ジョージタウンからプーケットまで

The bus trip from Hat Yai to Phuket was horrible. We arrived 3.5 hours late, and both the driver and the staff member organizing the seats were very unfriendly. At times, it honestly felt like one of them might have been under the influence of something. Overall, a very unpleasant experience – I would not recommend this service.

I used the service to travel from Penang in Malaysia to Phuket in Thailand. As it was a long journey, I booked a direct bus in order to avoid being stranded somewhere in Thailand without a connecting journey due to delay. I booked the bus for 7.50, but received a Whatsapp very early that I should come to the pick up at 7.30 - not perfect, but as you should be at the pick-up location 1/2h before departure, I was gonna be there anyways. Now the van during this first part of the journey to Hat Yai was perfect: Clean, comfortable, spacious, with AC. We stopped along the way for toilet and food. The bus driver wanted 20 Baht before crossing the border. I didn't have any Baht, as the trip description stated I needed to pay him 5 RM. I got that exchanged, but it was an annoying hassle which I could have prepared for with the knowledge beforehand. Now after reaching Hat Yai the real drama began. Apparently the bus driver was not aware that I had booked an onward journey and wanted to drop me off at the bus station in Hat Yai. He didn't speak a word of English. I showed him my ticket showing Phuket as the end location, so he called his employer and drove me to an office of a travel agency while on the phone and filming the street with his phone. When we arrived a woman took a picture of my ticket and made a call. She then told me to go with the driver again who proceded to bring me to another travel agency which then handed me over to another driver with a different can who then took me to yet another travel agency where they told me that my bus to Phuket would be leaving in 15min and I could get some snacks while I wait. I needed to exchange money/find an ATM and a toilet on my own. When I returned a guy from the travel agency put me on one of the white and blue basically super cheap public busses going to Phuket. That is not the service I paid for. It would have been much cheaper just to buy a ticket for that bus upon arrival. Also this bus only did one stop for snacks and toilet once. I couldn't get any food due to not having Baht on me and them not accepting card payment where we stopped. I arrived after around 12 hours total journey time without having any proper meals during the whole day. My ticket didn't show who was the bus operator. I never had any direct contact with "New Asian Travels", all buses I used were from different companies. Really bad service. To any travellers going to Phuket or Krabi from Penang: Take this bus only to Hat Yai, you will have an excellent service, everything after that is a tourism trap and an absolute rip-off.