Part XII

Yum... just had a tasty feed! Went to this small local food outfit and I couldn't really figure out what they sold but I ended up with some delicious sate noodles and my choice of salad from a large variety she put on my table. Interesting assortment there was, some of it was just coarse leaves from some unknown tree.

Yesterday... was wicked! I found a Cobra up on weng chan hill. I'd been wandering about this ancient stupa and was walking down a huge stair case when I head a hiss and a crackle of leaves. Just over a metre away was this big black cobra, slinking off into the grass. I so wanted a photo so threw a couple of sticks into the grass but couldn't rouse it. Figured it wouldn't do to probe around too much having seen the way the smaller cobra attacked the cage when Mike was looking at it. I found a cat in a pagoda up there too so hung out for a while. He purred loudly when I gave him some attention. I surprised the cats here let anyone get near them seeing they're on the menu!

The day before I hired a bike, treacherous little thing it was, narrow tires with poor grip and a big grunty disc brake on the front. Definately a ride to be treated with respect! I was heading out of town just as the makings of a storm were appearing, before long it stretched right across the horizon, a big black ominous spectacle heading right toward me. I decided to press on, after all, I could take shelter should I need it. I crossed two really long bridges across the inland sea to an island which is ony about 200m away from Songkhla across the inlet. Found a couple of really cool little muslim fishing villages, wedged between a cliff and the sea. The road was a narrow lane through them with 2 story houses towering over. From the looks I got it was apparent not many westerners got over there. Was like Sumatra in that regard. There was a vehicle ferry just about to leave for Songkhla, should have got on it... anyway, I kept on around the island as the front hit, a bit of wind and little else and the sky was a lot lighter behind it. So I kept on, looping back to the road to Songkhla, sweet, I'm doing alright, thinks I and then, just as I entered about 3km of very exposed bridge, the storm hit. Strong gales, heavy rain.. delightful conditions for an afternoon ride! Did alright, just kept low and kept going. I wasn't the only bike caught out but they stopped. There was no way I was going to stop out on the middle of that bridge getting pummelled by heavy rain so eventually got to the other side and found a tree to hide under. Of course, off the bridge, most of the wind went away, so I cruised on back home anyway, ever mindful of the big bisc brake and poor tires. Once I got back it rained for a little while then cleared up, typical.

Songkhla is full of oil workers and retired old western fullas. There are heaps of them here, but no tourists. It's an ideal place to live for farangs, its only 1 and a half hours from the Malaysian border for the necessary monthly visa runs. Aparantly there are curfews around here in southern thailand due to the civil unrest. Doesn't seem to have affected Songkhla itself. The local islamic terrorist organisation have stated they wont target foreigners or the tourism industry, they just want their separate state. The only thing remotely military I've seen so far was a camo clad soldier on a scooter with an assault rifle. In Penang they had 12 gauge toting security gaurds in the bank and at the jewellery stores, Bumitputra Commerce was a bit more low key, they had an old fulla with a glock who would open the door for people.