I was contemplating where to spend my Chinese New Year holidays this year and upon checking AA site, was surprised to find Surat Thani listed as a destination again. So I bought a return ticket and then booked Airbnb (which I subsequently changed to a lodging on Booking.com). I decided not to go to any islands as I wasn’t keen to take any boats and besides Surat Thani was already hot enough. My last proper trip to Thailand was during the Malaysia Day weekend back in 2012 but I didn’t feel any hankering to return to Thailand.
Friday, 24 January 2020
I left home just after 08:00 and made my way to KLIA2. I had received email from AA advising travellers to arrive early in view of the potential crowd at the airport and was surprised when the bus from KL Sentral took only 45 minutes to reach KLIA2. I immediately headed to the departure area, went through passport control and security check and walked to my gate. I had enough time to check my devices, went to perform dhuha and musafir prayers and fill up my water bottle. We boarded at and the plane took off at 12:15. The flight took about 90 minutes and we landed at 13:00. We were handed landing forms as we walked into the terminal (really, why couldn’t the Thais let the airline hand out forms during the flight?) and I hurriedly filled up my form before clearing passport control. I then headed outside to the bus area.
We were only allowed to board one of the buses after ten minutes and sat in the bus for 50 minutes. I didn’t see what the problem was. If the schedule was hourly, we didn’t leave at 14:00. Nope, we only left at 14:18. The Caucasian couple sitting in the front row was also getting restless and irritated. I was getting famished. After all, it was close to 15:00 in KL and I hadn’t had lunch. In fact, my last meal was breakfast which I had before 08:00. I went down and fished out a cereal bar from my bag while waiting. After a while, a lady came up the bus and sold us the bus ticket (THB100). The trip to town took 50 minutes and I got down at the last stop and walked to Jae Tom Vegetarian Restaurant for my late lunch. After lunch, I headed to the hotel and checked in. I performed prayers then rested.
I ventured out again at 17:30 local time and walked to Surat Thani Central Mosque before walking towards Ta Pi River. I walked along the river until I reached some food stalls. There were three Muslim stalls, one of them selling food, one selling drinks and the other selling roti and gravy. I continued walking until I reached the other side of the Ta Pi bridge before turning back. While I passed a halal restaurant, I decided to return to the stall by the river. I ordered dinner and it turned out to be noodles. I waited a long thirty minutes for the noodles and was disappointed that it tasted only average.
After dinner, I walked to the night market. There were not that many people at the market. I found a halal stall, one stall selling fried fish balls and another stall selling steamed fish. I decided I would purchase my dinner the following evening at the night market.
On my walk back to my lodging, I decided to walk to Sahathai, a shopping complex just up the road. Google Maps shows that the operating hours are 09:00 to 21:30 so I was surprised to find it almost deserted when I arrived just before 21:00. It turned out that the shopping complex actually closes at 21:00 daily so I hurriedly went to the large supermarket and bought two bottles of water.
I was back in my room by 21:30. I had a shower, laundered my clothes, performed prayers and hit the sack.
Saturday, 25 January 2020
I woke up for morning prayers and didn’t sleep thereafter. I went down for breakfast at 09:20. There were some coffee/tea/chocolate drink, bananas, bread, margarine and jam for guests to help themselves with. After breakfast, I went for a walk to the river and then went for a massage, stopping en route at Phantip Travel office to enquire the bus stop for the bus back to the airport. I then discovered that I had spilled some water in my Speedy bag and debated if I should return to my room to dry it out. I decided against it, reasoning that it was hot enough for the bag to dry without having to return to the hotel. I had a satisfying hour-long massage before heading to Jae Tom Vegetarian Restaurant for lunch.
After lunch, I walked to Sarathai Shopping Complex to browse. I returned to the hotel about an hour later and rested.
I went out after evening prayers and walked to the night market. There were a lot more people there tonight. I went to the halal stall and ordered fried rice. One of the two women manning the stall spoke good English. I had my dinner there then queued to buy fried fish balls. I also went to the stall selling pad thai and when I was told they didn’t have any meat and only eggs, I ordered one to go.
I returned to my room and had a shower. Then I rested and must have dozed off because I woke up again, it was after 1 a.m.
Sunday, 26 January 2020
I woke up for morning prayers then showered. After performing dhuha prayers, I finished packing and went down for breakfast. I checked out and left at 09:42 and walked to the bus stop (just outside Phantip Travel) for the bus to the airport. I boarded the bus and paid THB100 for my fare.
The bus left at 10:01 and after 20 minutes, stopped to pick up another passenger. We were the only passengers on the bus. We reached the airport at 10:45. I went up to the departure level and sat down to wait.
I only realised just as I was about to go for security check that my boarding pass stated 27 January 2020. What the h_?! I had actually bought the ticket for a return trip on 27 January when I had wanted to spend only two nights in Surat Thani. I quickly got connected to WiFi and tried buying a one-way ticket but as it was too close to departure, I could not buy it online and had to approach the counter. While it was more economical to just take the bus back to town and find accommodation for that night, I was already at the airport and just wanted to leave. I couldn’t stand the idea of having lunch and dinner at the same places. So I handed over my card and watched as the AirAsia counter lady swiped my card for the last-minute one-way ticket back home. Yup, there have been instances when I feel like kicking myself and that was one of them. Me and my ditsiness! I had to go to the baggage drop off counter to get my boarding pass but as it turned out my ticket was for a hot seat, there was no charge for checking in at the airport.
I then cleared security check and passport control.
I was disappointed with the boarding area. There was no prayer room and I was hoping to perform prayers before my flight so that I didn’t have to do it when I land. The plane from KL landed and we were called to board shortly after.
We landed at KLIA2 just before 16:00. I had to go through passport control before I sighted a prayer room. I then had to wait a while for a bus back to KL Sentral. I reached home at 18:30, had unpacked by 18:45 and was out watering my poor plants at 19:00.
So that was how I spent my Chinese New Year. This was the first time in a while that I didn’t go anywhere far and take a long break away.
Friday, 24 January 2020
I left home just after 08:00 and made my way to KLIA2. I had received email from AA advising travellers to arrive early in view of the potential crowd at the airport and was surprised when the bus from KL Sentral took only 45 minutes to reach KLIA2. I immediately headed to the departure area, went through passport control and security check and walked to my gate. I had enough time to check my devices, went to perform dhuha and musafir prayers and fill up my water bottle. We boarded at and the plane took off at 12:15. The flight took about 90 minutes and we landed at 13:00. We were handed landing forms as we walked into the terminal (really, why couldn’t the Thais let the airline hand out forms during the flight?) and I hurriedly filled up my form before clearing passport control. I then headed outside to the bus area.
We were only allowed to board one of the buses after ten minutes and sat in the bus for 50 minutes. I didn’t see what the problem was. If the schedule was hourly, we didn’t leave at 14:00. Nope, we only left at 14:18. The Caucasian couple sitting in the front row was also getting restless and irritated. I was getting famished. After all, it was close to 15:00 in KL and I hadn’t had lunch. In fact, my last meal was breakfast which I had before 08:00. I went down and fished out a cereal bar from my bag while waiting. After a while, a lady came up the bus and sold us the bus ticket (THB100). The trip to town took 50 minutes and I got down at the last stop and walked to Jae Tom Vegetarian Restaurant for my late lunch. After lunch, I headed to the hotel and checked in. I performed prayers then rested.
I ventured out again at 17:30 local time and walked to Surat Thani Central Mosque before walking towards Ta Pi River. I walked along the river until I reached some food stalls. There were three Muslim stalls, one of them selling food, one selling drinks and the other selling roti and gravy. I continued walking until I reached the other side of the Ta Pi bridge before turning back. While I passed a halal restaurant, I decided to return to the stall by the river. I ordered dinner and it turned out to be noodles. I waited a long thirty minutes for the noodles and was disappointed that it tasted only average.
After dinner, I walked to the night market. There were not that many people at the market. I found a halal stall, one stall selling fried fish balls and another stall selling steamed fish. I decided I would purchase my dinner the following evening at the night market.
On my walk back to my lodging, I decided to walk to Sahathai, a shopping complex just up the road. Google Maps shows that the operating hours are 09:00 to 21:30 so I was surprised to find it almost deserted when I arrived just before 21:00. It turned out that the shopping complex actually closes at 21:00 daily so I hurriedly went to the large supermarket and bought two bottles of water.
I was back in my room by 21:30. I had a shower, laundered my clothes, performed prayers and hit the sack.
Saturday, 25 January 2020
I woke up for morning prayers and didn’t sleep thereafter. I went down for breakfast at 09:20. There were some coffee/tea/chocolate drink, bananas, bread, margarine and jam for guests to help themselves with. After breakfast, I went for a walk to the river and then went for a massage, stopping en route at Phantip Travel office to enquire the bus stop for the bus back to the airport. I then discovered that I had spilled some water in my Speedy bag and debated if I should return to my room to dry it out. I decided against it, reasoning that it was hot enough for the bag to dry without having to return to the hotel. I had a satisfying hour-long massage before heading to Jae Tom Vegetarian Restaurant for lunch.
After lunch, I walked to Sarathai Shopping Complex to browse. I returned to the hotel about an hour later and rested.
I went out after evening prayers and walked to the night market. There were a lot more people there tonight. I went to the halal stall and ordered fried rice. One of the two women manning the stall spoke good English. I had my dinner there then queued to buy fried fish balls. I also went to the stall selling pad thai and when I was told they didn’t have any meat and only eggs, I ordered one to go.
I returned to my room and had a shower. Then I rested and must have dozed off because I woke up again, it was after 1 a.m.
Sunday, 26 January 2020
I woke up for morning prayers then showered. After performing dhuha prayers, I finished packing and went down for breakfast. I checked out and left at 09:42 and walked to the bus stop (just outside Phantip Travel) for the bus to the airport. I boarded the bus and paid THB100 for my fare.
The bus left at 10:01 and after 20 minutes, stopped to pick up another passenger. We were the only passengers on the bus. We reached the airport at 10:45. I went up to the departure level and sat down to wait.
I only realised just as I was about to go for security check that my boarding pass stated 27 January 2020. What the h_?! I had actually bought the ticket for a return trip on 27 January when I had wanted to spend only two nights in Surat Thani. I quickly got connected to WiFi and tried buying a one-way ticket but as it was too close to departure, I could not buy it online and had to approach the counter. While it was more economical to just take the bus back to town and find accommodation for that night, I was already at the airport and just wanted to leave. I couldn’t stand the idea of having lunch and dinner at the same places. So I handed over my card and watched as the AirAsia counter lady swiped my card for the last-minute one-way ticket back home. Yup, there have been instances when I feel like kicking myself and that was one of them. Me and my ditsiness! I had to go to the baggage drop off counter to get my boarding pass but as it turned out my ticket was for a hot seat, there was no charge for checking in at the airport.
I then cleared security check and passport control.
I was disappointed with the boarding area. There was no prayer room and I was hoping to perform prayers before my flight so that I didn’t have to do it when I land. The plane from KL landed and we were called to board shortly after.
We landed at KLIA2 just before 16:00. I had to go through passport control before I sighted a prayer room. I then had to wait a while for a bus back to KL Sentral. I reached home at 18:30, had unpacked by 18:45 and was out watering my poor plants at 19:00.
So that was how I spent my Chinese New Year. This was the first time in a while that I didn’t go anywhere far and take a long break away.
