ko lanta & crossing the border

The days become all merged together and places all confused, so I'll try to remember what happened and where...
I spent about 3 nights in khlong khong in ko lanta, an island just off Thailand and stayed in this cool bungalow on the beach. We rented a motorbike and beach-hopped our way around the whole island and there was no one else around anywhere (except for afew wild monkeys running across the road). Half of the road was just dirt and rocks and some of it was still in the process of being built but I'm pleased to say we only had one near-crash!
After leaving there we set off on a mission to Malaysia which unfortunately meant we had to stop off in Trang and Hat Yai - two towns full of rats and filth and people staring. Trang was gross but Hat Yai was a whole new level of gross - upon arrival a homeless guy with no teeth and only one eye decided to befriend us and show us to a guesthouse (which luckily was the one we were looking for) but then he wouldnt leave and after hiding from him for a while we decided it was best to just run down the stairs. He ran after us until we hid in a toy shop to escape. After all that running it was time for dinner so we went to find this vegetarian place I'd heard about. But it was closed down so we went to the night markets instead which was pretty disappointing food-wise. Sean ate a deep-fried bat and then the crazy homeless guy found us again so we took off for the guesthouse, and along the way I accidentaly kicked a frog.
The next morning we couldnt wait to get out of there and got on a 4hour train ride to the border. We had to pass through afew towns along the way where alot of bombing and arson attacks had been happening the past few days (guess it pays to read a newspaper before going into these towns) and there were alot of men with machine guns on the train. It was quite possibly the most terrifying 4 hours of my life - wondering how I'd die first: being blown up by bombs or getting shot on the train.
Finally we got to the border and had a nice chat with an immigration officer who gave us water and fruit and then YAY we were in Malaysia! Malaysia is much friendlier and cleaner and nicer than Thailand and there's the best vegan restaurant here with a buffet for just over $1 nzdlrs for the best food Ive ever had. Getting up early to catch a bus to some islands tomorrow and then its off to the jungle.

Photo of one of the beaches on Ko Lanta.