Published via Ecency

A couple of minutes to go. It was time.

The driver had arrived. What was the last photo that I snapped. The picture of a TukTuk. What was on the Tuktuk. A picture of all the different tourist attractions in Hatyai.

A while ago, I was in McDonald's of Lee Plaza.

Malaysian drivers tend to be quite impatient. The first thing my wife asked was if there were other passengers. He was furious. We got on board the van. It was time to head back to Malaysia. An hour from Hatyai is the border town of Dannok. A couple of days prior to arriving here in Hatyai, the driver basically warned us about the dangers of being in that area due to presence of vice and other illicit activities.

At high speed

The driver drove like he was rushing. He was on his phone most of the time and out of his mouth, nothing nice. The other driver who had brought us here was a lot nicer and he even chatted with us.

A peculiar but common scene here

A buffalo at the back of a truck. I've never ever seen this in Malaysia. This was my first.

It's quite hard nowadays to see a water buffalo in Miri.

We were on our way to Penang in a tinted car

After around 40 minutes, we were near the borders of Malaysia. This is what Dannok looks like.

We were finally at the immigration

Everyone had to go down the van and walk into the immigration complex. Had our passports chopped.

Luckily, it wasn't busy. So, I got my passport chopped relatively fast.

Some cars heading into Malaysia. This is a popular checkpoint. A lot of Malaysians commute into Thailand daily.
Finally, we were at the Malaysian immigration checkpoint

We walked into the complex on foot. Then we got our passport chopped. There was a warning sign at the Thai customs that indicated that the Malaysian customs could arrest possible drug users. Of the many days I was in Hatyai, I did not manage to see any legal cannabis on sale. I had this expectation that since the legalization of cannabis, this particular psychoactive drug would be prevalently found. But I was wrong.

After getting passed the checkpoint

It felt like I had entered into another world. A couple of days of not being in Malaysia, I was getting used to life in Hatyai.

No more cows and wires hanging metres above. It's all long neat highways with clear signs. Not much motorcycles on the road.

Penang bridge

Two hours later, I was back in Penang. This is one of Penang's busiest bridges. Lots of cars on the bridge. Not much barrier at the side as compared to those found in Sarawak or Brunei. There are tall walls and CCTVs all over the bridge.

The driver dropped us back at our hotel.

Loop on Leigh

Not my favourite. Did not have a window view as described. The rooms had slippery bathroom floors. Getting into the hotel room was like walking into a maze. Fake windows with a view of the inside of a creepy middle section of the building. This concludes the whole trip to Hatyai. A couple of post to end the whole saga.

@luueetang