I caught a ferry this morning from Koh Samui to Surat Tani and then a mini bus to Hat Yai. It has been a pretty long day of travel, but the scenery driving through southern Thailand is interesting and different to the north. There were quite a few people busing it to Singapore and one German girl was heading to Phuket to catch her flight home, now with Bangkok airport still closed. From Koh Samui to Singapore it is a long bus ride to catch a flight. The weather hasn’t been great the last couple of weeks, so I am sure some people haven’t had a great holiday in Thailand.
I sat in the front of the mini-bus on the way to Hat Yai. Out of the blue, some cows and calves started crossing the road. The driver slowed a bit and then a calf made a dash across the road coming from the right side of van. It all happened in slow motion and the driver didn’t even hit the brakes. We hit the calf with a thud and the driver kept going. The front wheels went over what felt like a speed bump and then driver started to slow. You could hear the calf squealing as it was dragged along under the bus for around 15-20 meters.
I didn’t know how we would get it out and I started to feel sick with the thought of it. The driver moved a little bit forward and miraculously the calf jumped out from under the bus and took off. Fortunately, it escaped to the road side without getting hit again.
It poured rain for the rest of trip and windscreen wipers weren’t working. I looked across at the dashboard and saw that the speedometer and gas gauge weren’t working either. I buckled in and noticed a little while later that even the driver fastened his seatbelt.
We made it to Hat Yai in the pouring rain and I checked into a nice hotel across the bus station that even has free wifi, where I am writing this now. I am thinking of going to Songkhra which is about 20km away from Hat Yai and spend my last few days in Thailand before heading to Malaysia.
