Day 14 - Not-so-Free Day

Today was supposed to be our free day.
The group was going to go to the beach and get some shopping done. Meeting time: 8am.
Now this in no way constitutes a free day. Waking up at 7am is not a free day.

I deliberated right up until this morning when I woke up at 830am. There really isn't anything to do here and it's hard to get around if you don't have a car/bike. I decided the beach sounded like a wonderful idea so rushed off to catch the bus which would leave at 9am, after breakfast. (Sleep>Food) We were told it was 1 hour to the beach. It wasn't.

Two hours later, we arrived at the beach. I was all set for some seaside lazing until it was announced that we'd have to meet back at the bus at 12pm. The time: 11am. We'd just travelled 2 hours for 1 hour at the beach. I'd assumed at least 3 hours there. It wasn't even that great - looked kinda like our East Coast beach at home.

Due to the conservative nature of the town (and our group) everyone swam fully clothed. Strange, yes? I settled into a deck chair at a cafe on the sand and there I stayed blissfully for an hour.

And I also made a new friend.


We then headed to get our sim cards authorised at a mall but they couldn't do it there. Which I thought was obvious because it was the exact same type of shop we'd tried the first time, and they'd said we had to go to the main office. So then we went to the main office. :face palm:
Time since departure: 5 hours
Time spent travelling: 3 hours

After leaving the Dtac (Thai network) office (phone's working, yay!) we headed to Hatyai, which is where most of the buses leave from; there's also a lot of shopping to be done there. Once again, an hour was all that we had there.



Instead of shopping, I decided to hunt for a good bus deal to get back home. Oh and also because I'd forgotten to top up my carryeverywhere wallet with money from my safekeeping wallet. I'd also cleverly decided yesterday that my debit card would be best kept safe, so ATMs were of no use whatsoever. Nice. 300baht (SG$12) goes a long way when it's all you have.

Amazingly, I can get a 12 hour bus from Hatyai to Singapore for 720 baht ($30). Or, 400 baht ($17) to KL and get a bus/train from there. I'm extremely excited at the thought of travelling from the north of Malaysia (which I've already explored briefly on foot!) all the way to the south, and then home. That will probably be on the 13th.

Yesterday I left my favourite toiletry case in a random toilet near the waterfall. So today my only purchase was a toothbrush and some shampoo. And a tshirt for 50baht which I didn't bother bargaining for because it's $2. And a drink at an Irish bar because I'm reading Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.



A song that's been on repeat today, perfect description for me right now. It was dog, I changed it to cats.

I miss the playgrounds and the animals and digging up worms.
I miss the comfort of my mother and the weight of the world.
I miss my sister, miss my father, miss my cats and my home.
Yeah, I miss the boredom and the freedom and the time spent alone.

- MGMT