My Adventures in Thailand | Nakhon Si Thammarat (Part 1)

Good morning, everyone!

Starting today, I'm going to tell you how I got to Thailand, and eventually settled down here, but before I do that, I would first like to say, as I previously mentioned, that I have lived in South East Asia for most of my life, and most recently over the past 8 (or 9?) years since I moved back here from the U.S. I'm not going to get into all that though, that's a whole other journey in itself.

I am going to start you off by letting you know that a little over 2 years ago, in 2015, I was living in Singapore, working as a barista in a little cafe, owned by a rich Indonesian man that liked to rip people off. He was a snake.
Anyways, it came the time for me to make a #VisaRun, and I decided I would plan my trip to Thailand this time, and thought, "I have a month to stay in Thailand, why don't I just work at a friend's cafe in a small little town in Nakhon Si Thammarat and make some money while I'm at it?"

Nakhon Si Thammarat (or Nakhon Sri Thammarat, Nakhon Sithammarat, and other alternative spellings for English) is one of Thailand's most ancient cities situated in the southern part of the country by the east coast of the peninsular. It is about halfway between the Malaysian border and the capital city of Bangkok. It was originally a coastal city, but now the coastline has moved away from the city due to silting.

So, I took a flight from Singapore to one of the southern-most cities in Thailand called Hat Yai, from there, I was told to take a #songteaw (literally meaning 2 seats), which is a pick up truck with 2 benches on either side of the wheels... kind of like a small bus or big taxi with open windows. I got off from the songteaw at the train station and proceeded to book a 3rd class train (the only option available for that destination) to Nakhon Si Thammarat. The trains for the 3rd class haven't been updated or renovated in a few decades. Wooden seats, no air conditioning, nasty toilets, but the view was amazing! Seeing all the open farm lands, rivers, and jungles along the way is truly breathtaking!

So after a 5 hour journey, I finally arrived at Nakhon Si Thammarat, where my friend, Aem, and her boyfriend, Benz (also her employee) picked me up from the train station and took me to their cafe called Corretto. They offered me some home made cakes from the cafe, which was closed by the time I arrived, and some craft beer as well! It was a really sleepy town, but full of fresh air, as the mountains were really close by. A good change from the hustle and bustle of Singapore!

Celebrating Benz's birthday with some pizza!

Anyways, I am going to stop us here, as I am about to head out for an appointment.
Stay tuned and follow the journey! One love!
(P.S. Sorry for the quality of some pics, I promise you my phones do get better later on :D )