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Transportation from Penang to Danok: I took a two days trip on the 29th August 2005 and spend a night to see for myself and to bring informations and guide for those seeking to know more about Danok. My Trip to Danok I was a little shock to see the vast changes and transformation of Danok into a little light shopping and entertaining paradise of South Thailand. It looks like in years to come, it may outstrip Hatyai to become the main important town of the South, providing cheap shoppings and entertainments, especially the entertainments that "men like the most". I started my trip from Penang Island where I book my ticket for a return trip to Hatyai. The return ticket is open so you can return any day you want. Instead of going to Hatyai, I arrange to be dropped off at Danok. In fact you can just walk into Danok town after the Thai immigration check point. The trip from Penang to Danok takes about 2 hours. I did not make any accomodation arrangement as I understood that on normal days there are plenty of rooms available. When I reach Danok, I just walk around to familiarise with the small town. On both sides of the one and only main road, there are make shift stalls, houses converted into shops and hotels. There are lanes branching off from the main road leading to more shops and hotels. It took me only one hour to walk through the whole town of Danok. From my own estimate, the town is less than one square kilometeres or slightly more than half a square mile. The only thing I could not see is a bank, but there are ATM machines around town. I may have miss out seeing a bank. You see a lot of stalls selling local fruits, local products and flowers. I start looking for hotels and found a lot of them. There are the budget type (rooms converted from shop houses), court apartments and two to three stars rated hotel rooms. The price ranges between 250Bahts to 800Bahts. (Currency Coverter ) There are no less than thirty hotels of all types within this small town. I checked into one of the high rise (ten storeys) hotel call Oscar Palace Hotel & Entertanment Complex, the rate is 650Bahts. It houses a restaraunt, massage parlour, Karaoke, pub and entertaiment outlet. The room is big with marble flooring and a king size bed. There is a shower room with no long bath and the pressure for the hot and cold water shower is good. TV, fridge and a locksafe are included. There should not be any accomodation problem in Danok. As for now these local hotels are not listed online as yet, but soon it will be, hopefully. There are no shopping complexes or places of interest within the town for now but I saw many new hotels and shops are under construction. So what do you do when you are in Danok? If you like local food, fruits and entertainments you are at the right place. As I mentioned earlier you cannot miss the food outlets as they are all over the places. Next is entertainment, disco, karaokes and pubs sprouting throughout the town. It operates from the afternoon right pass midnight. After checking in the hotel, I went to have a light snack at one of the stalls. The food taste good but is slightly more expensive than Hatyai. Feeling stress after the journey I went for a two hours massage, cost 300bahts. You feel so relax after the massage. For dinner I try the hotel restaraunt and order three dishes of spicy and hot local thai food. Very delicous, spicy and hot and to cool down I went to one of the karaoke lounge to have some beer. Well, the karaoke lounge has a different environment. You can select and book girls to sit with you as companions and sing and drink all your heart out. If you don't like karaoke you can visit the number of pubs or discotheque and what is Thailand famous for in entertainment? Of course you can find a partner to accompany you throughout your stay. But that is beside the point. For tourists who want sight seeing or places of interest, Danok may not be the right place. It is purely a border town like most others but it provides a more day marketing and night entertainment sort of location. I spent the night at the karaoke, disco and pub till late in the night. The next day, I call the transportation company in Hatyai to pick me up at the Thai immigration check point for my return trip home. |
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