I found the Pinnacle Wangmai (Pinnacle Group have taken it over, everyone still knows it as the Wangmai) on the web. It looked OK and was cheap enough, so we told the bus driver from Trang where we were going and he dropped us off on the doorstep - it's on the main road where the bus passes by. It was throwing it down, so I took shelter under a shop front while Peter went over and checked out the rooms - they were OK so away we went.

The Wangmai is on the edge of town as you come into Satun, about 5 to 10 minutes walk to the Central Mosque. It seems to be a 2 star business hotel - people would arrive fairly late and I saw heaps leaving between 7 and 8 the next morning. It's a basic but clean 100 odd room hotel with air conditioning, windows that open, a mini bar and TV with local channels only. Bonus for Peter was a bath tub - he hadn't had a good soak for a while. The bed and pillows were very comfortable, as were the 2 easy chairs. Also, there was a writing desk and chair, and plenty of hangers in the wardrobe, which isn't very common.

There is a restaurant which is reasonably priced - about the same as local restaurants outside and the one meal we tried was pretty good. None of the staff spoke much English, but we managed everything without problem.

 

Location is good - plenty of mini marts nearby (getting an English language newspaper was a problem anywhere in town though) and loads of small canteens and food stalls within walking distance. There were 2 upmarket local restaurants near the hotel, the one with windows seemed to be fairly full every time we passed, and about halfway to the Mosque a night market of hawker stalls where you could get everything from fried banana to fried chickens feet (really). We found 2 local supermarkets (just big mini marts really) and a few clothes shops and that was about it, but there was enough alley ways and back streets to keep us happily walking for a few days.