Short Overland Trip (Golok-Narathiwat-Pattani-Danok) (Part Three)

A few days ago, during some news, i came across this.

There was a bomb incident in Narathiwat in a day before (four people got killed), followed with another one in Tak' Bai (an attack in public area).

Alhamdulillah, we never expect there were many bombings around, despite some warning from a friend about this trip. My guts kept on telling to go to Pattani as soon as we cross the border. Narathiwat was only a short stop over. Tak' Bai was given a miss since I have seen it once from the other side which is in Pengkalan Kubor, Kelantan. We were just being lucky, pure lucky. Alhamdulillah.

OK, let's continue, shall we?

From the Railway Station, i made some inquiries from the people about the minbus that goes to Narathiwat. The waiting area was across the road. Nice.

We approached the driver of the van, a kopiah old guy, and the fare for the trip was "Tujuh ghiyar". Equivalent to RM7 or 70 baht.

I just remembered that I did not have any baht with me. Cash in hand was RM150 only for my bus ticket to Kuala Lumpur, haiya macik lupa!. Luckily the ATM machine is just around the corner.

Apa lagi, need to withdraw some money, huk huk...

Power seh... this is my first time seeing a foreign bank retrieving my Maybank Savings Account Balance unlike my other international/overseas transactions like ANZ (jakun sat!). CIMB ada? RHB ada? BSN Giro ada? Har Har Har, Dont laugh at my balance yer ehehehheheh. I was supposed to withdraw RM100, but upon checking maybank2u statement, my withdrawal was being charged at RM125, with overseas transaction fees for 150 baht dan sekali lagi caj misteri yang sering dikenakan oleh Mebeng itu (anggaran RM10).... huk huk huk... (menyesal tak withdraw sesiap kat Rantau Panjang!)

Ok berbalik kepada soal minibus.

To people who frequents many parts of Thailand, minibus was something sent from heaven, especially to backpackers - in term of convenience and flexibility. As we made payment to kopiah guy for the final two who prompted the journey, I had this huge relief. Waste no time and we needed to make it in Pattani as soon as possible.

Points Noted - I made payment before boarding, but the local made payment only after they arrived their destination so obvious that we are not local! har har har har.

The mini bus to Narathiwat

Clean interior, i loike!

From Sg. Kolok, view of paddy field can be seen along the road with mountain as the background - really nice. Some is in their harvest time and some still in their green shade (wonder how many seasons they have here)... other than that was scenes like you can find along the Terengganu coastal road - palm trees, low swamp areas, . Houses being built were not so close to each other but what I like the most was good condition of its road that allows drivers to drive like roller coaster, aha aha aha.

Yup, the insurgency of Southern Thailand conflict is still around and you can see it from the number of guard post built along this highway. Some were occupied by Thai Army and some were barren. Number of them? Around 20 post. Approaching Narathiwat, there were many more post and and more check up, luckily it was done in brief.

Risky job with possibilities of many bomb attacks, the army look so young, tired and a little bit terrified? (ya ka, i guess so! Kalau aku pun, cuak seh!)....

To be continued.....