As we leave Home Bay and drive through the village, the waters have receded and the clear up is well under way. At our destination in the border town of Hat Yai, we are told that the hotel is no longer flooded and can accommodate us but that food may be a problem. The ferry crossing is choppy and the storm debris is visible across the sea surface. I decide that the best policy is to remain in the open air and feel very pleased with myself and my stomach to survive it without mishap. Beer is the solution! Those old wives' know a thing or two. Book me on the next booze cruise across the Bay of Biscay.
The onward journey to the border town of Hat Yai is long and tedious and it is clear that many people have been displaced by the floods with shops and homes still under water all along the way.
Hat Yai itself has drained of water, by the time we arrive but the evidence of destruction is there in the huge piles of furniture, toys, shop fittings that represent the essence of people's daily lives, littering the streets.
In the hotel, furniture and boxes of paperwork line the stairs and corridors of the upper floors, until the staff are able to return to work and return it to its rightful place. We are grateful to have clean rooms, bedding, hot water showers and power for the night, even if it does mean climbing to the 6th floor with backpacks, without a lift. Round the corner, the street food vendors are busy as locals escape damp houses with no power or cooking facilities to get a hot meal and a drink. They pull up in their shiny BMW X5s, with the whole family to get their 'take away'. Everything is available and it all looks delicious. Fresh cooked chicken drumsticks and wings. Fried rice or noodles. Kebabs and Thai sausages. Pancakes and sweet and savoury steamed dumplings. All washed down with a fruit smoothie or iced tea, served in a plastic bag with a straw. Yum Yum.
The onward journey to the border town of Hat Yai is long and tedious and it is clear that many people have been displaced by the floods with shops and homes still under water all along the way.
Hat Yai itself has drained of water, by the time we arrive but the evidence of destruction is there in the huge piles of furniture, toys, shop fittings that represent the essence of people's daily lives, littering the streets.
In the hotel, furniture and boxes of paperwork line the stairs and corridors of the upper floors, until the staff are able to return to work and return it to its rightful place. We are grateful to have clean rooms, bedding, hot water showers and power for the night, even if it does mean climbing to the 6th floor with backpacks, without a lift. Round the corner, the street food vendors are busy as locals escape damp houses with no power or cooking facilities to get a hot meal and a drink. They pull up in their shiny BMW X5s, with the whole family to get their 'take away'. Everything is available and it all looks delicious. Fresh cooked chicken drumsticks and wings. Fried rice or noodles. Kebabs and Thai sausages. Pancakes and sweet and savoury steamed dumplings. All washed down with a fruit smoothie or iced tea, served in a plastic bag with a straw. Yum Yum.
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