6th of March::7th of March
My colleagues and I finally managed to go on a trip after years of "blowing water". We booked a van to take us from Penang to Hat Yai and from Hat Yai to Penang. For 12 people, the van uncle charged us RM700. But, the 12th person had to sit beside the driver. (-.-) The van service that engaged by us was not exactly superb. Upon arrival at Hat Yai, the driver tried to "recommend" a lot of things to us, from hotel to Thai girl show. On our trip coming back from Hat Yai, the van did not have proper air-condition in the van; I almost fainted in the car due to the heat.
Apart from the van, we were tricked by the snack seller by the road side. Though I checked the weighing machine reading on site, my aunt found that there was a weight discrepancy for the cashew nut and dried longan, which I brought back from Hat Yai. Later, my cousin recommended that the local delicacies are best to be bought from the shop because it is reliable and not expensive.
Besides these two incidents, the trip was filled with food, cheap clothing for both genders, Thai girl show and massage. Peter (one of my male colleagues) got 4 T-shirts with the price of RM10 each. He then wore the T-shirt to the office one by one in the following week. On the 5th working day, since he didn't have any new shirt to wear, he decided not to come to work. :-P
There are many hotels around Hat Yai, but none of them are really high-class international hotel, except Novotel. We picked one hotel, which is closed to the shopping area based on the internet review. Upon checking in the hotel, we checked the bathroom - the bathtub was stained with black dots, the bathroom roof had sign of leakage and the shower spray had a thick accumulated dirt. Other than that, the hotel room was fine and the breakfast was good.
View from the hotel we stayed, Lee's Garden
Our lunch venture and after-lunch dessert time! Picture, picture, picture.
Walked under the glaring sun for the famous pork knuckles rice
Not a big fan of pork; so, glass noodle was my lunch
We went for Swenson's for ice-cream.
The weather was HOThotHOT. Kok Tung with his faithful companion - little "burberry" umbrella.
In Hat Yai, checking out food, buying food and eating food are the continuous processes. We went to the night market by taking tuk-tuk from the hotel. It cost us 20 baht per pax. The trip was adventurous because I experienced the true meaning of holding on tight whenever the driver stepped hard on the brake or made a sharp turn! The night market sold assorted of clothes and other many things. I almost washed out my pocket to buy the clothes. The clothes are relatively cheap compared to Penang as well as Malaysia on-line store. A friendly reminder to those, who are interested to go to visit the night market - bring a small hand-held fan to counter the bad ventilation in the night market.
Food paradise at night market.
We saw an elephant in close proximity. The elephant liked to drip saliva on the people to show her friendliness. Yucks!
The next morning schedule was quite free and easy. We split into groups to do each preferred activities. Kok Tung, Soo San and I went to do town walking. We went to the Kim Yong market area.
Random photo to show the meaning of multiple/multiply.
At one point, we actually asked the hotel receptionist to write the places' names for us.
Kaki for town walking. I like town walking!
I have a reindeer from Hat Yai at my cube!
Weekend market.
We left at ~4pm Thailand time. There was a massive traffic jam at the border. We decided to walk to the checkpoint. Adios, Hat Yai~