Here are some updates..
Just came back from Hat Yai (pronounced as Hup-cai), the most southern province of Thailand and just on top of Penang. U can refer to e map belowJ Your reaction must be like this “finally at least…not genting again..haha”
It is a 5D3N trip..overall not bad but was not as satisfied as my last Bangkok trip..lol:P the last I’d been to Hat Yai was six years ago..nothing had changed much..the things there still remain e same..a sense of familiarity.
Day 1 – 25/07/08
Meet up at golden mile theatre @ 1830 for the coach to Malaysia cum hat yai. The bus was not very good..a bit old..some handles are either rusty or dropped out..no choice but have to sit cos each travel agent got limited buses to hatyai.
Cos of traffic jam it took quite long to reach tuas checkpoint n Malaysia customs. We reached around 8pm. Two hours later, we reached yong peng to have supper at hock hwa as usual. Guess wat?? My bus is the last to reach never mind, after we had our supper. The driver like went missing we waited for him like half an hour before he shows up..somemore the restaurant already closed for the day, leaving one whole group of 26 ppl waiting like idiots..this delay may end up delaying the time to reach hatyai the next morning.
As we know, the air con in nite coach is super cold and you need to be prepared to counter the coldness. There is this s***** old man on the bus that kept on coughing as if he got TB. I wonder if it is his first timer on a nite coach. The air con is so cold that I shut it off (it’s those got flap; can open n close one). His was opened and he don’t know how to close it and kept on coughing. To make matters worse, he don’t have a sweater/jacket/blanket(he is wearing a short sleeve shirt)..no one offered him anything….on top of that, he has no self hygiene practice and common sense. cough until like that can at least take a tissue and cover the nose and mouth. The lady in front of him still ask whether is he ok and he insisted he’s ok..the coughing lasted all e way throughout the nite till e next morning..making ppl cant sleep well cos of him..one uncle offered to close the air con but he want e air con to be on..some more he don’t know how to adjust the flap..making me even more pisssed off..he is like a public enemy. Wherever I saw him..i’d ‘run’ as far as I could..OMG!!!!
Day 2 – 26/07/08
We had breakfast at a small canteen near the Malaysia border. Had French toast. It was around 930am plus..we reached hatyai customs around e same time and there was lots of pple. Customs were slow and long queues everywhere. Somemore, the counter that we are queuing is priority for lorry first. We queued for like almost one and a half hour w e luggages..this time round was worse as compared to last time. Six years ago, the officer will collect the passports as a whole group and just come up the bus n do a visual scanning – save time n effort..we reached the hotel at like 12 noon. The other two buses reached long before us..like at 8am..they like waited us for four hours?!! The hotel we stayed is the same as six years ago – Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel (http://www.leeplaza.com/) everything is e same not much changes expect that the standards dropped (e hotel room stinks). The hotel was newly opened six years ago as compared to now.
After putting our luggage n a short rest, we proceed to have our late lunch at songka – near the samila beach. The tom yum soup was great and shiok!!! After lunch, went to walk walk at the beach where I took pic w e mermaid:)
after..any difference?? haha:)Next was to visit two must see attractions. Firstly, we went to the Four Faced Buddha. We also put firecrackers:p the feeling was so great as sg banned firecreackers..others also followed suit..haha
the second attraction was the Guan yin mountain (refer to e pic below)
after the visiting, went to try the bird nest tt cost only 200baht (ard S$8 plus). Their ginseng luo han guo drink very nice too…
Next was to buy some local products like cashew nuts, dried longan etc and leather products in which we were not of much interest..
After tt went back hotel to have a bath n dinner at the tian chu – Chinese restaurant. Later in e nite, went to the departmental store opp the hotel, Central for a quick shop before it closes at 9pm (Thailand time)
About an hour later, too tired from the visiting n shopping..it was back to sweet dreams haha..
Day 3 – 27/07/08
My family decided to go kim yong market early in morning, around 6am (sg time) to do charity by buying some food n drinks for the monks. After that we walked back hotel to have our breakfast. It is still e same as six years ago.. after breakfast, we sat tu-tu (thai version of cab) to their so called ‘big market’. We spent like almost two hours there..i really cant resist the temptation of shopping there. Bought quite lots of pairs of shoes, bags etc.. the bargaining was the best part thanks mum for being e best bargainer..
Satisfied with our ‘’, we travelled tutu back to hotel and took a rest..quite tired cos the market is quite cramp and every corner u turned u will find yourself in a loss – had I been to this store? And their store layout is like the whole board all FULL of shoes, sandals, heels and bags etc..ur reaction will be OMG!!! How am I going to choose from all of them haha..
Had late lunch at mac..as mentioned before in my Bangkok trip entry, thailand’s mac has pork burger..not bad too can give it a try=) to my surprise, I requested for some curry sauce and the reply given was 3B!! I was like sg don’t even charge money for the sauces and u can take as many as u like…-_-
We had some desserts at a roadside stall outside the hotel, refer to e pics below.
*ginger ginko nuts beancurd* - the ginger syrup was hot and shiok good for flu and your throat will feel very warm and smoothing:)
*ching teng* - the ingredients a bit different from sg de more of like chendol ching teng..haha
Later in e evening, we went back to the central, opposite our hotel to have another round of shopping..i saw a pair of shorts from esprit (1t’s shop..lol). it is quite nice and on sale somemore got my size but the price a bit too expensive as compared to sg. Original price is 2090B (S$85) sale price is 1590B (S$65). If I were to buy in sg, on top of e sale price I can still get further disc on selected items cos I’m ecc memberJ must go n look for it in sg haha..next was to window shop around the nite market where all roadside stall pack along e streets and then to odean shopping centre
After shopping for one n a half hour or so, we went to dong fang (our usual place for bird nest/shark fins) to have dinner..didnt took any pic but I can tell u wat we ate.. we had baby kai lan, onion egg, steamed fish and beancurd shop..all total to 670B (S$27)
We later shopped at the shopping centre located inside our hotel..before headed to swensens for desserts..had our usual earthquake..later can compare w sg one..
~i liked their tagline:)~
~local version of earthquake~spot the difference??
Day 4 – 28/07/08
As usual, we woke up early to go to Kim yong market for the charity to monks. As it was already fogging when we stepped out of the hotel, my family members n me were like covering our nose n mouth..the disaster came while walking back..the cockroaches start to make their way to the pavement!! So everywhere we walked, there are either one of two dizzy cockroaches..my sis n me were like ‘running for life’..half walk half run back to the hotel for our breakfast…haiz..
After breakfast was the time for packing…luckily we bought one rectangular bag to put our stuff that we bought..lol:p we decided to go to the café located at first level of novotel which is just just opp our hotel for some coffee.. their cappunico is damm cheap..only 50B!!! it is like equivalent to only S$2..omg!!!
after putting our luggage at lobby (it’s located on e 10th floor unlike the usual 1st level), we headed to 33rd floor for our sky buffet..it’s e highest floor where u can have a spiral view of Hat Yai and Songlka river. I think at night would be much more beautiful as compared to afternoon as it is quite glaring and humid..the buffet spread is normal and nothing much special..
our tour group is supposed to set off at 1pm and end up depart one hour later cos the coach cant park outside the hotel n wait for every passenger..the long journey begans from here..i got some shocking news from my dad few days after we came back..remember the coughing old man I mentioned earlier..after crossing the hatyai border..on e way to Malaysia border..he actually cant control and pee into a plastic bag….
ARGH!!! OMG!!! IT IS SO DISGUSTING..SOMEMORE THERE IS TOILET AT THE THAI CUSTOMS AND WE STILL WAIT FOR SOME OF OUR TOUR MEMBERS..HOW CAN HE DO THAT!! SOMEMORE HE IS LIKE 74 YEARS AGO AND ENGLISH EDUCATED..GUESS WHAT??? I STILL QUEUED BEHIND HIM AT THE MALAYSIA CUSTOMS AND HE STILL ASKED HIS FRIEND BEHIND BEHIND ME WHETHER STILL NEED TO GO TOILET??!!! AFTER HEARING THIS, I’M LIKE FOR HEAVEN SAKE..HOW CAN HE DO THIS??? WHERE IS HIS COMMON SENSE OR BASIC HYGENINE..THE FIRST DAY COUGHED UNTIL LUNGS DROPPED ALREADY CANNOT TAHAN NOW STILL DO THIS KIND OF ACT..INCONSIDERATE SOMEMORE IN BROAD DAYLIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
While on the bus there were not much coughing, there is still some constant coughs and it is still e same no tissue used to cover mouth but he wore a jacket at least..n still coughing..dont want to mention him..makes me pissed off..
Day 5 – 29/07/08
After 14 hours of travelling, it was at last home sweet home @ 5am..first time so early reach sg the exact opp from most trips where we’d set off around 630am anc come back ard 9pm plus..lol:p slept until 11am haha..
CONCLUSION: Hatyai is worth shopping as the stuff such as shoes, clothes etc there are really cheap..the exchange rate we changed was 100B = S$24.6 or S$25 for easier calculation..but I’d still prefer Bangkok’s MBK & Platinum..haha..
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