Old friends

For the past few days, i either met or got the phone calls from my old acquitances. They are my friends now, once upon a time, they were my pupils. Big boys and big girls liao. :))

But today, i went to the school that i taught five years ago and many teachers are still there. i am glad that they stay on, by force ( from family pressures, or by willingness)

I had the lunch with them and talked about my Thailand trip.

Appreciate what we have now and also trasures what we can have now. My greatest treasures are FRIENSHIPS. but i have to add that because i have no personal conflict of interest thus, the relations did not turn sour. :))

The heat is picking up today. Many complained it is hot but they have to visit ESAN to taste the heat.

I am try hard to budget and many a time i failed. Should be going to KL tomorrow ??? KC went to Lion City for the International Film festival. I wish i could be there but when you look at the currency exchange rate, you have to think twice.

Jalan ke Betong

The sun was not so hot compared to ESAN but my heart was a little hot because my journalist friend failed to have the sense of distance. He told me from the immigration checkpoint to the town is 3km. It is not too far isn;t it, only 3 km. From my house to this cyber cafe is also 3 km.Therefore i was trying to save some money because i am jobless now. This border town accept Malaysian ringgit. in fact they have the currency because the value is higher if it convert back to Thai bahts.

Despite i did some research on the net but i ignored this site content:

live in Betong. There are altogether five Malaysian-Thai border towns and Betong is one of them. Betong is located at the Southern most of Thailand and the town is only 7km from the Malaysian-Thai border. It is a district (amphur) of the Yala Province with an approximate population of 50,000, of which about 15,000 are living in the town. It is made up of multi-races with approximately 40% Muslims, 30% Chinese and 30% Thai. It was the base for the former jungle fighters of the Communist Party of Malaya and is considered as one of the most Chinese populated area in Thailand, and has the highest average per capita income among the three Southern provinces, Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani

Therefore i started my boy scout usaha test of 6 km walk.

It was a strange sight for the locals and many came to ask me whether i need a lift. Please, it is not free, some charge RM 5 and some even go as high as the taxi fare of RM12. I started to get upset with this money attitude. In fact, the sun was high and the time was still early.

" 7 km awak mahu jalan."

" Biasa lah apa susah."

Some of the cars and motorcyles reversed when they saw me, They should have thought here was a big catch that the GOD sent for.

I walked on and when my face turned brown after the two hours baking in the sun. I reached the town.

Betong

With much anticipation, i hopped into a bus to the southern part of Thailand. A town BETONG named after a type of bamboo in the area.It is a nice place to be fair for the land but it is out of my expectation despite many friends have warned me about it.

Please do not mistaken for the recent riots in the area. I doubt it did happen in this town, mostly were out of the town. It is pretty safe in the town center though the traders did admit that the business has dropped some degree. I went into the town via the Malaysia boarder, from Perak bit not from Hat Yat where you have to cross the Yala and then to the southern tip of Thailand.

Most of the travellers from this point of entry are Malaysians and Singaporeans who drive through the North-South Highway in Malaysia. May i contnue the stories of these travellers later.

Therefore, you could hardly see any white foreigners walking on the street. Other Asians i don't know. The Lonely Planet does not list the place therefore, it is hard for the travellers to locate it.

I planned to stay there for 4 days, thus i took along my clothing but, after a 7 km walk, i cut short the stay and left 22 hours after my passport was sealed with the Thailand Immigration rubber stamp ink.

Do you like to know why ? yes, the answer would be. But, sorry i am recollecting myself now and would have to filter a little to do some justice to the people of Betong.