When Monkeys Attack...

Nakhon Si Thammarat was like any other city, in any other province in Thailand. What I remember most was a little Hokkien coffee shop that served the cheapest, tastiest coffee in Thailand. All included in our 2 person for 100 baht ($3.50) breakfast there, was the Bangkok Post and staring Thai people. There were no tourists here. Songkhla was much the same, but it seemed a little more expensive likely due to oil money filtering into the city. Another capital of another province. Ko Yo (pronounced Kaw Yaw) is an island connected by bridge to Songkhla. It was really interesting to see how the fishing villages farm sea bass, they also weave a particularly time consuming fabric there and by Thai standards is quite expensive. Hat Yai in Songkhla province is a huge city with lots of shopping centres and fantastic hotels. I'm not sure who stays at all these hotels (think 5 star luxury for $40), but we were still too cheap to stay. I am not going to lie, I got into the markets at these places...I have this need to scrounge markets for food for hours much to Dave's chagrin. This is making me gain weight. The food is so cheap and delicious at Thai markets, I'm pretty sure they see my bright white skin from about a mile away and get out the pumpkin custard and sticky rice. I've actually heard them shout, "Farang!" like it's a bloody call to arms. I have learned to battle with my pointy elbows and fight for my laksa (noodles in your choice of curry sauce) like no Thai has ever seen.

Yesterday, we ended up on the island of Langkawi in Malaysia. Yay! New passport stamp! It is quite expensive here, but we love it. The food is a mix of Indian, Chinese and Thai and it's fantastic. There are no markets, however, there are duty-free shops with the cheapest liquor and chocolate I have ever seen. Piles of chocolate. Huge bottles of Baileys for 46 RM ($18). It will actually be cheaper to survive on a diet of chocolate and vodka this week. We climbed 10 minutes and battled an evil monkey to get to a beautiful seven tiered waterful fit for swimming. Note: Throwing things at monkeys does not get back the belongings that they have stolen from you, it only causes them to bare their teeth and call for backup. Malaysian monkeys are angry monkeys. We also experienced a cable car ride up to a scenic 710m, we could see the whole island.