HatYai Story Part II

Sun rise with the bright smile - Welcoming Us

Sumber dari SINI

We reach Changlun, Kedah around 7.30am. Had our 2nd breakfast (baru jalan 3 jam dah ada 2nd breakfast) & get our passport to prepare the arrival & departure pass before it submit to Thai border. After 30 minutes we reach Bukit Kayu Hitam, Malaysia custom. After screening (you can choose whether to use normal screening, means go to the counter or auto screening is like you have to pass one machine look like a train pass commuter, put the passport then place your right thumb until it turn to green)

After that, our group sampai kat border pass Thai, bring all the bag that bring in then go to the counter to get the passport to chop. If you go by a group the chop is free, but if you go by individual you have to pay RM1 per chop.

When you reach the border you can feel the Thai already sebab sempadan Thai memang meriah, you can see all the women sells the food in every road side. That area call Dannok. We had to move to Sadao then reach & Hat Yai, Songkhla which is a metropolitan area located in South Thai.

Thai time is 1 hour later than Malaysia. First place that we go, mestilah hotel kan...check in, put all the bag there, prepare for the tour. We stay at Siam Center Hotel the price deluxe room is around RM70 per night. The first impression about the town is Hat Yai sgt bersih. Dekat roadside memang susah nak ada sampah. Kami ke Market, that place is the place for shopping, actually there is a building which divide by two side, pasar kering where they sells fruits, dry food, handbag, clothes & the other side is wet market, sells the beef, chicken & vegetables. Normally in Malaysia, after the wet market you can see all the waste is like everywhere & the smell like urrgghhh...but there is so impressing, sebab all the seller put the waste in one plastic bag & they put by themselves into the big dustbin. After the pasar is like MPPP in our country just come by took the big dustbin & sweep little bit only. Some seller might be not put the waste into the dustbin but they gether all the waste in one place then the so call 'MPPP' took it after that.

Hat Yai bersih walaupun byk stall dekat roadside & I tak worry nak makan hawkers food! because they are clean & one thing some of kedai makan masak dekat belakang kan? but in Hat Yai you can see they cook in front of you & you no need to worry how they cook the dishes.

HatYai town, you can see Honda & Toyata is like Perodua or Proton in M'sia.

Their public transport is Tuk-Tuk,very fast & its Daihatsu 850cc only.

Rate within town is 20bhat per person during day time & 30bhat at nite time, but still can discount!

After had a window shopping at Market, walk along to wet market then we went to Lee Garden Plaza, is one of a shopping complex in Hat Yai. You can see all the fashionable clothes & Shoes Made in Thailand there. Lagi satu, kita akan dapat lihat keterbukaan mereka menjual barangan. Senapang / pistol angin dijual terbuka & is a full set tau no need a license to buy it!

Our first food in HatYai is Thai Chicken Rice, Beras Siam taste agak different dgn our beras here. Thats why beras siam mahal & susah nak bawa masuk Malaysia. The sauce pun lain, the combination of Thai Chili & taucu memang taste! Our lunch for two of us is Thai Chicken Rice = 70 bhat = RM7+ Malaysia, Drink 30 bhat = Rm3+ Msia, so all total 100 bhat.

Then we walk along to the city, found the handbag shop all is just 299bhat per bag. All is new arrival & new design from Bangkok. Imagine kedai tu nampak exclusive & full with handbag. All bag is on only 299 bhat! tell me how I can't scream when I see those lovely handbag?? 299 bhat with the soft leather, unique design & the color is oohhh! 299bhat = RM29.90

I sempat beli satu masa brown color tu then next day datang lagi & bought another 1 for Ratna Red color! En Abi memang pening la tengok cara I pilih handbag, semua I try depan cermin. Satu-satu that lady tu bawak tunjuk new design kat I. Biasalah pompuan kan?

Drink it inside the bamboo!

Ice Cream - you can choose which flavor that you want!

Its around the Market area

Floating Market not same like in Bangkok.

They sell mostly fry, lemak & sweet food yang I tak makan, takut balik Malaysia I punye tonsil datang balik.

Then after round the town, we back to hotel sebab dah tak larat nak jalan & is just 1pm only. So back to hotel, rehat till the next program! I watch the Thai TV. Channel dia banyak...then everything in Thai Language even Hollywood movie tau! no translation. Ada satu channel tu memang about the royal wedding Prince Will & Kate je. Commercial Thai memang funny tau! tak faham but from the visual tu memang bleh buat kita ketawa berdekah-dekah.

Then lepas rehat, me & En Abi ke tingkat 2 hotel utk rase Thai Massage! Sesiapa yang ke Hatyai tapi tak cuba diorg pnye massage memang rugi tau! sebab berbaloi-baloi. for 2 of us, 2 hours per person is 480bhat only! means RM24 untuk 2 jam per person. Imagine is a hotel massage, murah kan?

Menariknya Thai Massage ni, you tak payahlah nak segan-segan kena buka baju segala. Dia akan bagi pijama suit & Thai massage tidak memerlukan minyak! Kalau guna minyak pun, minyak tu tak rasa melekit kat badan kita.

6pm in Thai is like 8pm in Malaysia.

After massage we continue our trip with Dinner time & night market! Shopping lagi.

We had our dinner at one kedai makan yang jual tomyam! Dah datang Thai mesti la makan Thai food kan? Our dinner Tomyam putih, Telur Bungkus & Kailan Ikan Masin. Menu biasa, the cost around 300bhat. Kat sini Nasi putih is 20bhat = RM2. Teh Tarik 27bhat = RM2.70. Sape orang penang yang memang tak bleh tinggal roti canai tu harga dia 15bhat = RM1.50 sekeping but makan dengan green curry thai. no kuah dhal k!

Night Market its Shopping time. Tempat ni lebih kurang macam uptown Malaysia. Tapi harga dia memang gila murah. Kasut/sandal/wedges you can get range 99bhat to 120bhat = RM9.90 ke RM12.90. Tali pinggang lebar tu semua 100bhat. Imagine same skirt yang I bought in Malaysia RM35 kat sane cuma dalam 150bhat = RM15 je? gila murahkan?

Jeans, Jacket, Tshirt & make up stuff memang murah compare dgn tempat kita. Most made in Thai!

Night life in Thai! memang sesak dengan vistors, local ppl & kenderaan. Tapi yang peliknya tak jam pun walaupun kenderaan berpusu-pusu. I must agree that Thai ppl are polite, although not much of their ppl cant speak our language they will try their best to help you out. Mereka ni sabar bila treat customer & reminder from our tour guide, please dont say the bad words, such stupid or crazy in Thai ! Thai language Ting tong = Gila!

Kenderaan bermotor tidak mengunakan helmet & naik motor 3 orang bukan 1 kesalahan di sana. Jarang dengar bunyi hon, walaupun keadaan sibuk sangat. kenderaan jarang bagi signal, but when the driver wanted to 'potong' another car diorg memang sgt confident & tak teragak-agak! According to one of our new friend in Thai , name Anas - accident memang sukar terjadi di Hat Yai walaupun town sangat crazy!

Anas is one of Hotel Siam Center staff, he saw us in the hotel while we waiting to another team member. He approach us, but agak susah nak berbual dengan dia, sebab dia memang tak faham langsung Malay & kurang fasih bahasa inggeris, terpaksa la mengunakan bahasa isyarat & certain words yang boleh kami memahami apa yang cuba Anas sampaikan. Imagine katanya Bangkok ke Hatyai is like 10 hours via using Bus & by plane is 5 hours. But he never went to Bangkok before because it bit costly & he happy live in Hatyai.

One thing that I notice, klinik gigi memang banyak terdapat di Hatyai.

All the hawkers food will last until 12am.

Sweet :)

Close up

Guess??

Comelkan kereta tu? we found this during the night walk.

Kepada lelaki-lelaki waktu malam di Hatyai adalah sesuatu yang mereka nantikan! sebab most of Thai ppl akan melepak di Club, bar & lounge. The most interesting to them is Thai Girl Show!

Tiger Show tu macam you watch movie, but its real happen in front of your eyes. duration 1 hour, 450bhat with one glass coke/beer. I tak pegi la, but some of our team member pegi tengok, so, they tell me the story, jangan sekali-kali keluarkan kamera atau cubaan untuk merakam, sebab tidak dibenarkan sama sekali. They will take your phone/camera!

Then next day, nothing much that we do, just shopping again. Walk around the town. 1 Hour before departure, we had foot massage for En Abi & manicure-pedicure for me. Foot Massage is 1 hour around 300bhat but got disc 250bhat & for manicure-pedicure is 200bhat. Memang terbaik dari Thai.

Tips & experience

• During my trip I bought Thai Bhat in Malaysia 1000bhat = RM102 agak mahal sikit. Then change in Changlun RM300 = 2990Bhat
• After that we change it at Hatyai, its better you change in Hatyai it self & i recommended you change at Konsortium (alah...bas konsortium tu) the shop is in front of Lee Garden Plaza, as you can get better rate than Msia.
• You can see a lot Malaysian are there.
• Getting to know little bit Thai words!
• Don't say bad words
• If you don't know just ask, they are really glad if they can help you out!
• Thailand negara yang tidak pernah dijajah jadi bahasa Inggeris bukan keutamaan, sehinggakan di cinema semua movie dalam bahasa Thai.
• If you have extra money, better to go there using plane rather than take bus or van, sebab bila weekend kat border amat sesak dengan orang utk chop passport. You can spent there like 3 hours for both border Malaysia -Thai masa balik tu.
• if you into shopping, just go to the night market! its worth it.
• bring extra bag because you'll be back with a lot of stuff!
• Sesiapa yang suka make up kereta boleh beli sport rim kat sini, sebab murah & banyak pilihan
• Sesiapa yang suka kereta dia jadi macam disco, pa system murah & terbaik, pioneer tau! jual kt tepi jalan mcm tu je woo!
• Selain tu untuk perempuan yang suka berdandan & nak cantik, in their saloon, have eye cleaning, ear washing, hair treatment, nail art including polishing, manicure, pedicure, hair slice (x sure apa yang dia buat), rebonding, coloring, perming plus foot massage & the price sgt wallah! A lot of shop & you can choose nak pergi yang mana satu!
• Blackberry Curve & Bold just around 6,690Bhat = RM669, original! Samsung Ace in Malaysia = Samsung Cooper in Thailand. Rasa nak borong phone lepas ni! Anyone nak order? hehehe...

Me with En Abi (we with our new clothes & my new handbag)

kredit photo to Kenny Leow- our official photographer