5:40am. The air is thick with humidity and cool at dew point. Bats zoom into view as they pass under streetlights. I trot down the hill to meet my van en route to Hatyai.
At 5:45am the van approached the bus stop where I sat, flashed it's high-beams to acknowledge my presence. Relief washed over me as I realized I understood the awkward conversation in Mandarin to arrange this meeting point. I climbed in and rode to meet our first traveling companion.
I liked them immediately. He was always waiting on her, helping her in and out of the van. They lived in a nice house with an ornate gate. It was clear that they were wealthy.
In contrast, we went to a high density local apartment complex next. Many of the flats had their windows open and I could see that the rooms appeared to be small and spartan. Yet, satellite TV dishes and A/C outside units lined many of the apartments.
A group of about 8 retired couples waited for us, led by a very raucous woman who seemed to believe that she had to project operatically each time she had a thought to broadcast. She sat in the far back corner of the van and chit-chatted with the van driver. My sweet newly met friend ducked her head and plugged her ears, giggling politely.
We drove through the pre-dawn darkness and crossed the Penang Bridge with little traffic competing for the 2 lanes each way.We reached a 4th pick up point. There, the driver called for the passenger no less than 3 times, then honked the horn. Finally, lights came on, the drapes upstairs were yanked open, and a flustered man announced that he will be right down. Our driver scolded him snappily in Hokkien, pulled hard on his cigarette, and stabbed it into the wall. Breakfast time!
The driver invited us to breakfast courtesy of the late man, who turned out to be our tour leader! I ordered 3 pieces of steamed yam cake. This example was coarsely mashed with chunks of yam intact! It was immensely flavorful without being fussy and complicated. I ordered thick coffee that drank like silty ink. See how it stained my cup!
90 minutes late, we pulled on the highway and blasted past vast expanses of flooded rice fields. You could market the rice as fragrant long grain rice in either Diesel or Petrol varieties.
The van was a Mercedes Diesel with a very long wheel base. My newly met couple had insisted that I take the single middle seat to the since it was the most spacious and I was "big sized". It was not a put-down. Just a gently stated fact to justify giving me the best seat in the van.
I was grateful my iPod and the "skull-candy" type earbuds to drown out the cackling from the woman behind. My friends chuckled knowingly.
~ Shien
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