Trip to Hatyai,Oct 2011 - Colourful Hatyai (Part 1)

Date: 30 September - 2 October 2011
Venue: Hatyai, Thailand
Occasion: Family trip with group tour by bus from PJ to Hatyai

Yes, I haven't had the time to blog & share with you on my most recent trip to Hatyai earlier this month! It was a really short 2 days 2 nights trip (by bus!!) from Petaling Jaya all the way into Thailand. As it's my first time to Thailand, I was quite excited.

I know that the idea of going on a 8-10 hours journey by bus sounds crazy, but for someone like me who can just sleep pretty much all the way through, it wasn't a big problem :D

Our bus, my family, & PerutBesi all prepared to sleep!

I tell you, my "bus tour" buddies are mostly aunties & uncles above 50 years old! The oldest, believe it or not is a 91 year old aunty!!! *faints* One would wonder why such an old aunty would want to travel so far, so many hours, in an air-conditioned bus, right? I really salute her. She walks slower than all of us, but goodness, she's strong! The bus has to make a stop every 2-3 hours once for the aunties & uncles to pee in the middle of the night *wergh* I really can't be bothered to get down & pee...I slept all the way through, trying to snuggle comfortably at the corner in the air-conditioned bus - I only got down for my pee-stop at the last stop i.e. Malaysian borders! Bad choice - SO many people!

People everywhere!

Wanna pee also have to wait so long *sigh* If my bladder's in the verge of bursting, I can just pee in some bush already...even the Thai immigration (Bukit Kayu Hitam entry) area is horribly crowded! There's basically no proper system there...wergh...we wasted 2 shopping hours just at the immigration!! *cries* Thank goodness I've had enough sleep on the bus, so I was quite energetic throughout that day.

First Destination - Some temple

Little did I know, the purpose of that tour was so that the Buddhist tour buddies could go to Thailand to pray on the Nine Emperor Gods ("Gao Wong Ye") Festival. Since I'm not a Buddhist nor do I pray to the Nine Emperor Gods, my family & some others who didn't enter the temple had our first breakfast meal (SO HUNGRY k?) outside the temple - ICE CREAM for breakfast....keng or not? Thankfully the ice cream has glutinous rice & is actually quite tasty (RM2.00/cup). There's also a fruit stall beside - yes, that's breakfast.

Second Destination - Nora Plaza

This is supposed to be a shopping area, but nothing felt worth buying! Souvenirs were too common & too expensive as well *sigh* I was quite disappointed. Having said that, I was quite intrigued by the pencil cases (photo below), but it's from Chiangmai & not Hatyai itself, plus it was REALLY expensive - RM28.00, so I passed. The tour guide brought us there also to eat bird's nest, but I wasn't very interested. I needed "real food" for breakfast! 

Real Breakfast!!

As my family plus a new aunty friend weren't interested in Nora Plaza's stuff, we went around the area in search for food & walla! FOOD!! Everything tasted so good! The pork porridge was smooth & fragrant, & it came with the cute 'yau zha kwai'. It was quite cheap as well...like RM2.50-RM3.00 per portion :)

Kuey Chap

We can rarely find "kuey chap" in PJ as it's quite a Thai thingie, I was told. When I heard there's "kuey chap" I had to have it. The rice noodle sheets were smooth in a tasty pork broth with loads of meat + hard boiled egg. When we're hungry, everything tastes nicer ;)

Third Destination - Snacks Shop Opposite Nora Plaza

Frankly speaking, I wasn't very excited with the variety of snacks here. It's a lot, but somehow I wasn't interested. My parents didn't buy anything at all (prices of snacks have shot up & it didn't feel like it's worth buying) as we can also get similar stuff for the same price back in PJ/KL! They were like "don't need to carry all the way since we can get the same things back in PJ". I managed to get packets of seaweed snacks that costs half the price of what I get in Malaysia! Ah, I like :) (can you see my mum still with an empty basket? haahaha)

Lunch Stop - Hatyai's Chicken Rice

All the uncles insist on having chicken rice. I really couldn't understand what's so good about chicken rice here! When we got to the shop recommended by the tour guide, I was utterly disappointed. It was one of the worse chicken rice I've ever eaten & it costs almost RM10.00 per person k??! No "char siew" nor "siew yoke"...just plain steamed chicken, rice, & drinks. Bummer! Choose your chicken rice stall properly & don't believe 100% in the tour guide's taste :(

Black-Sheep/Runaways

Since we weren't interested to follow the bus & most of the tour buddies to other temples, we decided to head to the hotel, rest a while, then head out for shopping on our own! I got to sit in a "tuk-tuk" for the first time (RM2.00/person). How exciting to just feel the wind on my face instead of air-con :D Photo below shows the hotel that we stayed in - some dunno how many stars hotel (or if there are any stars) & the view from the hotel room.

Jalan-Jalan Hatyai

It was a colourful sight on the way towards Lee Gardens Plaza :) Stalls with delicious snacks, pretty slippers, souvenirs & clothes! It's SO much better to shop here than at Nora Plaza, k?

Stay tuned with PerutBesi for more on my Hatyai trip :) Next post will be on FOOD...REAL food!! *yums*

Amazing Thailand,