HAD YAI - 3 STAR - MAYBE 5 STAR HOTEL IN IRAQ

I am in some Hotel called the Pacific Hotel it is directly down from the Cathay Guesthouse that is the “Popular with Backpackers” Hotel of the Lonely Planet and the Hotel where I stayed last year. It cost 200 Baht for a double or single in the Cathay and the Pacific is 420 Baht per night. I am going to share the room with my friend Gai and she wants “Air Con” as they call it here in Thailand that means Air Conditioning. I end up paying the same more or less, when you split the price between two people. I would pay 200 for the Cathay by myself, but I pay 210 splitting the cost with her.

She is a Pharmacist and works in a Hospital; she is coming to Had Yai for a Pharmacist or Doctor convention of some kind in the Lee Garden Hotel.

So I have:

GOOD
1. Color TV with Fox New.
2. Hot Water.
3. Air Con or Air Conditioning.
4. Small closet with 5 hangers. Like that will remove the need for my backpack organizer… Hehehe. That is 5 more than normal.

BAD
1. NO - HASP: I cannot put a lock on the door and that means I have to worry about getting robbed. I am putting all my valuable in my bag and chaining it to the desk when I leave the room. Stops the cleaning ladies from stealing.
2. The window does not have a lock and they can come in from the balcony.
3. No Shower - For some reason there is a large tub and a sprayer, but no proper stand up shower with a curtain or door. I can spray myself by holding the handle. Most cheap hotels in Thailand have showers.
3. Light switch it turned on with Keyboard. I insert and the lights stay on. That means normally that I have to rig it to stay on so the battery in my computer can recharge.

What to see in Had Yai? I have no idea, but I have a free guide that speaks Thai. The only thing that is funny that I know about Had Yai is that they have male prostitutes here that proposition women and I think old European women comes here.

Why people come to Had Yai? Staging point to jump to Malaysia for a Visa Run.

HAD YAI - SOUTHERN THAILAND
I arrived in Had Yai about 4:30 PM in the afternoon after having a mini-van ride that was interesting. We made 7 separate transfers but the ridiculous ones were in Surat Thani when the Thai people kept transferring us down the line until they filled up a Mini-Van to make the trip. In the end we went from a Farang filled van to a mixed or normal mini-van of the Thailand people. I suppose the paid one-fourth the price that we paid. What these Mickey Mouse transfers did is devalue the reason to buy the package and also increased the time. I could have taken a boat and went straight to the bus station and the trip would have been quicker. It took two hour more than they said it would take.

LIST OF TRANSFERS
Mini-van to Boat
Boat to Bus to Surat Thani
Bus to Mini-Van
Mini-Van-to-Mini-Van Station
Mini-Van to another Mini-Van Station.
Mini-Van to the third Mini-Van Station
Changed at the stations from one Mini-Van to another - Trip to Had Yai

All this is humorous in a way, but dangerous for the bags. Each transfer is a way to lose a bag.

SATURDAY NIGHT 9:45 PM Koh Phangan Thailand
I am going to bed, but thinking about the island of Koh Pha Ngan. It is a great island, although I am thinking I am getting a little old for this Island and would enjoy a little more cultural and older crowd. But is it still one of the great beaches of the world for me.