First Date!! Hello from Betong!

First Date!!! Hello from Betong!

Hello, I am ST, a charming :)Malaysian Chinese lady. I have been living and working in Thailand for more than two years. To know more about me and my life in Thailand…date with me on thai-blogs!!

Ok, firstly let me give a little introduction about where I live.

I live in Betong. There are altogether five Malaysian-Thai border towns and Betong is one of them. Betong is located at the Southern most of Thailand and the town is only 7km from the Malaysian-Thai border. It is a district (amphur) of the Yala Province with an approximate population of 50,000, of which about 15,000 are living in the town. It is made up of multi-races with approximately 40% Muslims, 30% Chinese and 30% Thai. It was the base for the former jungle fighters of the Communist Party of Malaya and is considered as one of the most Chinese populated area in Thailand, and has the highest average per capita income among the three Southern provinces, Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani.

Being a Malaysian who lives and work here, where it takes only 7 km to reach Malaysia, it is easier for the people to fly to Bangkok through the Penang airport(1 ½ hour from Betong) than through Hat Yai airport(3 ½ hours from Betong). People often come to the Malaysian border town to have breakfast and go back to work…so as you can see, it is unavoidable for me to not mention about Malaysia once in a while!:)

Due to its unique locality, Betong has a long history of close diplomatic relationship with the Perak State of Malaysia. Due to the current unrest situation in Southern Thailand, more cooperation is needed to safeguard the security and economic activities of the two towns. On the 6th of August, the opening of the 330 million Baht Bukit Berapit new Immigration Complex, ( the only exit point to Thailand via land route in Perak state of Malaysia), a lot of Thailand senior officers are invited to join the grand opening ceremony officiated by the Sultan (King of State) of Perak and I am indeed honored to be one of the invited guest too 🙂 !!.

The Thai called the Sultan as “ Sulatdtan ”. On that day, all invited guests from Thailand are excited, hoping to grasp the rare and valuable opportunity to greet the “ Sulatdtan ”. Betong Municipality has volunteered to contribute the fresh fish and prawns specially ordered from Trang for the Sultan and the other VIPs!! For me, being a Malaysian, I had never been so close to the Sultan when I was in my own country. Therefore it is indeed an exciting experience for me to meet and to politely chat with the Sultan of my own nation as a guest from Thailand! Let me show u some pictures…

This is the picture taken from the Malaysian border town-Pengkalan Hulu, a welcoming dinner for the Sultan the night before the opening ceremony day. Today, there are still quite a number of Thai living in the Northern part of Malaysia and maintaining the Thai culture.