Hatyai Trip (General)

Posted: Sunday, December 27, 2009 by GGdTJJ in

This is going to be long, and it comes with a lot of photos..
do allow it to load if you have slow connection..
you can read the avatar post before this if it takes time to load..

So, I went to Hatyai from 22nd to 24th..
and let the photo speaks I guess...

So early in the morning 8am we took van from Penang, and reaches Malaysia/Thai border at around 10 I guess... and we got greeted by the Thailand...

ELAM T DATANG
S                                                      


haha, also don't know how old is this thing liao..
but it's a nice one!!
See the pickup truck at the end? the Hilux ah, Ford Ranger ah, Mitsubishi Triton/Lite ah...
Yayaya, you will be surprised in Thai that you will see those types of cars more than Myvi you see in Malaysia..
They are like 9 out of 10 running on the highways!!, and 9 out of 10 are putting stuff behind, and 7 out of 10 have the stuff taller than the car itself!!
But when you enter the Hatyai City, you see less of them...

ALright, talk about car a bit here..
In Thailand, you see a lot of Japanese cars, most notably Toyota and Honda..
and you see Jazz more than City, you see Vios a lot, too!
Their Japanese cars rate is like much higher than what we see in Malaysia on Proton/Malaysia..
There are like 9.5 out of 10 is Japanese cars there..
because they have factories there..
and one Vios there cost 60k malaysia money but 90k in Malaysia here..
you say la..
our tax..

ok, back to the trip...

so reach Hatyai about 11.30 Malaysia time, 10:30 Hatyai time, and got greeted by this!!

Not sure it's "sawatikap" or "amituofo", but that is something you can't see in Malaysia..
Malaysia one all sit on the bench and 'kiao ka' one...

So, we checked in our hotal, Sakol Hotel..
and then, we go out and find taxi lo..
but we find nothing but....


We call this, Tuk-Tuk!
hatyai version taxi~
and it brings us to a lot of places, including leaving the city centre to municipal park (tomorrow one..), or visiting temple, finding nice food i guess...
just you use this la!!

So, our first stop is 南阳同奉善堂, which they too had branches/HQ in Singapore and KL (near midvalley). Well, this is what my grandpa (the one in tuk-tuk picture) affiliated with, so have to pay a visit la..
let pictures do the saying!


Well, that is after our lunch..
yeah yeah, this post omits on food, which will come in another post...

So, after visiting the temple, I took a nap..
really tired to wake up in the morning and travel, which further worsen by headache..
But manage to do some simple shopping though, bought some nice clothes, and get a liking on white clothes recently...

Wake up jor, and went for dinner..
at sky buffet 33rd floor lee garden hotel..
so, this will talk about the night view up there..
again, picture will do the saying...

Well, just bare with the image quality as it's all taken by my N82 5MP auto-focus Carl Zeiss Xenon flash camera.. (ehem, I didn't even use the flash at all..) and it surprisingly survives for 3 days for all the photo snapping! Clap for my N82..
You konw, Thai uses different socket heads, so my charger can't use..
I asked for adapter from the hotel reception but they refuse to give and suggests using their charger and charge at the reception there..
walau, so many personal information how can I leave it to them leh..
so have to take conservative approach, conserve energy, battery life..
and I took the decision to shut off the reception of my phone to prolong the battery life, and the move is critical to make it survive all the 3 days..
so, someone actually message me but I just saw it when I switched on the reception a while to check like this around some time like that lo...

Well, went back to hotel and start to play around with the TV channels there..
apparently, there is a lot of channels, including Wah Lai Toi...
Switching the channels here and there and all you listen is Thai, basically what left is very limited..
but we get to watch Justice Pao through WLT on that night, too...
and the day ended with a nice sounding sleep..

wait a second, nice sounding sleep?
Yeah, I guess so..
my mum and I actually felt that we felt something..
but ya..
it doesn't appear..
before sleep a thought like this still crossed my brain, "hmm, how, in what way, would it appear leh?"
but it didn't.. at last..

so I started my second day by visiting the morning market..
and it's something very busy~~
again, picture takes its role..


The indoor market is a BIG BIG maze..
But no, you can see it's really straight for the path..
but because of that, some bends at the junctions will get you lost..
because left and right are selling stuffs, and you see the same stuffs after leaving it and went for another left/right...
suggest Jackie Chan to come over here to shoot for his next action movie, when he's being chased by anyone la..

and yes, we got lost when we exit at somewhere else..
finding hard to find the way back to our hotel..
LOL...

so we had breakfast, and then we headed to the municipal park for more buddha visiting!!


Four-face buddha..
and also a lot of elephants around..



And you see me!!




Okay, let's move on to the next destination!

The tall tall buddha..


where at there I get to catch the skyline view of Hatyai!




Third spot of the buddha visiting..
guan yin de..
v

The picture focus is on the gazillion numbers of golden statue in the middle, although the dragon around the columns are quite catchy as well..
And all the golden statues are guanyin actually!

another giant-sized statue




and somehow, we had this nearby, too, guan gong...


okok, in English, both are guan, but they are never having the same surname nor whatsoever..
I don't think they have close affiliations between guangong and guanyin except that they are seen as god(dess) by the Chinese.

And nearby we had this somemore... another two big big statues..



and guanyin with 12 zodiac animals..




Just a side note, on the way back..
we found this...
a university in Hatyai..


One of the best university in Thailand apparently..

And the driver we hired for the tuk-tuk, is a cook as well..
where we enjoy a lunch cooked by him at his sister's restaurant..

so back to hotel..
and we called for massage service..
yes, this is a must in Thailand, being so good in quality yet a lot more affordable..
must call if you go..
of course, I am talking about the healthy legal one la..
It's really really painful to some instances at some postures..
and you really feel great after all the massages..
some of the ways they do it includes... throwing you out..
as in..
well..
you rest, and you bend yourself, and they lock you up somehow with their body, and they swing and swing and swing, and centrifugal force comes in, swinging you out, and stretching part of your muscles..
quite great!!
and then, you have things like...
you sleep, with your back facing upwards..
then they sit on your backs, pulling your legs and your hands together.. somehow la..
something like that, and it makes your back part under compression, and front part under tension..
sorry, a bit of mechanics here..
well, jiu, you are pulled to a big extent, stretching muscles again!!

so, we headed night and tasted the very very nice Siam food in somwhere, again, more detail on upcoming post..

night, went shopping again..
and hunted more shirts, and a paired of sandals, hush puppies, made in thailand...
hahaha...

so, went back to hotel at night..
and had another movie...
"Love in the Time of Cholera"
gave some insights on love..
nice movie..
nice pacing..
unparalled acting..
and love it a lot!
nice ending, too!
it is actually a love triangle story that last for 50 years!!
one guy pattoh with a girl..
but the guy is just a telegram boy but the girl is a rich businessman daugther..
so the girl marry a doctor, then the guy wait for 50 years for the doctor to die before he continue to seek love from that girl... well, emm.. old lady i guess...
Touching...

and a sleep before another day..
3rd day is rather boring I guess.
with most of the places visited..
but had a Bak Kut Teh as breakfast.. oh.. so heavy..
and then lunch at McD..
more details on upcoming post!

oh, had shoppings here and there lo..
and found out..
hmm, thai girls do look sweet.
but they love to make up..especially they put up the red egg on the faces...

so..
as the clock struck 3pm Haytai time, we waited at the spot asked to for few more minutes, we saw the van coming... made sure that's the right one..
sit on it, and had our way back to Penang!