem was that the room was up four more flights of stairs, but their security guard carried my bag up for me so I only had to carry myself, it took me a few minutes but I made it with relatively little pain from my leg. The room was very tidy and clean, with a double bed, a table and two chairs, a wall fan and a separate tiled bathroom with soap and towels, I was very pleased with it at the price that they charged.

After I had relaxed for a while in my room, I decided that I had to go out again and find somewhere to eat, so I went downstairs and asked the girl where I could find a cafe or restaurant. She told me to go back down to the road and just keep walking away from the station and I would eventually find the main food area. I did as she told me, but after a couple of blocks my leg was hurting again and I still could not find anything, as I was crossing the next road still heading in the direction that she had told me, I looked left and right also, I spotted a small neon sign off to the left, but I could not see exactly what it was, so I just kept on walking straight to where there were more lights. I passed a pub eventually and next to it was a large restaurant, but I took one look at the prices and decided that the pub looked better, so I went in the pub. When I sat down I was given a menu and again the prices were quite high, but not as high as the one next door, so I ordered a beer and a Thai snack and relaxed a little again. After I had finished the snack and the beer, I had decided that this place was too expensive for me to carry on drinking in, so I paid the bill, went outside and started walking back the way that I had come before.

When I reached the next junction, I spotted the neon sign that I had seen before and this time I headed for it. As I got closer I could read the sign better and it just said I, Red in English, this amused me slightly because it was very similar to my own name of I. Reed. It turned out to be a Thai cafe/restaurant and there were many ordinary Thai locals sitting at the tables outside drinking beer which attracted me. I approached the cafe sat down at one of the outside tables and asked the person serving how much the beer was, I was very happy and relieved when she told me that the price of a large bottle of Chang beer there was 40% cheaper than the small bottle that I had just had at the last place I was in, also the food was very much cheaper and they had a better selection too. This was a good find for me and a great place to relax after the day's ups and downs, so after a good meal, I just sat there drinking beer and talking with the staff in Thai until the early hours of the following morning.

The following day, I went back to the railway station to book a ticket to Bangkok, but they didn't have any lower berth seats available that day, so I had to book one for the following day. Over the next two days I, Red became my permanent local hangout, because they sold the good Thai food that I like, they had cheap beer and during the day they had a hot tea stall outside and as a rule, daytime I always drink lots of tea. The staff and especially the owner Daeng were very friendly and attentive, so everything suited me perfectly, also there was a mini-mart just across the road from them, where I could buy any necessities that I needed.

So what started out as an unscheduled stop for me, turned into a very pleasant two days break, I was quite sorry to leave Hat Yai in the end. I have sketched a map on a new page on my website for anyone visiting Hat Yai who would like to know the location of the places that I have been talking about on this post, please click on the Hat Yai link on this page.

Cheers for now, Legless.