Beach day at Songkhla Town Feb 22

Today was a good day but I did lots of walking.

This is the clock tower where you go to get the mini buses. It is five blocks from my guest house. I was one of the last to arrive so I got the jumper seat, just a padded board between two regular seats. I can't complain though, even though there were twenty of us in the van including the driver everyone had a spot and it cost 27 baht which is less than one dollar to go more than 25 km.

They dropped me at Samila beach in front of this cat. I checked the map and started walking north along the beach to the aquarium. They have a fair selection of fish but the feeding show was the best. A guy in wet suit and tank went into the water with the fish. He hugged some of them before giving them the fish or spun them around and we saw how a sting ray moves food toward its mouth. Well, I was impressed anyway.

They have parks all over the town and along the shore but none of them seem to be cared for. Here is some playground equipment with a pile of rubble right beside the slide.

My worst fear over here is dogs. I had a close call today just walking by some houses when some dogs came to the street barking. I usually just ignore them and they stop once you are past their property but this one continued to follow me. I just kept walking at a steady pace without looking at the dog. I could hear his owner calling louder and louder but the dog didn't respond. Just at the point where I thought it was about to jump me the owner ran up and kicked it. It ran across the street and stood looking at me. I was still afraid it would wait until the owner went in and chase me again but he stayed out there and waited for me to walk away. Whew!

After the aquarium I walked back on the other side of the a small peninsula and there were some awesome views.

Here is a piece of art, an open door in the middle of nowhere. I was trying to get it in my self portrait. I need to practice my aim. The funky Russian hat looks good though.

Today's flower.

Here we are at the head of Samila beach again, close to where I started, and walking over to Chalatat Beach.

The Golden Mermaid statue is well know for being lucky and is also a religious icon for some.

I had a good beach morning with some reading and sleeping on the beach as well as lots of walking.

If you look closely, you can see part of a wrecked ship between the tree and the monument.

Next I headed into town and covered quite a bit of it before I could locate where the mini buses parked for the return trip.

Coming up this street there was a monkey and a lady selling bananas. I stopped to buy one and she said 10 baht. That seemed expensive until I discovered I had bought a whole bunch. She separated them and put then in a wicker basket for me to feed monkeys. There was only one monkey so I tossed it a banana and suddenly, there were lots of monkeys.

Now I didn't like the scene anymore and I know wild monkeys can be dangerous and they move really fast so I tossed the whole basket full of bananas onto the hillside and left while the monkeys were picking them up.

Just up the street was another vendor with bananas and he also had fresh corn kernels to feed pigeons. I declined the offer so he tossed some out and now the street was full of monkeys and pigeons. Then a couple of quick whacks with a stick and they were all gone, waiting for the next unsuspecting customer. Well, everyone needs to make a living.

Then I came to a lift to a temple on a hill. The temple wasn't noteworthy but I had good views of the town from there. It cost 30 baht to go up that lift and 27 baht to go 25 km earlier. How does that make sense?

Just grabbed this temple picture as I am on the street again and I have located the mini buses next door.

Leaving Hat Yai tomorrow on the 4:00 PM train to Kuala Lumpur. I am looking forward to another train sleep.